"Echoes" is a conceptual 7 minute thriller short film brilliantly written and directed by Christian Doran and starring Nicole Powell as the haunted protagonist "Tracy."
Within the first 5 seconds Doran hooks you in with a cleverly shot opening scene showing Tracy looking at her reflection in the mirror then quickly revealing to the audience only that when Tracy moves, her reflection does not. Instantly capturing your intrigue the film from that point maintains a great pace displaying peaks and troughs in momentum, darks and soft in lighting, familiarity and changes in locations, creativity and simplicity in edits, mysteries and revelations in plot; altogether keeping the audience's attention from start to finish.
As Tracy leaves the house and goes for a walk in a trance like state, Doran uses an interesting filming and editing technique switching locations during takes whilst keeping consistent shaky framing in clockwise directional movement and adding a conducive mix of sound to collectively symbolise Tracy's movements as an unsteady ticking clock. This aids in drawing the audience in to Tracy's emotional state and gives you the feeling that she has consistent disordered thoughts no matter her location.
Having returned to her home, the next scene shows Tracy recognising that her reflection in her bedroom mirror is not corresponding her movements but rather a different version of herself in an identical room she can't enter. Tracy approaches the mirror as her reflection lies asleep like on her bed. The reflection recognises Tracy and looks scared as a man in a plastic bodysuit wearing a fedora appears to strangle her then quickly vacate the room. Tracy is left helpless watching in the mirror as her reflection remains lifeless.
The film's storyline is simple, clever and set up all within the first 1 minute and 30 seconds filmed in a way that strategically leaves many dots to connect throughout. The audience is no longer a spectator but now a participant in the journey questioning is Tracy a paranoid schizophrenic or is she having a premonition?
The next series of sequences introduce new characters and complexities, in particular a dinner scene which places Tracy at another house. Here she finds the plastic bodysuit worn by her suspected killer and it is also revealed in a clever twist that Tracy can see reflections of those around her too. Her boyfriend Martin (John-Paul Santucci) subtly exposes that Tracy is on medication and she arranges a secret meeting with her old Doctor to express her concerns of impending murder. Dr Clive (Andy McLeod), seen to be wearing the murderers fedora, alludes to her obsessive tendencies and dismisses Tracy telling her not to call again. She is left holding the hat confused and alone in a children's playground - symbolising feelings of helplessness and loneliness like a child lost without guidance unable to care for/help/save herself.
The final scene shows Tracy in her kitchen catching a glimpse of her reflection in the mirror and walking towards it. This time it correctly echoes her actions and psychologically agitated, she begins to break down. Moments later, the angle changes and we see that once again the reflection changes movements. In an interesting twist, the reflection is actually replicating Tracy's movements from the first scene and the person we are now following is the reflection of Tracy. Lying on the bed we appear to be back at the first scene from the perspective of the helpless Tracy lying on the bed. She sees Martin in the doorway wearing the killer's clothes and next to him her reflection from earlier in the mirror screaming and realises the killer is herself. Martin rushes over to find out she has taken a lethal amount of pills and flees to get help. We switch back to the perspective of Tracy in the mirror with the original reflection motionless and the film cuts to black.
Representation features heavily in the short film in an understated yet intelligent manner which adds depth to the character and plot. Framing through 'bars' (rods on the bed, separation of wardrobe panels and horizontal blinds) as well as the car scene staring out the window are symbolic of feeling imprisoned or trapped. Depiction of being on the outside looking in (and vice versa) while life is just rolling by. On two attempts Tracy tries to destroy the killers outfit depicting themes of self-destruction. Choice of pale bleak colours features heavily on set, wardrobe and lighting which parallels to the subdued emotions when on medication. Yellow is used often which resembles feelings of madness, caution and illness. Looking deeper, yellow pigments are sourced from toxic metals – perhaps a correlation to the toxic character.
Echoes is cleverly written, filmed, edited and is supported by strong acting making it exciting and believable. It is relatively slow paced to build tension which allows the audience time to feel the confusion and stress of the protagonist and care about her. There is a good mix in varied depth of field, shot sizes and lighting to make it visually interesting and draw out emotion. Sound is used well strategically combining haunting, cluttered music with silence to enhance the storyline at the right times.
Overall a brilliant short film, well executed both creatively and technically. 10/10
Within the first 5 seconds Doran hooks you in with a cleverly shot opening scene showing Tracy looking at her reflection in the mirror then quickly revealing to the audience only that when Tracy moves, her reflection does not. Instantly capturing your intrigue the film from that point maintains a great pace displaying peaks and troughs in momentum, darks and soft in lighting, familiarity and changes in locations, creativity and simplicity in edits, mysteries and revelations in plot; altogether keeping the audience's attention from start to finish.
As Tracy leaves the house and goes for a walk in a trance like state, Doran uses an interesting filming and editing technique switching locations during takes whilst keeping consistent shaky framing in clockwise directional movement and adding a conducive mix of sound to collectively symbolise Tracy's movements as an unsteady ticking clock. This aids in drawing the audience in to Tracy's emotional state and gives you the feeling that she has consistent disordered thoughts no matter her location.
Having returned to her home, the next scene shows Tracy recognising that her reflection in her bedroom mirror is not corresponding her movements but rather a different version of herself in an identical room she can't enter. Tracy approaches the mirror as her reflection lies asleep like on her bed. The reflection recognises Tracy and looks scared as a man in a plastic bodysuit wearing a fedora appears to strangle her then quickly vacate the room. Tracy is left helpless watching in the mirror as her reflection remains lifeless.
The film's storyline is simple, clever and set up all within the first 1 minute and 30 seconds filmed in a way that strategically leaves many dots to connect throughout. The audience is no longer a spectator but now a participant in the journey questioning is Tracy a paranoid schizophrenic or is she having a premonition?
The next series of sequences introduce new characters and complexities, in particular a dinner scene which places Tracy at another house. Here she finds the plastic bodysuit worn by her suspected killer and it is also revealed in a clever twist that Tracy can see reflections of those around her too. Her boyfriend Martin (John-Paul Santucci) subtly exposes that Tracy is on medication and she arranges a secret meeting with her old Doctor to express her concerns of impending murder. Dr Clive (Andy McLeod), seen to be wearing the murderers fedora, alludes to her obsessive tendencies and dismisses Tracy telling her not to call again. She is left holding the hat confused and alone in a children's playground - symbolising feelings of helplessness and loneliness like a child lost without guidance unable to care for/help/save herself.
The final scene shows Tracy in her kitchen catching a glimpse of her reflection in the mirror and walking towards it. This time it correctly echoes her actions and psychologically agitated, she begins to break down. Moments later, the angle changes and we see that once again the reflection changes movements. In an interesting twist, the reflection is actually replicating Tracy's movements from the first scene and the person we are now following is the reflection of Tracy. Lying on the bed we appear to be back at the first scene from the perspective of the helpless Tracy lying on the bed. She sees Martin in the doorway wearing the killer's clothes and next to him her reflection from earlier in the mirror screaming and realises the killer is herself. Martin rushes over to find out she has taken a lethal amount of pills and flees to get help. We switch back to the perspective of Tracy in the mirror with the original reflection motionless and the film cuts to black.
Representation features heavily in the short film in an understated yet intelligent manner which adds depth to the character and plot. Framing through 'bars' (rods on the bed, separation of wardrobe panels and horizontal blinds) as well as the car scene staring out the window are symbolic of feeling imprisoned or trapped. Depiction of being on the outside looking in (and vice versa) while life is just rolling by. On two attempts Tracy tries to destroy the killers outfit depicting themes of self-destruction. Choice of pale bleak colours features heavily on set, wardrobe and lighting which parallels to the subdued emotions when on medication. Yellow is used often which resembles feelings of madness, caution and illness. Looking deeper, yellow pigments are sourced from toxic metals – perhaps a correlation to the toxic character.
Echoes is cleverly written, filmed, edited and is supported by strong acting making it exciting and believable. It is relatively slow paced to build tension which allows the audience time to feel the confusion and stress of the protagonist and care about her. There is a good mix in varied depth of field, shot sizes and lighting to make it visually interesting and draw out emotion. Sound is used well strategically combining haunting, cluttered music with silence to enhance the storyline at the right times.
Overall a brilliant short film, well executed both creatively and technically. 10/10