Echo

Directed by Lewis Arnold 

Echo follows the story of a young girl who receives tragic news about her dad in a car accident over the phone. However, as the film progresses the audience discover that this is a con to steal money from the public. 

The film follows a clear 3 Act structure: Plot point 1 is when the audience realises that Caroline is scamming strangers to make money. Act II is the audience growing more sympathetic to the protagonist, putting her actions in to context. Plot point 2 occurs when Caroline's brother finds her scamming a stranger, which leads us in to the final act in which they have a conversation and the film ends ambiguously. 

When Caroline receives the call they use extreme close ups to draw the viewer in, helping them to empathise with her as her feelings are presented as almost too confronting due to the intimate proximity. 

Diegetic sound is also used here which adds to the realism by mimicking sounds heard on the street. However the phone call stands out and is emphasised to draw in our attention. 

The tone of the film is quite dark and bleak reflected throughout the cinematography and lighting. Usually Caroline is in dark or cool colours, coupled with the lighting which for the most part is over exposed. 

Motif of cigarettes - cinematography is used skill-fully in order to highlight the reoccurrence of cigarettes as symbolic throughout the film. There is an over the shoulder close up of Caroline through a pane of glass, with her head pressed against it. Then, in the reflection of the glass, a man walks up, lights a cigarette and leaves. The camera pulls in and out of focus on the man as he lights the cigarette. We can understand that they hold some significance to Caroline, perhaps her father smoked and this is her way of connecting with him. In this way, we are forced to want to sympathise with her, however quite reluctantly as we have discovered that she is an unreliable narrator. This

 inner conflict is present throughout the film and we never feel certain of where our loyalties lie, giving the film its ambiguous quality.

Editing - the use of jump cuts, when the protagonist gets the call/ fakes the call at the end of the film, are very effective and heighten the tension making the scene much more frantic and disjointed. 

Structure- the use of a cyclical structure with the main character receiving the same phone call at the beginning and end of the film, suggests that the protagonist has not changed and will continue  conning strangers. In the last scene where Caroline makes a call again, but this time the camera circles her. This suggests a reflection of her mind and her confusion with everything catching up to her.  At the same time this also mirrors the cyclic structure. The sudden cuts and closeups help to build the tension throughout.