The document provides an analysis of the film "Tick Tock". It summarizes that the film follows Roland Barthes' "Enigma Code" by keeping the narrative a mystery until the end. While the film is in reverse throughout, key clues are revealed about the characters and their relationship. In the end, it is revealed that the beginning of the film is actually the end, and vice versa. Color and lighting are used to build tension and convey emotion. Overall the film challenges the audience to reflect on time and relationships through its unconventional structure and storytelling techniques.

1. Analysis of Tick-Tock
Margaret Ansu

2. 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.

3. 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.

4. 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.

5. 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.

6. 4
7
2
5
8
3
6
9
1

7. 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.

8. 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.

9. 1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12

10. 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.

11. 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.

12. 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.

13. 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.