It Happened One Night - Haystacks - Beca G.

In this shot we see Peter trying to make a bed out of hay, with Ellie laying down in the background. The dominant in the scene is Peter kicking the hay because he is closest to the camera. The lighting is highly contrasted with Peter and Ellie appearing very dark and the areas in-between them being brighter. Proximity to the scene is medium, Peter’s entire body is clearly visible yet his face is not. The viewer is looking straight at the subject, yet Ellie is lower, seeming more vulnerable. Because the film is in black and white, there ought to be a higher contrast between the dark and light in the shot, yet while there is contrast, it’s more between the darkness and the brighter gray areas. The brightest spots in the scene tend to be glints of light on various objects (ex: the wheel in the background). There is enough visual information to provide a context, yet it still makes the two main characters actions more important than the scenery around them. The image is sort of split between the two characters, showing the weakening of Ellie’s resolve towards Peter, and Peter’s growing agitation towards Ellie (a result of the fact that she is difficult to handle as well as testament to the realization that he cares about her). The form of the shot is sort of open, as there is space between the characters. Trees frame the two characters well, it creates a sort of picturesque quality, even though they have just had an argument.

I think that the biggest elements in this shot are the framing of the characters and the contrast in the lighting. All of the figured elements in the shot are darkened, and the only illumination is in the spaces between them. Although they are apart from each other in distance, on camera the figures look closer together as Peter is in the foreground and Ellie is more towards the middle. The shot characterizes Peter’s frustration yet also highlights that he definitely does care for her (giving her his jacket, etc).