Emily Smail

Love Is All You Need?

 

Written by K. Rocco Shields and David Tillman 

Directed by K. Rocco Shields

 

Love Is All You Need, is a short film about a society where hetrosexuality is highly looked down upon and punished. When twelve year old hetrosexual Ashley can no longer stand up against her bullying peers, she takes her own life. It would seem that the depression Ashley feels could be similar to someone with a mental illness, afterall, that is how her society treats her, along with disgust. 

 

I am very interested in the scene where Ashley commits suicide, after considering a suicide scene in my own film I am intrigued to see how others have brought about this event. 

There is not much no diagetic sound in the scene, besides the odd dripping of a bathroom tap which suggests time is moving slowly and the girl is impatient for death to come. The other non diagetic sound is when her mothers find her in the bathroom at the end and scream with emotional pain. The non diagetic sound is a piano and stringed backing track so the whole scene is that but silent without the music. You can see Ashley crying and screaming but the music only continues to louden, displaying that the amount of pain and distress she is in is increasing. 

 

The Camera Work in this scene also has a big impact. As soon as Ashley locks herself in the bathroom, she stares into the mirror for a while. There are many close ups of things that the director wants the audience to focus on, mainly Ashleys face so her distress and sadness is obvious, and the tools she later chooses to end her life. But also her hands gripping the sink for support, in an attempt to keep herself upright. 

 

Other shots that I find hold value, is that where Ashley is looking in the mirror and the shot is an over the shoulder one so the audience can see her looking at herself. I find that Shields did this to display to the audience Ashley's own disgust in herself, and not just looking in the mirror to see her reflection; but to reflect her life back into her eyes. It is here that she sees that being hetrosexual is clearly wrong and the world that she lives in holds no place for people like her. 

 

I also like this scene in relation to my own film I like how the shots are eddited to build up tension and drama. Whilst Ashley is in the bathroom, there are various shots which build up in pace to symbolsie how quickly bad thoughts and memories are racing through her head. The shots consit of her crying, washing her beaten face, her mothers desperatly trying to get into the bathroom and flashbacks to traumatic events that make her feel the way she does now. The flashbacks are obvious because not only are they events that the audience have already seen, they are editted in a brighter light that one could associate with thinking back.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Another aspect of lighting that I thought was effective was before Ashley heads to the bathhroom, she is laying in bed and it is very dark. I feel that this mimicks her depression and sudeen suicidal thoughts. The only flicker of light that comes across her face is when a car zooms past outside shouting abusive things to her house. This implies that Ashley lives in a dark world of her own and the only flicker of light that the outside world has to offer is full of hatred.