People alway enjoy watching a time loop story. The high expectation to see a seamless connection between the beginning and ending, is how audience judge whether it’s worthy to use this technique or not. Here we’re not going to mention those in-theater movies, examples like the Triangle (2009), what I use here as a perfect example is a short fiction film, directed by Olivier Treiner. It’s only about 14 mins long, with a storyline that’s dense and intricate, I think it relates to what we have been doing a lot (short but powerful projects.) In addition to the use of time loop, this short film also did an excellent job of both shooting and editing. For instance, the matched action shots, the way it leads the unanswered question, as well as its sound design, are all prominent examples for us to learn.
The time loop technique the editor used in the l’Accorrdeur is a combination of visual and audio. As we first hear the piano, then we see the main character, who’s playing piano, in his underwear, with another person standing behind him, and cut to a man sitting on the couch quietly, with his eyes open. While we are all confused by what is going on here, we hear a loud sound of possibly “door slamming” (00:57), it matches the next shot of the pianist walking to the stage from the back. We might think he made that sound from coming out from the backstage and closed the door behind him until we get to the ending.
The opening scene shows up again (10:43), but this time we know better about what’s going on, as the story continues, the “door slamming” sound now revealed as the sound of a nail gun, but the lady hasn’t triggered the gun yet. Now the exact same shot just creates a new unanswered question — did the main character die?
The use of matching sound effects in the l’Accordeur helps to build up its successful time loop, as well as the new unanswered question at the end that makes the audience watch it again and again trying to find the answer. So I think for a time loop story, sometimes it would be nice to leave the unanswered question unanswered.
l’Accordeur (The Piano Tuner) – Olivier Treiner from Raphaël Treiner / SHERIFF on Vimeo.
Olivier Treiner’s short film “l’Accordeur” masterfully uses the time loop technique, blending visual and audio elements like matched action shots and sound effects. The intriguing storyline and clever transitions keep viewers engaged. The unresolved ending raises new questions, enhancing rewatchability and demonstrating the power of leaving some mysteries intact my loyola