echo

 

This film depicts a girl who is crying on the street after hearing that her dad has been in an accident. However, we shortly realise that this is a ploy to get money from strangers for a 'taxi' to the hospital. This film is good at twisting our perception of the girl over and over. At first we feel sorry for her but this is followed by anger and confusion at how she could do such a thing. However, even after seeing this, our sympathy returns for her when we see her home life. By the end of the end of the film, we feel conflicted, knowing now that it is an act but wondering if there is more to the story. Perhaps something actually happened to her dad. 

Structure: The same event happens three times and each times its contextualised to us in a different way. At the end, there is an ambiguity to whether this event is from before or after. Perhaps, this is showing the original event, as she seems genuinely upset. 

Mis En Scene: The film is shot with a desaturated, dull colour palette. This creates a sombre mood and hints to us that life is not colourful for Caroline, it is difficult and sad. It makes her life feel almost repetitive, with no excitement or break from the dullness and grey. There are no splashes of happiness and colour. Caroline often smokes or fiddles with a lighter in the film and this may suggest to us this is what she is spending the money on. Although we can not be sure, it leads us to think, perhaps, her father smoked and this reminds her of him; smells are often associated with memories and smoke is a distinct smell. The flame from the lighter also could be seen as a metaphor, as it brings a little bit of light into the otherwise, dull and grey world. 

Cinematography: The film begins in a wide shot, placing us in a town centre and making us search for Caroline in the crowd. This means the twist is more unexpected because it seems as if Caroline is just going about her day, on her way home from school and not as if she is about to carry out an act to trick someone. 

Sound: The silence in the film is almost the most obvious. This is because it greatly contrasts with the diegetic sound of the busy city centre. We are constantly hearing background noise, such as cars and people talking. The silence we hear when she is alone emphasises that feeling of being lonely and lost which evokes our sympathy for her. The sound of the phone when it rings cuts through the sound of the crowd, making it feel important and creating a tension. It also makes the viewer surprised when it turns out that it is not real.

Performance: For the first event, we watch it as an observer but at the end we focus more on her facial expressions and are seeing the situation in her perspective. She does a great job of showing pain in her facial expressions and this seems almost too realistic to be pretend. This is what makes us not be able to work out whether she is genuinely sad and whether this is showing the original event rather than after. It hints to us, that perhaps, something did happen to her father.