Response to 'Echo' by Lewis Arnold

In 2011, Lewis Arnold directed a short film called 'Echo'. It follows Caroline, a 17 year old girl, who gets a phone call informing her that her dad has been in an accident. However, as the film continues we learn that, though this event did happen, Caroline was pretending to get the call again to con people in the street into giving her money.

The film is an interesting exploration of grief and the ways people deal with it, but the most interesting element, I feel, is the narrative structure. In an interview I watched, Arnold explains that the film was written in three parts; three phone calls, the first using long takes to be the most objective, and allows the audience to take the place of pedestrians on the street so that the scene remains ambiguous, to leave the viewer wondering what exactly is happening. Then, when the second phone call takes place, the audience enters the scene from the point of view of Caroline's younger brother. This makes it clear that not only is the phone call a con, but also the event Caroline uses to actually happened, and allows the viewer to experience the phone call from a more subjective perspective. Finally, the third phone call, which takes place in the last scene of the film, is completely subjective (experienced as Caroline experiences it), and edited in a montage style with jump-cuts to contrast with the long takes from the first phone call. Despite contrasting these two scenes, Arnold says that he wanted the beginning and end of his film to feel like the same conversation, just under very different circumstances, these being the difference between objective and subjective viewing.

Other notable micro-elements of this film include the restricted and unsaturated colour scheme, giving the film a gritty and realistic feel, reminiscent of 'Schindler's List', and the impressive imagery and symbolism used throughout, such as the many recurring images: the café, the tram, Caroline's face in the glass, and my personal favourite, Caroline playing with her lighter, as this can represent her literally 'playing with fire', and also be an example of her self-harm, in addition to the repetitive phone call.

In terms of this short film influencing my own work, I would like my film to feature a main protagonist who is a teenage girl, because this is easy for me to write as I can use my own experience without much research. Arnold's film has inspired me regarding the type of story I could write, as watching it made me realise that though it would be a good idea to feature a character similar to me, I can place them in an unusual situation, that I have not experienced myself. I also enjoy his use of symbolism, both through visuals and recurring themes, which I will try to include in my screenplay too.