Narrative

'Thirst' is a perfect example of a film with a circular narrative in which the circle is finally broken right at the very end of the piece. Instead of leaving the audience with a cliffhanger, which is what many directors do when they want to leave a lasting impression on the audience, 'Thirst' instead presents a moral meaning at the end of the film which sticks with the audience.

In order to show that there is a circular narrative, the technical techniques e.g. sound, mise-en-scene, editing and cinematography are constantly repeated once the cycle starts over.

Sound

Throughout the short film, the protagonist makes a lot diegetic shouting and grunting sounds, which imply that he is annoyed with his situation and is struggling with the fact that he cannot find any water. He also is heard to make a lot of panting sounds, which become more frequent the more times the cycle continues, with the man being completely exhausted towards the end of the film.

The non-diegetic music is very loud and dramatic and helps to build tension and excitement at appropriate times. Alongside the panting getting heavier as the cycle continues, the tempo of non-diegetic music increases, creating a heightened feeling of suspense and anticipation. Towards the end of the film when the protagonist has lost hope, the non-diegetic soft piano music produces a strong melancholy atmosphere which changes in tempo once the cycle is broken.

Mise-en-Scene

A majority of the short film is set in the location of the desert, which varies in terrain and gradient. As the narrative progresses, more and more locations are presented to the audience and each time the cycle continues the same locations are visited by the protagonist.

The more the cycle continues, the dirtier the costume of the protagonist gets, as each time he gets teleported back to the desert, he is plummeted into the sand. At the end of the short film where he is sitting helplessly on the pavement, it can also be seen that his jeans are ripped up and that his shoes are ruined from walking across various terrains multiple times.

Editing

Montage - Whilst the protagonist passes through the desert, a montage is used to blend all of the clips nicely together as there is often some kind of a graphic match or match-on-action between the shots.

Ellipsis - As the narrative progresses and the man visits more locations, many of the areas that he passes through are cut out so as to speed up the narrative, but still give the effect that he keeps travelling further and further away from the desert. Despite more and more shots being cut out, the audience assumes that he passes each of the locations again and as shots from the scenes prior to the current one are repeated each time.

Cinematography

Throughout the narrative the same shots with the same framing are used again and again to enhance the repetitive cycle that the protagonist has to endure. The shot of him appearing in the sand is very similar each time and the shot of him walking across a mountain and walking towards the road are also often used, as they are the most visually different unique shots of him walking through a desert, in which the mise-en-scene is usually of sand.

Close-up shots are used very often in order to show the protagonist's facial expressions from which it can be seen as to how he is feeling. Long shots are also used very frequently though, as they are the shots that are used to show each of the mise-en-scene locations.