The second sequence I am concentrating on, about the media of the film, is from William and Annas argument in the bedroom up to the
end of the market sequence in these scenes there are mainly midshots in
the bedroom, you can see both the characters and understand the
atmosphere. There is great tension in this sequence as everything seemed
to be going so well and all of a sudden its all a mess, the audience
doesn’t no what’s going to happen next, some of the tension is taken out
of this scene though as when Spike walks in saying “I walked out in my
god damn underwear too” this adds a bit of humour to the scene but also
frustrates Anna more.
During the above scene the camera is at the bottom of the stairs which gives you the feeling that you are there when the actors run down the stairs, you feel you are part of the argument and are very aware how heated it is. The next shot is of Anna and William at the front door as Anna leaves in this scene you start to realise that even in a crisis William stays calm and tries to sort things out, whereas Anna is the opposite she is angry “you’ve lived with this garbage for 10 minutes, I lived with it for 10 years I think our perspectives are slightly different” she says, due to this line we start to think Anna feels trapped and wants out. You could look at this situation in another way and think that she is acting rather selfish, she feels sorry for herself and believes that she is worse off than Williams friend in a wheel chair there are mainly over shoulder close up shots in this scene so that you get the impression of the characters feelings, also mid shots so that you see the overall atmosphere through out this scene its like you (the camera) are the third person in the scene. Wherever the camera is at this time you feel that is where you are standing observing the two of them and you want to tell Anna to calm down.
The door bell rings Anna fumbles with her glasses, as it is time for her to leave you can see she is nervous, you feel sorry for her. As she walks out
she is swamped by the press and you can feel the sadness and loneliness as she makes her way through the crowd, you start to understand why she was acting the way she was towards William and want her to be able to live normally for a day the way she wants to. The camera stays inside with William, as the door slams shut the way the director has directed this, gives you the feeling that this signifies the end in their relationship. The camera turns to William and goes from a mid shot in to a close up you see he is upset and down by his facial expressions, you feel sorry for him. It seems very final. Next you see William and Spike sitting at a table facing each other their body language is similar in the way in which they both don’t know how to handle the situation, William looks fed up and is hunched over the table, clasping his head in his hands, he can’t be bothered to do anything, he is very depressed, looking lonely, his body language is that of a broken man. Spike however has his hands in his lap, his legs crossed and he sits there glancing around the room looking very guilty, a bit like a child who knows he has done wrong and does not know how to react to the situation.
The camera is then focussed on William walking down the Market, William looks with withdrawn and unhappy you can hear the song ‘Ain’t No Sunshine’ is playing as the backing track, I feel this song is appropriate in this scene as the lyrics explain how William is feeling, ‘Ain’t no Sunshine’ is explaining that life is dull for William without out Anna and ‘Wonder where she’s gone’ tells us that he has always got her on his mind. This scene is probably the most effective and interesting way I have ever scene a director show that time has past by. The director could of took the easy option of just writing a 1 years past caption at the bottom of the screen but he didn’t and the amount of thought put into this small section is noticeable that is why it is so effective.
William makes his way through the market seeing people he knows, we
watch their lives change and the things around him, we watch as the
weather change, we see the flowers for sale change as the time of year
passes, at the beginning we see Honey (Williams sister) with her new boyfriend happy and then at the end we see them breaking up. There is a pregnant lady at the beginning who at the end has her baby in her arms,
all these things are effective ways of showing how time has past. Everything around William in this time period has changed except William, he does not change his clothes, hair or mood/attitude, this just shows that time has not healed his pain, he hasn’t changed at all after a whole year.
The final sequence I am going to concentrate on is right at the end of the
film. In these scenes there is great tension built up as every one wants to know whether there is going to be a happy ending or not. After William realises he has made the wrong decision about him and Anna he asks “Max how fast is your car?” he asks this as he knows he has got to get to Anna fast before she leaves for America. Humour and tension are both built up in this section, the music is very effective as it adds to the tension and as the song ‘Gimme Some Lovin’ gets louder the tension builds up as the longer the song goes on there is more pressure to get to Anna quicker, but also all the time we are feeling tense, there is lots of laughter due to the bickering and arguing over directions.
During the rush to get to Anna there is a moving moment when Max
won’t leave Bella behind because of her disability, there are also some very comical lines whilst they are in the car such as ‘James Bond never
had to put up with this sort of s**t’ these are all things that keep the film
interesting and stir up different feelings inside of you. I feel the director
has done an excellent job in involving many different emotions. In the hotel scene you feel tense here as you think William has missed Anna. The receptionist doesn’t recall anybody staying at the hotel under any of the names that William is saying, but he does understand that William must be talking about a lady who was staying at the hotel under the name of the ‘Pocahontas’ William and Bernie both kiss the receptionist on the cheek for telling them this. The Japanese man next to William in the queue also does kisses the receptionist as he thinks it is how to greet people in England this also adds humour into the scene. They then get back into the car and drive to the Savoy where the man said Anna was holding a press conference . The next scene the director cuts to is a road with traffic going passed not letting Max’s car through causing more tension, in this scene the traffic has been blurred to give us the impression it is going fast the director has used this technique as it is a effective way of showing traffic speeding pass, but once again this scene become humorous as Spike gets out of the car and starts to stop the traffic to get their car through, this is humorous as Spikes actions to help his friends are funny. Eventually they arrive at the Savoy to a very hostile receptionist who will not let William through to the conference. Bella comes in and tells the receptionist that William is with her and she’s ‘writing an article on how London hotels treat people in wheel chairs’ the receptionist feels a bit intimidated as you wouldn’t expect a disabled person to be involved in a scam, so he allows them to go through to the press conference.
The atmosphere is tense with people firing numerous non stop questions at Anna at the press conference you can see she is uncomfortable. The camera angles change in this scene they are mainly close ups to show the expressions of the person who is talking. In this scene Anna is dressed formally in a light blue suit as she is on business and not dressed how she would feel comfortable. The press are firing questions at Anna about her relationship with William Anna seems to be uncomfortable. William then
plucks up the courage to ask her a question he ask “Are there any circumstances under which the two of you could be more than just good friends?” you can tell how nervous he is as he stutters, as Anna answers this question there is great tension built up everyone is silent. Anna’s Manager tries to stop William as he asks a second question but Anna tells William the answer he wanted to hear. There is a big sigh from the reporters everyone feels relief and relaxed as Anna says she plans to stay in Britain forever and they have got the happy ending they wanted. At this point all the tension that has built up throughout the film disappears. The camera at this stage zooms into get a close up of each of the characters, both look extremely happy at this moment which is a great contrast to the Anna we saw at the beginning of the film.
The song ‘She’ starts again we see her and William getting married which carries on maintaining the humour. Honey is dancing without her feet on the ground with Spike, Williams mum doing his hair, we see the cake that has been made by the failed restaurateur, all these things show the people happy and enjoying life. Next we see Anna and William at the film premier walking on the red carpet together, William seems nervous and overwhelmed, he trips, you can see it is going to take him time to adjust and he may not like losing his privacy. Instead of Anna being lonely and famous she can do it with William sharing the experience with her. The film then cuts to a garden where the camera follows two children through the gardens passing people happy, it then settles on a bench where Anna is lying on Williams lap whilst he is reading, their body language is very linked they are holding hands , they are dressed casually and smiling, they look very much in love exactly what we wanted for both the characters a happy ending and for them to be able to live normally together relaxed and free from all the hassles that comes with Anna’s fame.
