- Genre = Thriller / Some horror aspects. Camera work - Shaky, hand-held effect. Often used to show danger in thrillers, or used in POV. Extreme clos
e ups on body parts to show clear facial expression, and sometimes to make the viewer uncomfortable/claustraphobic. Spinning worm's view shots (e.g.
directed at the trees above) which gave a sense of dizziness and disorientation. Iconography - scarecrow, woods, dead animal, birds, little girl being followed, shadows. All these go to construct a traditional thriller image. - The use of black
and white was inventive as it could be argued it was done to represent either the theory that we dream in black and white or that dogs are colour blind. High contrast and emphasis on bright whites (<--) used, as well as some out of focus shots and jumpy editing (breaking conventional continuity) ga
ve it a dream-like look, which furthered the surreal style. In places, this also made it more chil-like which may have been a subtle way of making the audience identify more with the character. At some points there were overlapping images like here (-->) where the dog running home turns into an image of the girl's legs running, then back again. This suggests to the audience that they are the same and gives a clue as to the idea of the film. The aspects of the film that were unique to a traditiona
l thriller were the lack of blood (though it could be argued this is more horror iconography) and less tension than you would typically expect. Another interesting use of lighting (most likely done in post-production) are the shots in which there is a dark circle around the outside of the frame, with a lighter bit in the middle (<--) This could have been done to highlight the action, and possibly also to further the dream-like quality.
- This film didn't have a simple beginning/middle/end structure, and although it followed a linear narrative there was purposefully no clear character construction at the beginning and the lack of dialogue made it more challenging to understand the stor
y (different to 'Joyride' in that respect). The final shot reminds the audience of the title and puts it in more context (on sign on a gate, in a 'Beware of the dog' style) which brings the story to a close without having fully explained what's h
appened, leaving the audience to come to their own conclusions. The opening shot is a shaky zoom in to an electricity pylon which acts as a kind of establishing shot of the setting before we see the girl. It also allows us to listen to the background sound (helicopter - suggesting a search is going on and dog barking) without having to pay too much attention to the action at the same time. The titles are kept very simple (white writing over black screen) so as not to detract from the story or give any clues as to the content. - Both the diegetic and non-diegetic sounds help to construct
the thriller atmosphere. There are birds screeching and whistling wind noises as well as the sound of the tires of the van rolling up emphasised to draw more attention to it. When we are first introduced to the girl, if you listen carefully, you can hear first a whisper of 'Lou-Lou' and then what we would assume is her parent calling 'Lou-Lou, Lou-Lou!'. This, as well as the helicopter sound in the first shot, helps to construct an expectation that this girl has run away from home or is lost with people out looking for her (obviously, this idea is challenged as the rest of the action unflods). There is also sin
ister piano music that runs throughout the film which sounds to be almost random and without a particular pattern, but sometimes lingers on repetition of two notes in quick succession to create eerie tension. The music gets lower and darker from the moment the van arrives - indicates danger. In the shot where the man comes up behind her
(<--) there is a fast sound that could be the noise of a helicopter underneath the sound of the girl's heavy breathing, which has been echoed to
add emphasis. This makes the viewers understand her emotions more (without the need for dialogue). There is a strained and echoed dog-bark in this shot (-->) as well as fast, low paino cords repeated to create a dark and tense atmosphere leading up to it which (combined with the high contrast, almost inverted-looking shot) is aimed to scare the audience...or at least intimidate. - The film, after having watched it several times, seems to be about the girl (Lou-Lou)'s a
bility to transform into a dog. We are given several clues to this - the way she acts (interested in a dead rabbit, following the birds flying with her eyes, licking a wound on her knee etc.); the search that's going on for her; the man trying to attract her with a small toy. Could be that she's a dog all the way through but we are percieving her as human. The man - wh
ether he is a dog catcher or paedophile (steroeotypically represented by the white van he's driving), or something else completely - is represented in a negative way: we are positioned as an audience to identify with the girl as there are POV shots from her persepective, we are told her name and we have followed her on a journey. However, the moment the girl turns into a dog we see POV shots from the man's perspective as he gets attacked by Lou-Lou and we start to sympathise with him a bit more. The message could be that we shouldn't percieve things as they first appear and stereotypes (cute lost little girl vs. paedophile) shouldn't be taken as the truth.
By Keira Smalley
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