'Lovefield' - Mae Webb

Lovefield

2008

Director: Mathieu Ratthe

Found: Youtube

Summary: Lovefield combines elements of HORROR, SUSPENSE and DRAMA to create a story that takes the audience on a roller coaster ride of emotions
Why I chose this film: I chose this as I found the twist at the end very interesting and creative as the audience are made to believe that it is a dark, sinister film about death until the end where it becomes a light film about life. I also like the way it plays on stereotypes and uses obvious conventions of a thriller to shock the audience . 

Genre

• The Genre of this short film is what is called a Hybrid. This means that it does not belong to one particular genre as it has elements of different genres within. 
• Through most of the film it is considered to be a Thriller as it includes many conventions of a thriller. For example:
• Setting - the beginning establishing shot of the cornfield first makes us believe this film is a thriller as a cornfield is a very typical setting of a thriller as it creates mystery and you could not be found easily.

establishing shot - cornfield

•  Iconography -  there are certain props/symbols used in thrillers which allow the audience to assume it is a thriller as they hint that something bad will happen/has happened. Examples iconography in Lovefield:
• The crow: crows are often seen in thrillers as they represent death and create a sinister atmosphere because of what they are asassociated with. The audience can assume from this that death has occured near by.  
  
• The deserted phone: this is often seen in thrillers as it implies that someone has been interrupted without warning.



The crow and creaking sign



The deserted phone

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• The bloody cloth: blood is an iconography of thrillers as it shows the audience that someone has been hurt or killed which creates more suspense to find out who it is.
•  The knife: weapons are an iconography of thrillers as it creates a threat to the audience and the characters which makes the audience feel on edge.

Bloody cloth

Knife and woman's foot

• Sound - the high pitched, non-diegetic sound throughout is a convention of a thriller as it creates an eerie and dark atmosphere for the audience. In addition, the non-diegetic sound crescendos as the scene gets more tense which creates suspense. The diegetic sound is also very enhanced. For example the wind, the sign creaking, the crow and the mobile phone beeping are louder than they normally would be which is a convention of a thriller as it keeps the audience on edge and enhances their senses. The diegetic sound of the woman screaming is also a convention of a thriller as is shows the woman as a victim and is very piercing and unnerving.
• Antagonist - the slow pan up towards the antagonist is a convention of a thriller as it makes them appear intimidating and in control. We also see that he has a tattoo on his shoulder of a skull which makes him seem more of a frightening character.
  
  

  

  This shot is a pan up to the antagonist revealing his
  skull tattoo

  
  
• However, at the end of the film the genre is transformed from thriller to a happy family film and the conventions change drastically
  
  

• This short film follows Steve Neale's theory that Repetition and Variation = Genre Survival, meaning that repetition of certain conventions but variation of plot (e.g. a twist) prevents boredom and predictability, as the audience begin to predict what the ending may be based on the semantic codes such (what we see and hear) such as characters, locations, iconography, props, music etc. However they are then shocked when their expectations are challenged and the ending is completely different to what they thought and there is a plot twist.
• It also follows Rick Altman's idea of looking at a films semantic codes to trick the audience into what genre it is as all the semantic codes make it a thriller at the beginning but it turns out to be the opposite. However, it goes against his idea of syntactic codes as the ending is not what we expect to happen.
  
  
  
  Narrative
• The narrative of this short film has been very carefully and cleverly thought out in order to not give away the ending.
• The narrative is linear as it follows a chain of events in chronological order and does not jump back and forward in time.
  
  
  
• Bordwell and Thompson's Plot and Story Theory - this plays a big part in Lovefield as we do not know any of the story of the film until the end, when we see the baby being born and the extreme long shot showing the woman's broken down car, the farmers tractor and the police car turning up, and realise that the woman had gone into labour and the farmer helped her to give birth and then called for extra help. Until this point the audience are left to assume the story and are led to believe that the man has killed the woman and is trying to cover it up.

  

  ELS at the end revealing full story

•  Restricted narration is used to keep the audience guessing until the end where the story is revealed. This means that the audience know the same or less than the characters and therefore only allows us to assume what has happened/what will happen and it creates shock when it is revealed. For example, we do not see the female characters face until the end, we only see extreme close ups of her body and therefore don't know if she's alive. This creates enigma for the audience (questions: is he killing her? who is she? why is there blood?)
  

  

  An example of the ECU we see of the woman

• Lovefield uses Roland Barthes idea of Action codes (codes that tell us an action will take place) to make the audience predict the plot so that the twist comes as a shock. For example, the close up knife being stabbed into the ground, the crow etc signal to the audience that a murder has taken place even though it hasn't..
• Todorov's theory also applies here:
• Equilibrium - we see a cornfield, appears to be nothing wrong
• Disruption - we see a woman on the floor with blood and a knife with a man standing above her, we think she is being attacked
• Confrontation - the man goes over to his truck to get a blanket, we think he is going to cover up her body
• Resolution - the baby is born safely
• New equilibrium  -the police arrive to help and the woman has her baby

Representation

Gender

• The stereotypical antagonist in a thriller film is a middle aged man, and Lovefield has used this stereotype to make the audience believe the male character is an antagonist when really he is helping the woman.The male character has got quite a big build and appears quite tall which makes him appear quite overpowering and intimidating rather than being scrawny and short.
• However at the end when it's revealed he was helping the film goes against this stereotype that big, tall, men are tough and scary as he appears quite sensitive and loving through his facial expressions and body language.
  

Audience

• The audience play a big part in the success of this film as it is reliant on them picking up on the conventions of a thriller in the film to make them predict where the plot is going and then to understand and accept the plot twist.
• This short film is received to the audience through the internet and is available on Vimeo (a website for short films) and Youtube (on the directors youtube channel). Therefore the audience may be people who watch youtube videos regularly as they may see it on there whilst sifting through videos. Or maybe people who have an interest in short films who would watch them on Vimeo.
• The film would also have an audience of people who like the thriller genre (mainly boys) because the film appears to be a thriller at first.