'Echo' Directed by Lewis Arnold and Written by James Walker

National Film and Television Short Film: 'Echo' is an 18 minute short film Directed by Lewis Arnold and written by James Walker.

The film presents the story of a young girl who publicly portrays her grief about her father's death, in order to earn some money off of sympathetic pedestrians. At first we the audience are lead to judge her at face value, however there is more to the story then what first meets the eye.

The premise of the film, narrative speaking, is on the surface a simple concept, however as we delve deeper into the story we get is more complex layering of a plethora of emotions and motives.This is best displayed during the short film's ending, one which is riddled with interesting ambiguity. One interpretation of the ending could be that the audience is taken back in time to when she actually received word of her father's passing in public. This makes the narrative non-linear, only adding to the engagement of the piece. Alternatively, one can see this as a linear piece, which still retains an interesting motive within the film which can be linked to the title of the film.When we think of echoes, we often think in the traditional sense of the word - sound which travels through the air, hitting an object and returning to the source only audibly quieter. The film may mix this concept through the characters emotions. The passing of her father naturally causes her a monumental amount of grief, however, her repetitive use of the con allows her to re experience the emotions that she felt once first hearing the news of her father's passing. This can be seen as a form of mental self harm, but more importantly it can also be seen as a recreational use of her emotions to desensitise herself to the memory of her father's passing, in turn giving her hope that one day she can get over the vulnerability; the uselessness and helplessness she must've helped once she had heard that her father had been involved in an accident.

Within the film, there is an interesting use of representation. One such case, is when the girl can be seen playing with her lighter throughout the film. This is a brilliant representation of the metaphor 'playing with fire', which the girl seems to be doing, by conning people out in public. Not only does this action pose a threat to her physically, by living through the traumatic events of the past she is doing harm to a psyche, which is one reason as to why the relationship with the rest of her family has deteriorated.

There is a striking juxtaposition within the film that is presented through the editing of the film,most noticeably seen when comparing the opening to the ending.Despite a few similarities, such as the voyeurism style (filming people without them noticing)  and repetition of narrative concept (the corn), the scenes are completely different in terms of pacing.During the beginning of the film, the crew shoot at a distance, long takes or implemented as well as handheld shots, in order to sustain the audiences focus on the interaction between the girl and the stranger. At the end of the film, this is contrasted by the implementation of shorter takes and jarring jump cuts, combined with the claustrophobic nature of the close-ups. This shifts the audiences focus not towards the relationship between the girl and the stranger as had been done previously, instead we are given an intrusive insight into the perturbed mind of a young grieving girl - looking to make sense and order within her life.

The strongest indicator that this is a British short film, is the utilisation of a heavily adopted grey palette, creating a sense of a repetitive mundane life style. Furthermore, it has a profound impact on the film, as it allows us to have an insight in how the girl views the world, a cold grey miserable place now that her father has left her.