Friday, September 10, 2010

It Happened One Night - Jessica S

The two of them in the center of this shot may immediately catch a viewer's eye as a collective focus, but I was more drawn to the look on her face because it holds the key lighting for this shot other than the bright streak of light in the background, because even though Gable seems to be beneath the same lighting as Colbert, his body is turned away from us at such an angle so that we can only see a tiny bit of his serious expression in an almost profile shot. Her lighted expression also conveys her sense of uneasiness and discomfort about the current situation, and the way in which she is standing with her hand on the door only exemplifies the feelings conveyed through her tenseness. As an opposite to her, we can see that Gable is completely relaxed with his posture, his coat is sort of tossed to the side- and he has no qualms whatsoever about 'taking her in', as it were.

The length of this shot in comparison to the narrative feelings of our characters gives off a feeling that Ellie should feel trapped in the room -as the shot provides no room to seemingly move around in, save the back corner- with Peter after he tells her that he is only looking after her story so he can get her to King Westley, get back to his job, and move on with his life. If the camera were placed just a bit farther back from them, the room would allow for more space and less isolation. In this expression of hers there is a feeling of distrust, but as we know he soon shows her that he is generous enough to take care of her during the time they originally think they will have together.


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