Short Film Analysis: Time Trap

In this post, I am going to analyse the short film 'Time Trap'. The full film is shown below:

Title Sequence with retro font and psychedelic music

‘Time Trap’ is a seven minute, comedy/sci-fi short film. The film begins with a shot with a shallow depth of focus. This creates a sense of mystery. Then, as a space ship flies past and the camera pans, the title sequence begins. The font of ‘Time Trap’ is very retro and eighties inspired. Also, music begins to play. This music is very psychedelic and this juxtaposes the genre of the film which is sci-fi. At the beginning we see a space ship flying around in space. This establishes the idea of a state of equilibrium which follows Todorov’s Theory of Narrative, a common structure in many narratives. Meanwhile lots of XLS are used to show that the space ship is minuscule compared to the vast space around it. 

Focus Pull from astronaut to warning sign (red lights)

The astronaut in the spaceship is then shown to be sleeping which reassures the audience that everything is normal and how it should be. However, as the astronaut is sleeping, flashing red light can be seen in the background which is not in focus. This catches the eye of the audience and therefore there is a focus pull from the astronaut to the warning message flashing in the space ship. This is the start of the disruption. It is the audience that know this however the main character hasn’t noticed this yet and this is a feature of a film which follows Todorov’s Theory. It then cuts to outside the ship where there is a small explosion on the ship and this wakes up the astronaut. At this moment the disruption has been recognised by the main character, following Todorov’s Theory. After this there are lots of fast camera movements and lots of fast paced editing. This creates tension, along with diagetic siren sounds and these editing and camera techniques are conventional features of the sci-fi. Non-diagetic violins can also be heard and these are commonly used in horror films to build tension. This mix of conventional horror music and sci-fi costume and setting connotes that the astronaut may not fit very well in the environment that he is in which is also supported by the fact that he was asleep earlier on in the film.

Red lighting dominates shots which portrays danger

Later the music suddenly turns to silence as the astronaut presses a button on the control panel of the ship. This implies to the audience that the ship has been fixed and that a new equilibrium has been created within the narrative of the film. However this turns out to be a false sense of security as a pipe within the ship bursts suddenly. This is effective as it also creates comedy as the astronaut is failing at his job. The fast paced editing and tense music begins again. Also, red lighting becomes very dominant within the film and this connotes that the astronaut is in danger. Then as the shape heads towards a large planet, trumpets and xylophones begin to play within the music. These types of instruments aren’t very conventional when creating tense music and the xylophone also has connotations of weakness. This continues the implication of the astronaut being quite bad at his job. 

XLS of crashed spaceship

Astronaut walking on rocky landscape

After a long crash course towards a large planet, the space ship crashes onto the surface of what seems to be a post-apocalyptic Earth. This is connoted through a broken bridge in the distance and lots of rocky and dusty land surrounding the ship. When the astronaut goes to look at the damage to his ship, a MS is used to show the damage made to the ship. As the astronaut discovers what the problem is, comedic body language is used to express the feelings of the astronaut as he wears a mask and is unable to speak with clarity. However, he now knows what he must do to fix the ship and this gives him an objective to complete and this drives forward the narrative.

Astronaut acquires a new tool to help him fix his ship

After this, elliptical editing is used which cuts the astronaut walking back into his ship out and cuts straight to the astronaut inside his ship and about to pick up a tool known as a ‘Time Trapper’. This gives the astronaut the ability to travel to any point in time at any place. The idea of a character receiving a tool to help aid them is a common plot point in a Proppian narrative. This film however doesn’t follow a Proppian narrative but it does have features of a film that does. Next, it cuts to a canted angle of the astronaut outside his ship once again. This implies that something out of the ordinary is happening or is going to happen. The astronaut uses his newly acquired tool to travel to different periods of time at different locations to try and find the parts he needs to fix his ship. At this point we see him use many different gadgets to complete his objective (e.g. time trapper, rocket boots) and this is a common feature of sci-fi films.

The time trapper is a device that creates domes that help the astronaut travel to different moments in time at a particular location. CGI is used later on in the film to create these domes. Inside these domes, it shows earth before the apocalyptic phase. More vibrant and saturated colour is used within these domes and this portrays the idea of happiness and peace. It then bits to a two shot of inside the dome where a man is proposing to his girlfriend. The use of colour also helps  The astronaut then jumps into the action and steals their ring in which he uses as a mineral to help fix up his ship. After This, he carries on his journey to find parts to fix his ship. As he walks along the dry, rocky Earth, the camera follows him. This effective as it makes the audience feel as if they are going on this journey with the astronaut and this makes the audience feel involved with the film. Then, the astronaut spots a street performer playing an electric didgeridoo. To add a sense of comedy to the film, the astronaut goes into the dome and stops his performance by strolling into the dome and smacking the instrument out of his hands. This creates comedy as the astronaut takes time out of completing his main objective to stop the performance. This gives the astronaut a sense of personality and this reminds the audience that the astronaut is still human and this adds a sense of warmth to the comedy. 

Zoom in used on the toy the children are playing with

After that, the astronaut notices some children playing in one of the domes he created and one of them is playing with a toy mechanical arm which happens to be the shape of the pipe in which he needs to find to fix his ship. The audience know that he has noticed this as a very quick zoom is used to hone in on the toy. It cuts to a LS from the location in which the children are playing and the astronaut appears in front of them. The use of costume helps create tension as the world in which the children are in is very colourful compared to the astronauts costume and this creates a sense of eeriness. As the astronaut walks closer and closer to the children, the diagetic sound of wind gets louder and louder and this helps build tension. Then, the tension reaches its climax when a man goes over to the astronaut and grabs his neck. At this point, non diagetic, tense music begins to play and fast paced editing is used. However, to avoid harm, the astronaut makes his way out of the dome in which he travelled into to get the toy. It ends up with the astronaut outside the dome and the man on the inside of the dome. However, part of the mans arm is on the outside and this has turned into the bone of the arm. This has connotations of death and this implies to the audience that there is little life on the post-apocalyptic Earth in which the astronaut crash landed on. Then suddenly, the astronaut uses his device to get rid of the dome and when he does this the music stops and the astronaut is left with part of a skeletons arm on his neck. This create shock within the audience as it implies that the mans hand was taken off in the world inside the dome. 

Contrast of colours in the two different times

POV shot of astronaut as he compares the objects

Once all this as happened, a point of view shot from the astronauts perspective is used as he compares the shape of the arm with the broken pipe from the ship. This implies that he thinks that the arm would help him fix the ship. As he looks it cuts to a MCU of the astronaut looking at the two objects. After looking at them, the lights in his eyes turn green and this connotes the idea of completion. Elliptical editing is used once again to cut out the irrelevance of the astronaut walking to his ship, fixing it and getting back in. This is all implied through the use of this type of editing. It cuts to an XLS of the ship blasting off back into space. As the ship blasts off into space, there is an insert shot of the arm that has replaced the broken pipe on the ship. The camera also cranes downwards along the arm. This creates comedy as it is very surreal and would never work in the real world. This also creates a new equilibrium within the narrative of the film as the astronaut has completed his objective and can return back to space. As the space ship leaves the planets atmosphere, a high angle shot is used and this makes the world seem small and therefore re-establishes the idea of space being vast and giant. The film ends as the space ship flies towards the camera and as it reaches the camera, the screen turns to black, signifying the end of the narrative and the film. Finally it cuts to the end credits. The psychedelic music from the beginning of the film returns and the font used is once again very retro. Also a grid can be seen in the background and this is commonly associated with space and time which are common associations with the Sci-fi genre.

Credits sequence. Similar to Title sequence