SHORT FILM ANALYSIS 1:TICK TOCK - BY LEN CHI

Sunraj Bolina

Tick Tock - By Len ChiTick Tock is a short film written and directed by Len Chi. The film plays backwards (from the end to the beginning). The short film is a drama, the genre is difficult to see at the beginning of the film, however the audience realise that it is a drama as the narrative develops.

The film shows the main character (EMIT) try and resolve any problems he has with his family and friends, as he thinks he only has a couple minutes left to live, as a result of taking what he thought was aspirin but turned out to be morphine pills. However the whole thing is a lie, his friend (BUDDY) is playing a prank on him. Towards the end of the film (the narratives beginning) his friend is laughing behind his back but puts on a straight face when they have eye contact.

At the start of the film (the narratives end) Buddy explains that it was a prank. The short film displays a message at the end, a quote by Steve Jobs connoting to the audience that when the time of death comes by, we forget about the meaningless things and focus on what is truly important. The film is in foreign language (what seems to be Spanish) therefore there are English subtitles.

The opening scene

The opening frame shows a clock going anti-clockwise. There is no background music other than the sound of the clock ticking. My first impression was that the clocks anti-clockwise movement is highly significant.

From this first frame the audience are not yet aware of what the genre of the short film is. However just like myself, other viewers will begin to wonder why the clock is going anti-clockwise and what will happen next.

An enigma is created and this instantly hooks the viewers in and makes them want to carry on watching.

There is artificial colouring to darken the wall, this puts greater emphasis on the clock and its significance to time moving backwards. The camera is hand-held as it is shaky. This makes the viewers slightly disorientated, corresponding with the confused impression the films gives the audience.

From this first frame the camera pans to the right to show the woman (RENA) sitting on the bed. As she gets up Emit enters the room and hugs Rena. This part of the short film is not backwards. However after the ‘COWARDICE’ text appears on the screen, the short film goes backwards as it shows Emit leave the room with his back towards the door (displaying that he is in reverse/moving backwards, as if the whole film is in rewind).

The small box seems to be significant as it is in focus and the two characters are blurred in the background. When the text appears on the screen the audience may be confused as to why that is there. Then when it appears later on in the film the audience start to realise that the text represents Emit’s emotions and feelings throughout the short film.

The two characters hug, this established the relationship between them. Their body language and facial expressions indicate that they seem to be boyfriend and girlfriend. From here the audience know that they have history.

When the camera pans to the right and shows Rena, there is a ‘whoosh’ sound. This always occurs when movement occurs e.g. Rena standing up and the door closing. The sound hooks the viewers onto their screens as it build tension and suspense. We begin to associate this sound with something that is highly relevant in the film. This is how the audience pick up on the narrative.

After Emit and Rena hug, the short film goes backwards. Showing Emit leave the room wit his back to the door (showing how the film is in reverse). After Emit leaves there is the sound of a heartbeat. The camera pans to the right showing Buddy in the room and Emit entering the room backwards. He is in a panicked state which explains the heartbeat. The ‘whoosh’ sound occurs after something relevant and significant happens. Emits is tense and stressed, this is shown through his body language. The audience can easily see the characters body language through the use of medium shots and the panning technique used. The panning technique makes the sequence flow, especially with the film going backwards the panning technique allows the audience to establish that the film is in reverse. If hard cuts were used instead of the panning and tracking techniques the spatial ability would be very weak. The use of good camera movement allows character positioning to show.

At this stage we still do not know why Emit is so stressed and tense. Buddy says ‘it was a prank’ this indicated to the audience that some of Emits behaviour was caused by this prank. Rena is also stressed as she does not know what is going on. This rubs out on Emit as he is not 100% sure whether Buddy is telling the truth or not. The state of confusion makes the audience interested in the short film as they want to know what the storyline is and the reasoning behind Emits strange behaviour.

Emit explains to Rena that he might black out any second. His hands are on Rena’s shoulders, Rena’s is holding Emits wrists. Emit tells Rena that he still loves her. This connotes to the audience that they used to be boyfriend and girlfriend and have history together. The audience only know that Emit thinks he is going to die because he thought he took morphine pills , this is shown towards the end of the short film. After watching the film the audience know why he was trying to resolve all of his lifelong problems.

He says that he wanted to give the wooden box back and Rena responds by saying why are you doing this now? This conforms that they used to be boyfriend and girlfriend however something happened which caused them to break up. The camera pans from right to left a couple times to match the confused state Emit is in. This works well as it makes the audience slightly disorientated however we can still see the characters clearly to see their expressions.

The sound effect of the heartbeat continues and there is music added. The music is eerie which adds to the suspense which is created through camera movement and acting. Rena explains that she's been through a rough time because Emit took the object. Emit is then shown getting up from the bed, slowly moving away towards the door with his back towards it (to show how everything is in reverse/backwards). Rena says ‘Emit? what are you doing here?’, this shows the audience that the short film is backwards/in reverse.

Emit runs out of the building, the camera shows him and his professor. Emit is shouting at his professor. The dialogue indicates that Emit is fed up with his education. At this stage of the film we do not know why he is so fed up and agitated. We know that the film is in backwards and he is acting tense because he had to tell Rea how he truly felt before his time runs out. There is non-diegetic sound playing; a violin symbolises

his mood (related to the romantic part of the film - Rena and Emits relationship). There is also an instrumental – beat playing which corresponds with the fast movement and actions of Emit. The music also goes well with the long takes in the film, there are not cuts in the shots, it is all continuous which makes the viewers hooked onto their screens as the watch the storyline develop. A fast beat and violin are usually used in drama films, where the film is upbeat but has an emotional aspect to it. The text ‘REPUTATION’ appears on the screen. The sound of lightening strikes to lay greater emphasis on the word that shows Emit’s feelings. Here we establish that Emit does not care about his reputation as he argues with his professor. Here we begin to realise why Emit is in a rush, he explained to Rena that he doesn’t have much time left, this is the reasoning behind his careless and reckless actions. Gradually with the use of the film being in reverse we begin to establish the narrative and storyline.

Emit gives his pin to a woman collecting donations. This shows the audience how serious his problem is, he does not care about money, he wants to resolve issues with Rena as he is in a rush to get to her before he dies.

It is here when the audience start to realise how serious the problem is. By giving his pin to the woman collecting donations he does not take about his hard earned money. This makes the viewers curious as to why he is doing this, we are eager to know what life threatening problem he has.

The text ‘GREED’ appears on the screen. This symbolises that by giving all of his money away he is no longer greedy. This could show how his personality has developed, now that he knows he is going to die.

Emit is on the phone to his mother, he tells his mother that he lover her and his father. He tries to resolve any life long problems with his parents by telling his mother that he is sorry for being a bad son and disappointing them.

The is the sound of crows in the background. This symbolises many things such as death – as Emit only has a few minutes to live. This could also symbolise back luck as Emit suffers from a life threatening problem. The back luck could also symbolise other things in his life such as his broken relationship with Rena and his parents. It is also said that if a crow crosses you, you should change your outlook to life. This is exactly what Emit is trying to do as he tries to fix all broken ties and problems that have occurred in his life. He does a self-less act (donating all of his money) to try and reconcile his greedy ways.

The text ‘INDIFFERENCE’ appears on the screen. Emit is rushing to call his mother. The word describes his late attempt to try and change his ways, not wanting to be the man who has a lack of interest and concern in everything he does. This could also explain why some of his problems have occurred such as his broken relationship with Rena – all due to his indifference. This explains how in the past Emit did not really care abut his life as a mellow man, but now due to his situation he is concerned about every aspect of his life as he tries to make amends.

This shows how Emit in the past used to be lazy, but now in the space of a couple of minutes he is the opposite as he rushes to make amends of the mistakes he has made in his life. The whole film has artificial colouring added to make the short film look gloomy which builds to the suspense and disorientation theme of the short film (corresponding with the film going in reverse/backwards).

Emit tells Buddy to call 911, as he is desperate to stay alive and get help for his condition. Buddy looks worried as he looks at Emit, however hen Emit turns away Buddy starts laughing as he cannot contain his humour. This connotes to the audience that Buddy was playing a prank on Emit, as a normal person would not laugh at someone who is in Emit’s situation. The non – diegetic sound of a heartbeat plays again to add to the seriousness of the situation. We begin to sympathise with Emit as he thinks he is going to die, however this is all a prank which is something he is not aware of. We also feel sorry for Emit as we know the embarrassment he would feel once he realises that this is all a prank, he gave all of his money away to donations and ruined his educated by shouting abusive things to his professor. He made himself look like a panicked lunatic in front of his peers, parents and Rena. Despite all of this, he did manage to change his personality and attitude to life.

Buddy continues to laugh at Emit. Viewers may perceive Buddy to be the antagonist as he plays a massive prank on Emit – as he thinks he is going to die shortly. Buddy lets the prank continue to the stages where Emit does reckless and embarrassing things.

Here we finally see the reason behind Emits actions , Buddy tells him take what he thought were aspirin is really morphine pills from Buddy’s lab. The black and white colouring makes the scene emotional. The change in colour could represent that something is going to happen. This is exactly what happened the cause of Emits actions was shown in this scene, the change of colour represents the significance of the scene.

The heart beat stops as the film rewind/plays backwards, showing Emit taking the pill. We have already seen Emit taking the pill however the film plays backwards. The heartbeat stops because at this stage in the film Emit does not know that he has taken (fake) ‘morphine pills’. The box is in the shot because the film is backwards therefore it is played as if he still needs to go to Rena.

We see pictures of Rena in the bin, this reinforces what we know, that something happened between Rena and Emit which caused their broken relationship. It seems as though Rena and Emit had just broken up or argued beforehand, the audience may think that he is taking aspirin pills because he got a headache from arguing with Rena which is also why the pictures are in the pin. Recalling back to Rena and Emit’s conversation he says ‘I was pissed off’. This shows that they had just recently argued and broke up.

The camera pans to the left showing the clock, it is going anti-clockwise to show time going backwards/in reverse which is how the short films narrative was played. There is no background sound, only the clock can be heard, a simple tick tock sound is played to make the audience focus on the clock and time moving backwards. Usually in drama films, especially tragedy drama films there is only one simple sound played, this sometimes occurs at the end where directors and editors want the audience to reflect back on the film and realise the significance of the narrative, shots and editing.

Here we see a quote by Steve Jobs, this quote is a message to the audience. It is trying to make viewers know that the small things in life matter the most and this is usually only acknowledged when the time of death comes by. Emit changed his outlook of life only when he thought he had moments to live. The film has a meaning behind it. In a sense the director was trying to say that if you could turn back time you would do things differently and try to make amends of our mistakes, however you shouldn’t do this only when death is near. This is the main reason why the whole film was going backwards.

The quote fades out and the clock begins to turn normally – clockwise. The clock holds great power. It is here when the audience take in everything that has happened and even try to reflect back on their own life's. The clock going clockwise shows that this was all a prank and that life continues normally.

Summary The cinematographer keeps the camera recording, utilising the great use of long takes and medium shots. The camera does not zoom in or out, instead the cameraperson moves closer or further away from the actors. The long takes, medium shots, long shots, panning technique and tracking corresponds with the state of confusion created by the film going backwards. Long takes help create good special awareness. The unsteady camera movement makes the audience feel as if they are a part of each conversation in the short film. There is disequilibrium with the film going backwards, however the audience are able to connect with the film and understand the narrative as the storyline develops and with the help of the subtitles.

The simple but yet effective use of music, sound effects and background noise is common in all drama films, where the sound can dominant the whole film when there is not that much dialogue involved. The lack of dialogue is suppressed by the great acting. The actors body language and facial expressions help the audience fill in gaps in the narrative, where viewers can also understand the characters.

Len Chi displays a quote towards the end of he film, however this message is involved from the start to the end. The text on the screen shows how Emit is changing. The message at the end make the audience start to think about the most important figures and things in their lives and how they can change. The whole storyline has a meaning behind it, the director wants people to change for the better before it is too late. The quote by Steve Jobs at the end of the film makes people want to change before time runs out and death is near by.