Analysis of Alone Time

Analysis of Alone Time 

Alone Time is a short film, released in 2014, produced  by Josh Murphy and directed by Rod Blackhurst. This film is a drama following the story of a young woman, stressed by her busy and continually crowded New York City existence who spontaneously retreats to a solitary lake deep in the Adirondacks. Even though throughout it is presented as a drama, it could also be argued that it is a thriller due to the way it ends. This film explores themes of loneliness, adaptation to adult life, love and freedom. All of these themes are explored through the protagonist, Ann. We are not really introduced to any other characters, unless they are in relation to her- which immediately lets the audience understand that this character is alone. The director also uses Mise en scene, cinematography and the character of Ann as a way of exploring these themes. 

One of the themes that the director explores through this short film is that or adult life and the impact it can have on people if they are not ready. 

The first shot that we see is as an establishing shot of a city. Even though this shot is used by the director as a way of establishing the location in which the film will be set, it is also used as a way of introducing some of the key themes that the director wants to get across. In this shot there are absolutely no people.From this we can infer that throughout this film there will not be a lot of human interaction. In addition to this, in this shot the city does not seem to be capture in a positive way. The city itself and the weather surrounding the location are very bleak colours which immediately gives the audience the impression that this city is not positive, in both the the opportunities it can provide and the impact it has on its inhabitants. Another way in which the director explores the negative impact of career life is through the train station scene. In this scene we see a train go past, at an extremely fast speed. The loud sound of the train could be a metaphor for the overwhelming natural of adulthood and the unexpected emotions that go with it. 

Another theme which is heavily explored in this short film is that of loneliness and freedom. The two shots which capture the exploration of these themes the most is one at the very beginning and one towards the end.  
In this shot we can see that the setting is very darkly lit. We can also see that the main character is standing right in the middle of the shot. From this it can be inferred that Ann is caught up in the negativity of the city and cannot escape from it. From this shot we also get a sense that Ann is in a place that she does not belong. This can be supported by the fact that there are some lights in the shot, however none of them fall on Ann. This highlights the fact that she is surrounded by darkness, whether that be internal or external. The shot that directly contrasts with it is that one where Ann is outside in natural, following her big escape from the city. 
In a way, this shot paraelle to the latter due the position in which Ann is standing and so therefore directly contrasts with it. In this shot the colours that are captured are bright and vibrant-which portrays the happiness and ultimately uphoria  that Ann feels while being away from New York. Also, the colours in this shot are colours of nature. It could be argued that this was done by the director as a way or presenting to the audience that Ann is somehow suppose to be a way from the hectic atmosphere of the city. 

From watching Alone time it can be concluded that the themes explored in this film, much like the film itself is linear and at many stages crosses over. The fact that the director decided to make it a short film instead of a regular length film could be either due to the fact that the production company did not have budget to present the ideas in a substantial way through one. Or it could be due the fact that the director believed that it would have been more effective to condense the ideas and themes onto a smaller platform. 

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