In our film, we want the audience to relate to the character of Emma and feel like they can put themselves in her shoes. Her situation is a common one and many people have probably been in this position which allows them to connect to her. She is on a first date with Jack and is trying to make a good impression while he keeps making mistakes. Emma provides a down to earth character that the audience can connect with; she helps to ground the film. She really likes Jack but things seem to be constantly going wrong for them on the date, however if they would just be themselves and let the date take its own course instead of manipulating it, they may actually find that they get on well.
I am going to look for a character that I think could relate to Emma and that we could take some inspiration from in terms of mise-en-scene.
500 Days of Summer
Summer seems to have more knowledge of dating and is more grounded than Tom, she is the level headed character in this scene and is trying to make the conversation run smoothly without anything going wrong to cause an argument. This is similar to Emma's situation as she is trying to keep the date going without any mistakes; there are awkward moments in both this film and ours that help to show how the relationship between the two main characters is developing. At first glance, these two characters do not seem to be a particularly good match and this is the case in our film, however the chemistry that they feel between them seems to bind them together somehow. In, '500 days of summer', the relationship has already ended and a friendship is being explored, but this is the same basis as in our film as both are starting from scratch. We are taking the theory that you cannot help who you like, no matter how they act, and using it in our film and this is the basic story of, '500 days of summer', however in this film Tom likes Summer even though she doesn't really treat him well while in our film, Emma likes Jack even though he can be a bit of an idiot at times and doesn't think before he speaks or acts. There are a lot of silences or pauses between the characters that make it seem as if they don't know what to say to each other and are being careful not to mess up; even though the situation that Tom and Summer are in is different to Jack and Emma, it is still the same, they both want to make a good impression and are trying to get along and force a conversation.
This scene occurs after Tom and Summer have broken up and Summer has got married, it is a final attempt from Summer to salvage their friendship and towards the end of our film, Emma attempts to keep the date flowing when Jack messes up again but can't rewind his mistake. Although the two are well acquainted, they act as if they haven't known each other long; Emma and Jack have met before but the prospect of this being a date seems to scare them both, making them more uneasy around each other.
Summer is dressed in a smart, blue dress, coat and heals and is adorned in jewellery; she looks very pretty and happy, but also appears to be quite nervous about approaching Tom. This is how anyone would feel on a first date or in an awkward situation. Tom wears a dark suit, which may be to reflect his mood or the way he feels about Summer at this point. There is a contrast between their outfits as she seems happy and wears coloured clothes while he dresses in black and white which seems to suggest that he is in a darker place than Summer. The scene occurs in a park and the two are surrounded by trees, this could represent growth and change in their relationship as they take the next step and become friends again. Throughout the scene, the sound is kept to a minimum and we mostly hear just the noise of the wind; this again could represent change as it could show that the old feelings that the characters had towards each other have been blown away and replaced with new ones. In our film we want to explore the relationship between our two characters which is why we will probably use quite quiet music when we are showing them conversing, much like in 500 Days of Summer. Towards the end of the clip, quite peaceful and uplifting music plays, which may signify that now Tom has found peace as his relationship with Summer has finally been laid to rest and resolved.
When Tom is shown sitting alone on the bench it probably shows that he feels alone and is depressed, then a shot is shown from his point of view of him looking up at Summer, which may suggest that he has placed her on a pedestal and saw her as his ideal woman. The next shot of her looking down on him proves that her feelings never matched his as they were never level, he always thought more of her than she did of him. She is next shown in a medium shot holding on to a tree as she possibly needs to feel grounded at this point or needs some support whilst she has this conversation with Tom; as the conversation starts to flow, she lets go of the tree and joins him on the bench. She is shown standing while he stays seated a couple of times and this shows that she has a higher status than Tom as she is the one calling the shots and making the decisions while he just has to go along with them. For the biggest portion of the clip they are shown sitting side by side on the bench as they talk through their problems and begin a clean slate, this suggests that they are now on equal terms. A close up on her face reveals that she still has feelings for Tom and it is nice shots like this that we could use in our film to show that although Jack and Emma might not seem perfect together, they do have real feelings for each other. A shot from behind the two sitting on the bench shows that all has been resolved and then an extreme close up on Summer laying her hand on Toms confirms this. Her wedding ring is focused on too which shows that the thing that once tore them apart has now brought them back together. As Summer stands up and begins to leave, Tom stands up to level out their height which shows that he will no longer place her as a higher being than himself. As the shot ends he sits back down again, yet this time his body language is different and he seems happier.
The awkward conversation between the two is exactly how we need Jack and Emma to be as they are embarking on a new relationship and should be a bit uneasy around each other and not know what to say, like in this clip there should be a lot of awkward pauses. Emma needs to be the grounded character so that the film has some direction, which is what Summer provides. She needs to keep Jack on the right path just as Summer steers Tom in the right direction. We need the audience to see things from Emma's point of view and place themselves in her shoes, just as we get to do with Summer as she is finally allowed to explain herself. This scene has natural lighting which allows the characters expressions to be focused on so we can see their true feelings but our film will be mostly shot indoors which means that we will have to light the scene ourselves and may not be able to focus on the characters faces as well. I thought that the shots used to establish status were done really well and were quite subtle; we could try doing something like this to show how much our characters think of each other or to show who is in control of the date. I think the chemistry between Jack and Emma should be similar to Summer and Toms as it works to show how they don't feel particularly comfortable around each other yet.
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