Casting
Initially, the only criteria I had for my cast was a 26-30 year old male and a female in her early 20s. I then decided to break down the script in order to really understand the characters. From the break down of the script I realised that my characters are very complex. Mark has a lot of underlying feelings but hardly ever allows these to show, whereas Juliet is a character who wears all her feelings on her sleeve.
From my analysis of the characters, I then formed character profiles / descriptions for them and posted them on casting call pro.
Mark:
Mark is a shy character who keeps his feeling buried deep. He feels awkward around Juliet due to his deep feelings for her that he can never reveal. This awkwardness has a tendency to come across as quite blunt and rude, leading him to be quite an isolated character. Deep down he is a hopeless romantic but feels he cannot express his feelings.
Juliet:
Juliet is an outgoing character who is keen to get along with everyone she meets. She is often bubbly, radiant and romantic. She is newly married to Peter, a man whom she deeply loves and will not allow anything to break them apart. She feels slightly uncomfortable around Mark, Peter's best friend (and best man at the wedding), as she feels that he does not like her. However, she still acts warm and friendly around him to try and break his seemingly hostile attitude towards her.
I decided to cast Dave as Mark due to him having the right look for the role and having a number of good examples of work on his showreel. In Love Actually, Mark is a very shy and awkward character but this doesn't take away from his kind and caring nature. Therefore, it was important to cast someone who was able to convey that kind nature whilst also being able to act uncomfortable around Juliet. Dave also looked the correct age for the role. This was important as the actors needed to look old enough that they were of the age where marriages are occurring and that they own their own houses. Here is a comparison between Mark from the original and from my production:
I decided to cast Ellie as Juliet as I needed to find an actress who has that innocent yet desirable nature. Juliet is a very naive character and I felt I really needed to capture this in my casting decision, therefore I decided to go for an actress who had that young, youthful, innocent look to her. Here is a comparison between Juliet from the original and my production:
Locations
I needed 3 locations for my shoot; Mark's flat, Juliet's doorway and some outdoor spaces for Juliet's wedding video.
For Mark's flat I wanted to create a very arty vibe similar to that in the film. I also wanted it to be quite empty to reflect the awkwardness and the uncomfortable nature of the scene. The negative space in the scene helps to resemble the space that has grown between the characters and therefore highlights the awkwardness of the situation. I discovered how to effectively use negative research by conducting research into set design and production design. I found that "negative space is an important video element for making characters stand out" [1] I decided to implement the use of negative space in order to make my characters and the distance apart from each other stand out in order to heighten the uncomfortable atmosphere.
For Juliet's doorway I wanted to create a homely feel to demonstrate that it is her's and her new husband's family home. I decided to hang a Christmas decoration on the door knocker in order to convey the idea that it is Christmas time as well as suggesting that Juliet and her new husband have spent time decorating their house together - showing their bond as a couple.
Production Design / Costume Design
I spent a great deal of time considering the costumes for the characters. Since I wanted to make colour a key directorial focus of mine, I decided to bring that in mainly through the costume and props. I opted to dress Juliet in red clothing (apart from the wedding scene). The red works to symbolise Mark's hidden feelings of love towards Juliet - the fact that she is wearing the colour shows her as the object of his affection. As well as love, red is often associated with danger and aggression [2] so I needed to use the right amount of red and also the right shade in order to convey the correct feeling (love rather than danger).
I also decided to use red props within the set design. This again was used to symbolise the theme of love.
My idea for using colour in the set design as well came from researching the set design of other romantic comedy films. Warm colours and fairy lights are often used in romantic settings in order to create that dreamy / fairytale atmosphere. As my scene itself is not a romantic scene I decided to just use splashes of red instead as the same feelings are there (they are just unknown and also unreciprocated). A scene that inspired me was this restaurant scene in The Fault In Our Stars.
Sound Design
I wanted the sound design in my production to be minimal yet effective. I chose to go with a subtle, ambient soundtrack through the first half of the first scene before the wedding video. This helps to lift the mood and keep the film from feeling flat. I chose a subtle soundtrack as I still wanted to create an awkward atmosphere. I did want to keep the first half of the first scene in silence (just with the dialogue of the characters) however, this felt flat and boring. Therefore the soundtrack helps to elevate the mood slightly whilst still keeping the awkward atmosphere. A lot of consideration went into the sound design of the second scene at Juliet's doorway. I muted the actual sound recorded from the microphone, and replaced it with different sounds such as outdoor summer ambience, bird sounds, faint cars and dogs barking in the background. This made for better sound quality as this meant there was no noise / static present from the sound recorded by the mic.
I chose the song for the wedding video as it is a love song. I felt that this would be suitable for a wedding video as a wedding is an event in which the love two people share for each other is celebrated. The song works in two ways in my production. The song symbolises the love at the wedding between Juliet and her husband, but it also works to symbolise the love Mark holds for Juliet. I added a muffled filter to this song and 'Silent Night' during the presentation scene in order to make it seem that the music is coming from the laptop speakers - making it obvious that it is diegetic sound.
Camera Approach
I wanted to include more wide shots in my production than Richard Curtis did originally as I really wanted to emphasise the space between the characters in order to suggest the awkwardness of the situation. Therefore, after the wedding video stops, the majority of the shots are shot in wide angle (whereas before the wedding video there were a lot of close ups / shot-reverse shots. I feel that this helped to change the mood of the scene and really emphasise the uncomfortable nature of the scene after the wedding video finishes.
I also decided to increase the exposure to slightly higher than normal during the wedding video in order to create an almost dream like / glowy look. This (like the love song) works in two ways. It helps to show the wedding as idealistic and dream like but also helps to convey Mark's affectionate feelings towards Juliet.
Editing
I wanted to make the editing in the first half of the first scene quicker than the editing in the last half of the first scene to really emphasise the awkwardness between the characters once the wedding video has finished. This slower pace helps to drag out the long silences which heightens the uncomfortable atmosphere. Pacing is a key part of editing, if the pacing is wrong then the whole scene will be thrown off and a completely different atmosphere could be created to that of the one you intended. [3] Therefore, the majority of my product has fairly normal paced editing to help make the slow cuts of the post-wedding video scene more noticeable and therefore have more of an effect.
Overall, my key focuses as a director were colour, mood and tone. I wanted to ensure colour was an important factor in my production and I feel that I have achieved this. This colour then has a knock on effect on the mood and the tone of the piece. The red colour helps to reflect Mark's feelings towards Juliet which helps to create a slightly romantic atmosphere. The mood and tone are also created by the pacing of the editing and the sound design of the piece. The ambient soundtrack pre wedding video and the lack of soundtrack post wedding video helps to shift the mood and tone of the piece. I am happy with my directorial decisions as I feel I was able to create my visualisation effectively.
[1] (2013) Available at: https://www.videomaker.com/article/c10/15681-how-to-effectively-use-in-negative-space-in-your-shots (Accessed: 1 March 2017).
[2] Fusco, J. (2016) Watch: The psychology of color in film. Available at: http://nofilmschool.com/2016/06/watch-psychology-color-film (Accessed: 1 March 2017).
[3] Hockrow, R. (2014) Peachpit. Available at: http://www.peachpit.com/articles/article.aspx?p=2233986 (Accessed: 1 March 2017).
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