LoveField - Holly Stone

Lovefield

Narrative

The opening sequence of Lovefield includes non-diegetic sound of a piano which generates an eerie enigma. There is a clear use of restricted narration throughout the first shots of the film. The slow panning of the camera from a crane shot alongside the music and the edited diegetic sound of the cornfields blowing builds suspense within the audience. 

The sound of a sign blowing in the wind is introduced by the diegetic sound of squeaking. Again this adds to the eeriness of the film alongside how restricted the narration is. The audience is currently left actively guessing as to what they are about to see.

Above is a shot we can see a crow standing on top of a road sign whichis blowing in the wind. Stereotypically a crow represents death or even bad luck, 
this restricted narration only allows the audience to guess though. 

The crow begins to call out, the diegetic sound and the non-diegetic music begins to echo through the cornfield, adding again to the restricted narriation and raising more suspense.

To the left the music cuts out on this shot of a phone laying in the hay. This suggests something such as rape or murder may have happened. Because the phone is on the ground, and a loud non-diegetic beeping sound is playing, the audience may presume an emergency is taking place.

Above is the shot where we hear screaming and potential crying of a woman

taking place. The sudden sound may surprise the audience and intentionally 

worry them as to what they may see in the next scene. She then continues

to get louder by screaming (diegetic sound). 

The next cut shows what appears to be a bloody towel on the floor. This again adds to the suspense of the scene and suggests without narration that this may be a crime scene.

The woman continues to sound as if she is struggling, squealing but then falling silent. An object, appearing to be a knife is thrown to the ground as we presume that the woman has stopped breathing, pronouncing the end of the struggle. A camera pan moves up a male character in a closeup, the crow calling once more, possibly symbolizing a new death? 

Who we assume is a murderer, a farmer looking man, begins to become more aware 
and his body language effectively shows that he may be frightened about something. The crows sound becomes more persistent, almost as if its squawking at him. The non-diegetic sound begins to increase in pace and rhythm and generates a lot of suspense.

The man we see is represented as a possible antagonist rather than a protagonist. However, at the end of the film, it turns out the man who we presumed was the antagonist, was in fact not an antagonizer at all, he was helping a woman give birth to her child. This outcome is the complete opposite to what the director lead the audience to believe. Effectively what the director has achieved is a binary opposition, which means he lead the audience to believe one out come, when it is the complete opposite to what actually happened. 

The absence of narration throughout the short film presented the audience with questions and answers they were making up for themselves, which then is surprised when the truth of the film is revealed. Keeping the suspense and the enigma at the beginning of the film is one effective way to draw in the audiences attention , a skill we may use for our short film coursework.