The opening scene of ‘Lovefield’ creates a foreboding and scary atmosphere due to the continuous non diegetic soundtrack combined with the diegetic sound of the wind connoting danger, horror and violence. Restricted narration is then used to fool the spectator into a false sense of security. Within the short film many action and enigma codes are used, as proposed by Roland Barthes. The first being the eerie soundtrack and sound of the dead phone tone playing out giving the impression that someone was in trouble and calling for help when something bad interrupted them and they were unable to use the phone.
The second and most important is the crow. It is seen throughout the short film and is crucial to the plot. It signifies and resembles horror as iconography for that genre. The main character has multiple eye-line matches with the crow and its continuous ‘squawking’ make it appear as if the crow is mirroring the crime that the spectator believes is happening.
The sign also gives you an impression of the isolated location the film is set in. The long establishing shots at the beginning of the film convey the huge empty fields. The creaky sign again connotes horror and the shot of it emphasises the characters isolated as you are able to see the almost never-ending fields behind it.
The film is in a linear narrative structure, Todorovs 5 stage process can be applied.
The first stage is an EQUILIBRIUM - The film begins seemingly normally with multiple shots of a wheat field. It appears peaceful with just the diegetic sound of the wind, however an eerie soundtrack begins to play which creates a sense of foreboding for the spectator.
The second stage of Todorov's stage process is DISRUPTION - This is when a change alters the characters world. When the camera slowly tracks over a phone on the ground, bits of clothing covered in blood, money and ends on a muddy foot wriggling. This combined with the diegetic sounds of the phone beeping and a woman groaning in pain. This is seen as the disruption to the spectator as it has disturbed the original peace and implies that something awful is happening.
The next stage is CONFRONTATION - In Lovefield the spectator is lead to believe that the man is an antagonist as restricted narration, mise en scene and sound are all applied to create the image of an antagonist. The confrontation is when the man starts to panic running frantically to his car and is disturbed by the crow pecking on top of his vehicle.
The 4th stage is RESOLUTION - This is where the spectator realises the man is actually helping the women give birth and isn't harming her in anyway. The entire build up to this resolution with the use of cinematography such as restricted narration, extremely closeups, with the use of mise en scene, the bloody props and dead phone, combined finally with the eerie music creates the image of a murderous antagonist. However the resolution reveals the man is the hero and simply stopping his farm work and helping the woman in need as she gives birth.
The 5th and final stage is the NEW EQUILBIRIUM - This is when the police car arrives and is flagged down and brought to the woman who has just given birth as is shows how she is no completely safe and will be taken to a hospital. The earlier music change from horror to a happy and harmonious tune with the change of shots and the entire atmosphere almost makes the audience feel bad for assuming the worst and judging the farmer.
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