It Happened One Night is a comedy so this particular shot is high key because there are no creepy shadows or uneven light. All of it is relatively even in brightness. This is because it is a comedy and doesn’t want to lead you away from the two dominant figures and make you think that there is a side story having to do with the shadows. The dominant figures are Peter Warne and Ellie Andrews because they are the first things the viewer would look at when looking at this scene. They would look at the two main characters interacting through their staging positions and character proxemics. For example, they are staged so as to be facing each other to create more intimacy even though this is still early in the movie and they are still bitter towards each other. It is foreshadowing in the sense that you know that they will end up together if only because of their staging position, also because of their character proxemics. There is not much space between them so it adds to the intimacy already provided by the staging positions. Because the composition of the characters is off centered a bit, it gives a look into the background. This allows for the scene to feel less staged and more realistic. The two characters look like they are conversing in the middle of a semi crowded area as opposed to them just conversing without you really knowing where they are or anything about their location so as to look more unrealistic. This background is called the subsidiary contrasts. It is what your eye draws to after seeing the dominant. This is better seen due to the fact that the composition of the two characters are off centered a bit letting the audiences eyes drift towards the background in order to get a more realistic feel of the scene or the shot in this particular case.
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