This ending shot of the entire family is seen from the normal eye-level shot used by realists. At first, I would say it is a full-shot, but since it is just the three family members, I would call it a three-shot, possibly bordering on full-shot. The angle allows the audience to see the wife and child sleeping peacefully away, while the husband watches over them. Having everyone in the shot, and shooting it at an angle, brings the audience’s eye to the wife, who has been through the most turmoil throughout the movie, and now has this source of light hanging over her as she rests, letting the audience know that she is going to be alright and happy. The shot shows the entire family at rest, giving the audience a sense of peace that has come over them; all of the bad times are over and they are once again a close, happy family. The lighting helps in depicting this sense of peace as it lights up the wife, giving her an angelic appearance, while casting a slight shadow over the man’s face as he looks longingly at his loved ones. The lighting seems to come naturally through the window in the room, casting a shadow across the bed and on the wall behind it. This is a happy ending scene after all that the family has been through, and from the expression on the man’s face, the audience knows that he is completely in love with his wife still, and knows the mistake he made and is sorry for it. It has that sense of happily ever after, without actually saying it.
Nicely done, Jessica. We might even think of other images that serve asa precedents for the peace and redemption for this one. I like your comment linking hte source light and shadow, and I think you could do even more with that, the sense of nature here. You might also talk more about the positioning of actors int he frame, the various spaces of the frame that create balance and imbalance.
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