Intro to Romance Films:
A romance film centers its plot on love, emotions, passions, and relationships. Most of the time, romantic movies are about courtship or marriage, and the ups and downs of each. They also often feature milestones, such as love in coming-of-age stories, passionate love, obsessive love, strange love, and many more. The types of romance films that usually garner the most critical acclaim are the ones that end in the proverbial kiss, where the characters wind up together and “live happily ever after.”
There are various genres under the “umbrella” genre of romance films. An example of this would be romantic comedy, and a movie like When Harry Met Sally. It has an open sense of humor, but the plot is about love.
Romance films started as early as the 1890s. They began showing romantic actions like love, lust, and desire though expression when the film was first invented because there was no sound to aid the emotion. Romantic cinema evolved throughout time, showing different tie periods characterized by the type of romance. For example, one period would be the harsh and painful qualities of love in the 1920s.
Romance Film: When Harry met Sally (1989):
Clip on You-tube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PRhCTnkd3vM
1.)In the clip our eye is first attracted to Meg Ryan’s character Sally. Probably because she is in the center in the film.
2.)We believe there is a combination of low key and high key the scene is lit up everywhere. There is a medium amount of contrast or a normal amount of contrast in the film. Along with the lighting there is a disco ball that provides lighting as well as Christmas lights in the background that provide some lighting.
3.)The camera is up close like we are right next to them hearing their conversation. It closes in on each of their faces when they are taking almost as if we are seeing what the other character could be seeing.
4.)The camera is neutral. Like a lot of other major motion pictures at this time it shows the subject straight on.
5.)The dominant colors in this scene are blacks and blues. There is an overall “warm” tone to this movie it shows the “happy go lucky” –ness over this particular romance film. This scene is one of the darker one probably because black is a serious color and Rob Reiner probably decided that this was the most serious part of the film.
6.)Like we said before the film has an overall “warm” tone to it. This usually shows that this movie is not solemn and is a happy-go-lucky film. There is no distortion to the film these figures are shown just like real life probably because Rob Reiner wanted this film to be just like real life.
7.) When we are not looking at the Characters our eye goes to the background were people are rejoicing that it is new years and we see blue balloons and Christmas lights.
8.) There is not a lot of visual information is packed into the scene. Basically all we can see is Harry and Sally in the scene. Sometimes we can see things like Christmas lights and blue balloons (because it is New Years). We catch glimpses of people in suits in the scene because this is a fancy New Years party and Reiner wanted to the emphasize the fact that Harry was not dress at all to go to this party he just basically came to tell Sally that he loved her.
9.) The composition of the piece basically is Harry and Sally talking back and forth so all we can really see is Harry and Sally. He does at the beginning of the scene these over the shoulder shots but then at the end it just becomes their faces which is an interesting choice. It is kind of like at the beginning it is them and everyone at the party and then it is just the two of them.
10.) The image suggests a window into the world of Harry and Sally it is not exactly like we are there with them but more like we are view them through this window.
11.) The framing of the film is really tight the characters could move two steps and be off camera. They basically have to stand in these spot and not walk around.
Casablanca: 1942 0:24-1:55
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V3odtrWWc2A&feature=related
1. Dominant: The viewer’s eye was immediately drawn to the man in uniform in the front of the screen. However, immediately after my eye was drawn to the main female character, Ilsa Lund, who is in the background of the frame.
The viewer’s eye would be attracted to the man in uniform first because he in the front of the frame and takes up the majority of the screen. However, the eye is attracted to Ilsa in the background because she is the only other person in the screen and the viewer’s eyes just attract to her.
2. Light: The lighting used in this scene is low contrast lighting. The image is very soft to the eye instead of harsh and cruel.
3. Shot/Proxemics: The camera shot and proximity change within this scene. At first, the camera is focused straight-forward at the characters. However, when the scene changed to Ilsa and Rick, the camera shot and the proximity change. The camera shot changed to a close up of the two. The camera is not far away from the action.
4. Angle: In this scene, the camera is at a neutral level.
5. Color Values: Because there is no color in this film, it is a black and white film, there are no color values. However, there are differences in the darkness and lightness of the scenes. In this scene, it is very light symbolizing the love and that things are okay. It is not a high intensity scene so there is no harsh dark colors creating a more dramatic look.
6. Lens/Filter/Stock: There is no distortion of this film. There may be a slow film stock applied to the camera but I believe there is no distortion to the scene.
7. Subsidiary Contrast: The car and the airport setting are the subsidiary contrasts. When not looking at the characters, the viewer’s eyes are drawn to these other objects.
8. Density: There is not a high amount of visual information packed into these images. There are very small details in their outfits and in the setting. There are also fewer details due to the fact that the film is in black and white. The most detail is shown in the man in uniform for his uniform is highly decorated.
9. Composition: The composition of the film begins with Rick talking to the man in uniform. The majority of the scene however, is of Rick speaking with Ilsa next to the car they arrived in. The main focus of this scene is of Rick and Ilsa so the composition is just of the two of them in the end.
10. Form: This scene is open. When the scene comes to Rick and Ilsa speaking, it is both open and closed. For a part of the scene, we can see both characters but at other parts, we can only see the one character almost like we are viewing them from the others eyes.
11. Framing: The characters have freedom to move around until it comes to the close ups. Towards the end of the scene, neither Rick nor Ilsa have room to move off frame.
These things are what makes this film a romance. The key attributes are the lighting and the angle/framing of the camera. The lighting places a soft shadow and light upon the characters which softens the scene. The framing shows each of the characters points of view and how it is always going to be them because they’ll “always have paris”.
