Analysis of Tick-TockMargaret Ansu

Tick Tock

This was a very engaging and insightful film. When watching the film I was hanging on every shot, waiting to see what came next. The narrative of the film remained a mystery to the audience till the end making it clear that the film had mainly been influenced Roland Barthes “Enigma Code”. The director kept the audience in a state of confusion by using reverse throughout the whole film till the very end when it was made clear that to the audience that the beginning was the end and the end the beginning.

Tick Tock: Narrative Theory

When looking at “Narrative Theory” as stated before the film follows Roland Barthes “Enigma Code”. On the other hand the film goes against Todorov’s theory of equilibrium. I believe this is so, for throughout the film there was a sense of disequilibrium, mainly as the film was in reverse but also through the the acting as the main actor was clearly distressed, which is an emotional state that is definitely not of peace and balance.

The first frame of the film is an establishing medium shot of clock going backwards which I only noticed after watching the film a second time. This shot conveys to the audience that time is an important aspect of the film which explains why the film is called “Tick Tock. The shot of the clock is accompanied by the sound of a clock “tick tocking” which was a diegetic sound but however it is obvious some form of sound effect was used to amplify the sound of a clock ticking. The second frame of the film is

medium shot of a girl sitting on a bed. The shot suggest that the girl is of importance within the film. The frame also shows that the film is some a student, as the transitional pan movement to the next frame reveals that her room is small has a desk and contains most of her livelihood. The previous sound of the clock ticking now becomes a delayed distorted sound.

In the next set of frames a man is introduced to the audience. He is then shown to also be an important character within the film, however we are unclear of his role. Although it’s shown that he and the female are in some kind of relationship as through the use of a shallow depth of field the two are out of focus hugging but then a nicely boxed object is then made the center of attention as the camera is at eyelevel with the object. Being at eyelevel with object suggest that the object is of some importance to the man and woman, also because the object is the only real thing in focus.

Text is then used within the film. The word “cowardice” fades in and then fades back out. Whilst it fades out the man seems then moves backwards towards the door he came in from. This causes confusion within the audience along with a non-diegetic sound that keeps on reoccurring. The sound is of that sounds broken, this could be connoting the disequilibrium between the two even though they seem happy and the whole scene.

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From frames 1 to 9 the importance of the characters are established. Also within the 9 frames, dialogue is also introduced. However, we as an audience can not understand what the characters are saying as the film is in reverse therefore subtitles are used to make sense of what they are talking about. Following on, the protagonist is shown to be the man in the grey t-shirt. I know this from frames 3 – 8 as the narrative seems to be centered around him. Also the composition of frames 3 - 6 places him at the center of the shot, whilst the other two characters are on either side of him. The shots also concentrate more on his expressions and actions than it does on the other two characters, especially in the “three shot” of frames 5 and 6.Another factor I’ll like to raise is the lighting of this first sequence of the film; so far it is a normal key of lighting, not to dark not to light to convey any specific emotions. Finally, over the nine frames non-diegetic sound of a fast beating heart is used, suggesting that the protagonist is stressed or in dismay. At the end of frame 9 score music starts to fade in and the distorted sound of a clock starts to fade out.

Later on it’s made clear that the protagonist and the woman are or were in some type of relationship however they were not on good terms and the relationship was broken.The dialogue between the two characters is what denotes this, however the use of free hand movement reinforces the instability of their relationship as the camera is not steady and continues to move across the two. The shots also concentrate on the woman more and a medium two shot is used to convey the dynamics of the relationship to the family.At this point within the film the score music is clear. It conveys emotions of romance and heartbreak, loneliness and grief through the use of stringed instruments and a minor melody being played on the piano, all of which are at a slow tempo.

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Frames 1 – 12 shown in the previous slide depict the next set sequences. Frames 1 – 3 show the protagonist just before he entered the room of the lady. This makes it clear to the audience that the film is definitely in reverse and that what comes next actually comes before in terms of the storyline. From the 2nd is when the score music really takes control of delivering the film in the sense it becomes what carries the film along and depicts the true emotions of the protagonist as the different aspects are unravelled and the shots used aren’t really intimate. The score music continues up until the 11th frame, where more diegetic music takes over.

In frames 6,9, 11 and 12, the use of simple one worded text is used to represent what happened within the frame and what the protagonist actions really meant. However as part of the audience I was still confused why they were being used.

On the other hand we are starting to see how narrative interweaves as we see the protagonist giving away his wallet which links to the dialogue before of him talking bout his wallet. This suggest the storyline is now coming to a resolution.

When looking lighting from frames 1 -12 it seems as if it has become lower. It may be because that the man goes outside however I think it was an effect achieved through editing as the editor tries to convey a certain feeling of darkening of the narrative to the audience. The shots also start to lose colourfulness.

These four frames are examples of how the colouring starts to become more greyscale as the film continues along, suggesting that the seriousness of the situation is intensifying. However the character that was seen in the begging of the film is reintroduced meaning that we are now witnessing the prank. This is reinforced as there are numerous shots of him laughing as the protagonist enters a state of panic.

Within the first frame the use of shallow depth of field concentrates on the protagonist with a medium shot of him looking panicked and worried, as he realises that he only has short to live. The cinematographer breaks the 180 degree rule within this scene however he broke it in a way that was acceptable as he used a long take showing him move from one side to the other, not leaving us the audience in disorientation.

The box from the beginning of the film is shown once again along with pictures of the man and lady together cut up in the bin of his dorm. The whole narrative has no been revealed to the audience completing the final phase of the enigma code. The film then ends with a medium shot of a clock in the mans room . An inspirational quote of text is then placed in front of the clock . The quote acts as a quick summary of the whole film and its basis. The tint is then taken away and the clock moves forward instead of back with the title of the film in sync with the Tick and Tock of the clock.

Conclusion

Overall the film Tick Tock is one of those films that causes the audience to think and reflect over their livelihood. Like many drama films that I myself have watched in past and have seemed to enjoy, Tick Tock contains a questioning underlying message that challenges the individuals who watch the film and .

The execution of using a long take throughout the whole film shows that every single aspect of the film was thought about and planned to the finest detail. It would be great to achieve something like this in our own film but I do not believe we are experienced enough to pull it of. However aspects we can incorporate into our film is the importance of score music within a drama film to help the film move along.