The short film Lovefield by Mathieu Ratthe manipulates the audience by initially making them think it is a thriller about a woman who is murdered in a field by a man, through the use of ominous music, lighting, camerawork, and costumes that make the man seem threatening. However, it is later revealed that the man actually helps the woman give birth to her baby, subverting the audience's expectations and supporting Todorov's theory that films create an initial equilibrium, a disruption, and then a new resolution.

1. I will be analysing the short film…
LOVEFIELD by Mathieu Ratthe
The title suggests a romantic film
but the clouds and the music and
the settings portray the film to be
of a thriller genre.

2. Story + How The Opening Sets It Up
The short film Love Field by Mathieu Ratthe is a very manipulative film to the
audience. It has elements of horror, suspense and drama.
The narrative of this film is that a women is in a field and she is in labour, a man
who was working on the farm is portrayed to be a murderer and makes the
audience think that he has killed her when in reality he is helping her.
There is a theory by Todorov which suggests that all films are the same and start
of with an equilibrium then a disruption occurs and then a new equilibrium will
occur.
This short film supports the theory although the equilibrium does not last a long
time it is still there and it is making audiences think that a disruption is about to
occur and in the end a new equilibrium begins when she has her new born baby.

3. Camera Work
The shot of him in the field
creates a feel of isolation.
Establishing shot of the field
also creates isolation and it
is a typical horror setting.
Everything about the camerawork suggested at
the start that the man was committing a crime.
The way the camera panned up to slowly
reveal him suggested he was a villain, and the
way they didn't reveal much about him at the
start just tattoos and his scruffy clothes, they
also didn't reveal the women just showed parts
of her which could suggest she is just one of
the many victims. In the end they showed a
number of close ups of him holding the baby
which shows he was helping her.
This POV shot is making it look like
he is about to cover up the
women's body and dispose of it. It
is also high angle shot which
makes him look very powerful.
The use of the low angle
camera movement makes the
audience feel the women’s
vulnerability.

4. Mise en scene
The skull tattoo represents death and
toxic and also makes him look like
the villain.
Everything in the mise en scene suggested that the film was of
horror/thriller settings. The lighting and locations and the crow were
typical elements of horror.
The way he is urging to open his boot and is
holding his keys makes him look tough,
scary and big and like he’s frightened to get
caught.
The rest of the film is more lighter
once she gives birth to show
happiness and the mans kindness.
The still foot of the
women and the cloth
covered in blood
portrays the women
to be dead

5. Sound
The sound of the crow lasts throughout
the film. It is also an element of horror
and it creates isolation because there is
no dialogue in the film. It is a diegetic
sound because the characters in the film
can hear the crow. The sound of the sign
moving in the wind is also a convention
of horror and creates thrills.
The sound of the phone starts of being as
an off screen sound then it comes on
screen and it makes the audience think
she tried to contact help but couldn’t
reach anyone and slowly fades out and
becomes off screen sound again. This
makes the audience feel like there is more
of the world in the film then we are
seeing and gives us a sense of life.
The crow banging on the roof of the car starts off as off
screen sound as well and it makes the audience think that
he has been caught but then we see that it is the crow,
watching the man and makes the audience feel like the
crow witnessed the whole crime.

6. Editing
The back and forth
camera movements
between the field and
the crow creates
uneasiness.
This is sort of like a
POV shot from the
boot before he
opens it. It creates
suspense because
we don’t know
what’s inside or
what we will be
seeing next.
In this shot the man is in
the foreground but is
blurred out and the crow
in the background. This
shot makes it seem like
two villains are about to
go head to head and it is
quite scary because it
looks as if they are staring
at each other.
If you look and compare these two shots you see
that once we realize the women is alive and well and
she has had her baby and the man is not a murderer
the scene is more lights and happy whereas before it
was dark and gloomy. This was done to make the
audience think they were watching a horror/thriller
movie and done to play around with the audiences
emotions.

7. Costumes/Props/Locations
Before the baby
After the baby
This prop suggests that this is the
weapon he used to murder her, but he
used it to help her.
Her belongings were abandoned on the
floor, might suggest she was trying to
escape or get to some place because
there is a lot of money.
He is the only sense of life we are seeing. The
location is very deserted and in the middle of
nowhere with fields everywhere and a road. Horror
element.
His costume portrayed him to look like the villain
because he looks like a typical redneck with tattoos
and looks scruffy.
The location has seemed to gotten
lighter after the birth of the baby.
Before it was a typical convention of
a horror with no sense of life
whereas after we see that the man
was working on the fields and
stumbled upon the pregnant women
and helped her and now the scene
looks lighter and happier with more
sense of life.

8. Characters
We don’t really get to know
the women in the film but she
is a key character because we
think she was the victim of a
crime when really she was
stuck in a field in labour and
the man was helping her.
This man was portrayed as a murderer through
the use of costumes and camerawork because he
was made to look like he murdered the women
when in reality he was working on the field when
he happened to come across the lady who needed
help.
The crow is a bad omen and is a
symbol of bad luck and
superstitions, it appears all
throughout the film even when
we cant see it we can hear it so
it becomes a character in the
sense that it is always there
watching what happens.