For our short film production we are researching key concepts in other films to give us inspiration for our own production. The first concept we researched is the twist in films that give audiences a thrill and entertain them, in some cases it can be the make or break part of the film that determines if it is generally praised or criticized.
The film we have researched is a short film called 'LOVEFIELD', a short film by Mathieu Ratthe which is described in the synopsis 'Lovefield combines elements of HORROR, SUSPENSE and DRAMA to create a story that takes the audience on a roller coaster ride of emotions'.
Initially the film starts with the title over a field of crops waving in a rasping wind and a chilling minor key piece which gives it a cold, morbid atmosphere. The camera then moves onto a creaking sign swaying in the wind with a crow perching menacingly on the top, cawing into the silence. The tension is almost unbearable at this point and the promise in the synopsis of a 'roller coaster ride of emotions' is looking like a certainty.
The camera now focuses on a small circular indentation in the crop, the camera crawling through the downtrodden crops showing various objects scattered across the floor, such as a dollar bill and a wallet. The camera then pans onto a foot trodden in dirt and blood. Then suddenly a small dagger type object is thrust into the ground next to the foot with tremendous force and the chilling sound of the blade slicing into the ground. This causes a shock and quite a jump-mongering effect, it adds a dangerous and violent element into the mix, adding to what seems like its going to be a gruesome ending so far.
The camera then pans up the body of a burly man wearing what appears to be denim overalls, with unkempt hair and a trucker hat, gazing at the cawing crow on the sign. The unknown male then surveys the area and starts to walk backwards away from the scene, eventually breaking into a sprint across the field, eventually reaching a car. With the door already ajar, he searches inside the passenger side seat, taking the car keys and opening the boot. The camera view switches to inside the boot and shows the man looking into the boot, searching through it as the crow continues its shrill crys.
He eventually pulls out a ragged blanket, before peering over the car boot to see the crow has landed on top of the car, unrelentingly raucously cawing at him. He continues undeterred by the crow and walks around the car, while the crow returns to the top of the sign. The camera moves into a high angled shot showing in the left hand bottom corner of the camera the bloodied foot of the apparent victim and the small dagger intimidatingly protruding out of the ground. The man walks down towards the body and stops in front of her. He kneels and appears to be putting the blanket down over the body as the crow's cawing becomes almost unbelievably consistent.
Then suddenly the crow stops cawing, appearing astounded by whatever it is seeing outside of shot, almost comically open mouthed. The shot then changes to what appears to be the man pulling the blanket back, he actually pulls the blanket back with a little baby wrapped up in it, and the women leaning into the shot handing it to him. The baby crys with apparent joy and certainly my heart has skipped a beat at a fantastic twist in the story, which i certainly did not expect.
The camera switches to a close up shot of the mother of the baby, the apparent victim says thank you to the would be murderer, grinning from ear to ear, laughing along with the man. The crow continues to caw with less urgency and alarm, and the camera switches to a craned - long shot surveying the whole scene, with the sun now shining in the sky like a beacon of hope, an apparent prayed answered as a police car drives by and the man flags it down. They stop and the police man rushes into the scene, as it dissolves into the ending credits, leaving you feeling quite happy for the women and feeling something emotionally for her.
The element we researched in this film was the twist, a pivotal moment as aforementioned in this review and this short production certainly shows a riveting twist which is scintillating and at the same time a fresh sigh of relief for the would-be victim, leaving the audience feeling something for the women, by luring the audience into a pseudo disequilibrium by manipulating sound, using some intelligent camera work and good editing when really its something as innocent and natural as giving birth.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4meeZifCVro
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