ROMANCE

Mis-en-Scene:‘The Notebook’ is in the romance genre.The opening shot with a bright red and orange color of sunrise over a lake and in the background a black countryside, there is a single person on a boat on the calm and peaceful lake. The colors yellow, orange and red represent warmth not only with temperature but with emotions, it symbolises the warmth a person feels deep inside their heart for another person when they are in love with that person, these colours are symbolic in this establishing opening shot to represent the colours to show love. The ocean that we see brings peace and calmness to one’s mind and heart, this could be to show how one might feel when experiencing love. That is what that singular person there could be doing, finding peace and enjoying the scenery. The audience instantly gets drawn in the mellow, neutral colors with dark low-key lighting, it has the power to make one fall asleep just by looking at it. It looks so calm and peaceful, showing this is how one is meant to feel when looking at this scenery; also representing the peace one can feel when in love. A great amount of time is taken up with a vary of long shots and establishing shots indicating the setting of the scene, showing the horizon and the beautiful sun; everything seems tranquil and peaceful.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SBRH5dOzIUM

Textual Analysis Genre:

We also hear a romantic slow and peaceful synchronous sound of music (piano) which is an indication and interpretation of what the movie is about and what genre this film is. Although the audience might not get the idea of what the genre is from the opening shot straight away because it is not that obvious or clear, however it could intrigue them into thinking what the rest of the film is going to be about. This film establishes its genre by having romantic music to show the happiness that they both feel to be in love. It is happy, calm and peaceful, connoting how one’s heart feels when in love. The piano is a great instrument that is mostly used in romance films as it can sound so harmonious and synchronous, to establish the representation of love.

Sound:

The next shot we is of some white birds flying from the lake towards a big white house. A Tracking motion is used from the camera as it follows the direction of where the birds are headed. The birds pass by an old lady who is looking out the window at them from her white house. But the camera is outside the house, we then see an over the shoulder shot of the women from inside her house this time looking at the birds and the lake and then we get another reverse shot of this where we see her from the front doing this again. The women looks so old, fragile and tender, we could guess that she is living inside that house. We see the reflection of the glass in the window she is looking out of, the white birds seem to be passing over her face. There’s a medium close-up of her, showing the emotion on her face, she seems to be looking out into the distance as if she isn’t all there, day dreaming almost, the lake could show that she is drowning in her own thoughts. The birds are symbolic in this shot as it could show her hopes and dreams or perhaps her memories passing by, this explains her dream-like manner. There is a look of sadness in her eyes as the birds pass, the birds are fleeting, this suggesting that this is how her thoughts and memories are, gone with the birds. She could be thinking of someone; the love of her life perhaps; judging by this genre, we get to experience her sadness for just a moment, this would intrigue this audience as to why she is sad and alone. Throughout these shots of her we hear the soft, slow tune of the piano which has been playing from the beginning.

Camerawork/Editing: