Echo (2011) Dir. Lewis Arnold

Echo (2011) Dir. Lewis Arnold

Narrative:




The story follows a teenage girl, Caroline, as she re-lives a phone call where she finds out her dad has been in a severe accident, which she performs in public to get the attention and money off of strangers on the street.


There are three phone calls within the film. During the first one we are observing her from a distance as an objective observer, as if we were a member of the crowd around her. At this point we don't know whether she is being honest or not.
Throughout the film we discover more about her personal life and her character. From this we can see that Caroline feels isolated and does not believe that the other members of her family are grieving, when really they all are but in different ways. Caroline's failure to see this means she pushes them away and uses re-living the phone calls as equal parts a coping mechanism, as well as self-harm.

Structure:




The structure of the film revolves around three phone calls, with two smaller scenes separating them in between. During the first one we are observing her from afar, during the second we are wary and now know its a con, and the 3rd time we are viewing it subjectively and we know that although this is not the real phone call, every time she does it she is reliving it as if it were so it feels like the first time.
It is the exact same phone call each time but shot in different ways to create different effects and show the changes in the characters relationship with the audience as we find out more about her.
It gives the film a circular feel as we are unable to tell when these phone calls are actually taking place and in what order, so it feels non-linear.




Micro Elements:


During the first phone call there is use of long distance shots, and a minimum amount of editing to create the effect that we are in the crowd. Once she gets into the taxi we then have a close up which feels more personal as we discover more about her. Throughout the camera gradually gets closer and during the last phone call we have a lot of close-ups and extreme close-ups, showing our now intimate knowledge of the character.
Within the film there is also use of zooms, slow-mo, shifting focus, & jump cuts.
There is also a lack of music during the film which helps to make it seem more realistic, and instead we have ab ambient sound of the crowd in the background.
The colour pallet of the film is very de-saturated all throughout, perhaps showing her grief and sadness as she no longer views the world as vivid and exciting without her father.


The film makes use of visual metaphors to show Caroline's relationship with her actions and her family. During a scene where she is sitting in a café, she is playing with a lighter. This could represent how she is playing with fire by doing what she is doing. We can also see little scratches and marks from where she has played with it so much which could show that what she is doing is harming her.
As well, we have two shots where she is heading home with her brother. The first is when they are on a tram. Although physically close, we can see from their body language that they are incredibly far apart emotionally. We have this same meaning again from a later shot where they are walking down a street together, but there is a electricity pole separating them.