'Echo'

Echo is a short film about a girl who is seemingly conning people on the streets with a past traumatic experience. It follows under the category of a social realism film as its story tackles a social issue. I found it pretty interesting.

Narrative -

The story revolves around a teenage girl who, at first appears to be conning people out of money using her past trauma, and ultimately appears to be reliving a past struggle for unknown reasons. It follows a cyclical narrative with the girl going through three total phone calls. With each phone call the audience begins to learn about her. I quite liked this structure and its execution as you go from thinking you know exactly what's going on with an objective view, you ultimately feel left with more questions from the more subjective third call.

Micro Elements -

From the very beginning the camerawork is effective, presenting a shot of a busy street with no clear indication of our main character, we end up feeling like a part of the street. Camerawork with each phone call links with whether the scene takes a more objective or subjective approach. The colours are also desaturated with a mild blue tint.

Overall Thoughts -

I enjoyed the narrative and how your perspective on the girl shifts throughout, it's a surprising amount of character development in a short span of time yet it doesn't feel rushed. I could follow a similar approach for when I develop my short film/screenplay by setting up a 3 stage narrative in a similar fashion.