Photo Diary and Analysis
- 2. This picture is from the first scene of the trailer where the couple meet each other for the first time. I have dressed the female in a long grey feminine cut coat and a white scarf and hat which highlights the choice of light coloured clothing. Her hair is down which highlights its length which reinforces her feminine appearance. The male is in darker clothing and the cut of the clothing highlights his masculinity with the coat adding a built up effect around the arms. This two shot highlights the parallel of stereotypical gender appearances between the two characters. The setting I chose was road side and allowed for a high key lighting of ambient light as there is no buildings blocking out sunlight. I wanted this scene to have high key lighting because it connotes the positivity of this scene as this is the first time they meet. The lighting is also significant to the immediate physical attraction that they between each other which is conventional to genre. The green and yellow colours in the background allow the actors to stand out against them and the changing colour leaves are conventional as the darker orange and reds are associated with romance.
- 3. This shot is the fifth shot in the first scene. I took this picture just before I began shooting. The setting here is further down the same street where the couple are shot as they walk away together after meeting. The high key lighting is still present here which creates a positive feel which is conventional to the context of this scene. The setting here has altered slightly with the road being on the left side which gives an unobtrusive background and the hedge along the right side gives the same effect. While the house in the background adds detail into this shot and the line of the road goes through the centre of this shot producing a route of the eye. I placed the couple in the centre of this shot to work with this route of the eye. The mise en scene such as clothing have kept the same as this is the same scene as the slide before displays.
- 4. This shot is from the first scene where the couple are walking away together. I filmed this shot from a climbing frame in my garden which allowed me to produce a extreme high angled shot which in a film would normally be created by a camera on a crane. I was particularly pleased that I was able to achieve this shot. The high key ambient lighting in this shot has lit up the road behind them and has created a key light which draws focus to the couple. This looks effective as this light has created almost a focus pull on the couple. The light and pastel colours of the scenery in the background create an unobtrusive background and allows for the couples darker clothing to stand out against the background which keeps focus on the male and female. The line of the road cuts this shot in half which produces a route of the eye as it follows this line. The couple walk along the road which keeps focus on them as they walk during this scene.
- 5. This shot is from the third shot in the first scene. I re-filmed this shot as I wasn’t satisfied with the angle of my first shots and I also wanted to change their accents from English to American as I felt this sounded more conventional to genre. This image I took of Isobel has turned out dark due to the flash but when filming it was lighter. The female is in the same clothing s before but has taken off her hat for this scene as I thought the hat took too much attention away from her face. The white scarf highlights her dark hair and this is representative of her feminine appearance. The image is cut into two halves with the female character positioned in the centre of this shot. The optical area is of whites sky while the terminal area has the road and buildings in it. The use of the split shot allows for a route of the eye which brings focus to the female that is directly in the centre of this split.
- 6. This picture I took whilst they were trying to work out what movements to use whilst dancing to make her hair spin in the way I had requested them to try and achieve. This shot is a close up two shot of the characters when actually I filmed this scene as a mid-shot two shot. The female in this shot is wearing a fitted red dress which highlights her feminine curves and the red colour represents romance. The dress is conventional to genre because it is stereotypical of the appearance of her gender. The male character is in a black shirt which contrasts to the bright red dress. The black shirt highlights his masculinity and is representative of the masculine character I am trying to achieve with my main male role. The plain wall that I used behind them provides an unobtrusive background which looks effective because it draws all attention to the couple dancing.
- 7. This photo was taken during shooting for the scene where she realises he’s a marine. The mise en scene such as clothing has a feminine collar cut and the grey and white contrasts well against the orange and black background which allows focus on the female. The female is wearing mise en scene such as make-up which highlights her femininity and her hair is up to allow the collar cut to be on show. The background is a feminine scene with cushions and the us of light feminine colours. This creates an overall female tone in the scene which contrasts to the following scene of the male. The depth of field in this shot allowed me to create a focus pull on the female as the focus on the camera enabled me to do this. The railings of the bed create a route of the eye because they are black so they stand out and the female is positioned in the centre of these which creates focus on her.
- 8. This image I took just before we shot the scene in the car. The lighting here is low key lighting as it was dark outside. This is conventional to the context as it is a negative scene with the male crying. I used the interior lights in the car and also I positioned a torch in the car to light up his face which created a key light over his face which draws attention. The mise en scene here such as his black shirt mirrors the low key lighting and it is representative of the negative mood of this scene. The dominant colour here is black and black connotes darkness and negativity which is why it is conventional to the context. I have created this shot by a rule of thirds. The male is positioned on the right side while his arm is across the centre and the steering wheel is in the left third. This produces a shot of interest rather than him being directly in the centre. The depth of field in this shot consists of the interior image of the car but because of the darkness outside it creates an unobtrusive background. His light skin and hair contrasts against the dark background which makes him the focus in this shot.
- 9. This picture is from the scene where the male is packing his clothes into a bag whilst talking on the phone to ‘Khloe’. The mise en scene in this scene consists of the males wardrobe background and his masculine clothing. I wanted him to wear a t shirt which suggests he is away at base and is not currently working. I wanted Harry to wear a t shirt as he has muscular arms which highlights his masculinity and I wanted his character to be representative of a stereotypical masculine character. The mise en scene such as the phone has a plain black case which represents his maturity rather than a brightly coloured case. The shot has the wardrobe in the background and the depth of field ends at the back of the wardrobe. This is made up of mainly dark colours and because Harry is in a white t-shirt this allows him to contrast against the dark colours drawing attention to him. The camera I used for this enabled me to bring harry into focus as he is in the foreground sending the background into a slight blur which draws attention to Harry.
- 10. This shot is from the scene where the couple are sitting together enjoying each others company. This shot was a wide shot which displayed the sofa and the couple sitting on it. The mise en scene such as the sofa is significant to their relaxed personas when together and is symbolic of the period of time of their relationship as it suggests they have been with each other long enough to be relaxed together. The female is wearing a beige top which allows her to stand out against the dark leather. The male is also in lighter clothing to allow him to contrast against the dark sofa but he is also wearing a sweat top which is more masculine for him to wear. The female’s hair is up so that the attention is drawn to her face as they are both laughing together in this scene. This scene is against a white washed wall which allows no depth of field so all attention is focused on the couple which makes this scene conventional as it focuses on the romance between them.
- 11. This shot I took before I shot a scene where the female looks up into the night sky. This I filmed from a window at night. The shot I used was a close up shot of her face as this allows the audience to see her facial expression of hope. The mise en scene I used such as make-up was red lipstick because it highlights her femininity which is conventional to genre. I made her wear a white vest top so that her clothing and the dark background would be parallel to each other therefore drawing attention to the female. She had her hair down, again to highlight her femininity which is conventional because my female character is representational of the stereotypical attractive feminine appearance. The significance of her looking into the night sky is supposed to signify her hopefulness as to her boyfriend coming home from being away for so long. It may also signify her waiting for him- the end of the trailer is different shots of the couple in different places to keep the audience in speculation.
- 12. This shot I took before we shot this scene which is the scene where she exits out of her work pace on the phone. I shot this scene at school because of the building. The building looks like an office etc. So I wanted to shoot this bit of footage here. She exits through this door on the phone. This is one of the final scenes which leaves the audience in speculation as to who she is talking to. This picture shows the main piece of the building that I used in this scene as I film her walking out of the door. The brick, door and window frame contrast against her black office clothing so it makes her stand out against the background. The low key lighting here creates a dark mood so it insinuates that the couple may have broken up or are going through some relationship problems as she is on the phone- to who? The anonymous phone call creates a sense of the unknown for the audience.
- 13. This shot is from the scene where the female runs and jumps into the male’s arms. This scene shows them being re-united after he has been working away. The female dons a red crop top and small denim shorts with her hair down which highlights her femininity while the male is in a black coat and dark jeans. The male is completely covered up in clothing which contrasts to the female bearing her skin. Their clothing colours contrast which highlights the difference between their gender appearances. The light coloured wall behind them signifies that they are at their home and it also allows them to be in full focus as there is no depth of field. The light wall is parallel to the colours they are wearing which makes them stand out and it also allows this picture to be much lighter overall. In this picture the couple are directly in the centre of the frame to allow for full attention to be on them. The positioning of the actors in this image symbolises the attraction and romance between them which is conventional for genre.
- 14. This shot is from the scene where the female is standing crying in her bathroom and then washes the mascara from her face. This scene is symbolic to her not being able to see her boyfriend while he is away, but being near the end of the trailer it may also refer to the couple splitting up etc. I used this scene t keep the audience in speculation. The bathroom I used works well because the close up shot of her crying is against light coloured tiles as seen above the sink here. This allows her face to be highlighted against the light background and this draws attention to her distressed facial expressions. The use of mise en scene such as the mascara is conventional because females in films often have make-up down their faces when they cry. The use of the white top represents her as innocent and it makes her appear more vulnerable as she is crying.