The movie recently watched in class was The Notebook directed by Nick Cassavetes. The movie was about a young couple who were together when they were younger and when the girl had to leave for college. The movie goes though how they went upon their life afterwards and eventually came back into each other's lives then eventually married and lived the rest of their life together. There is a Focus on Ideas, mainly on the idea of relationship. The movie is a romance movie and because of that they have to build up the two main characters relationship together. The two main character's Noah and Allie had bonded really quickly over the course of their first summer together. Eventually they had to part from one another for a handful of years. Once Allie was close enough to be able to hear about what Noah has done with the Plantation, they are able to reconnect and rekindle their love. Noah also never gave up on Allie when she was losing her memory.
Acting is one of the most important thing in a the movie's storyline. Both Allie's and Noah's actors both the younger versions and older versions did a great job. The younger versions, Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams, did a great job portraying the young and carefree young adults and then transitioning into real life/real adulting. Rachel McAdams showed the character as the uptight daughter to carefree just wanting to have fun, then once Allie had to leave she became more of the daughter her parents wanted. Rachel McAdams showed not only what the emotions were but what the character was thinking. At the end when she came back to Ryan Gosling's character, she showed that her character really cared for Noah. Ryan Gosling also showed what the character was thinking and was feeling. The scene that Ryan showed the best emotions was the scene when right after Allie comes back into town and to the plantation. He makes her dinner while she is in town and wanting to hang out with Noah. Ryan Gosling showed that he was still interested in Rachel McAdam's character but his character was confused, frustrated, and slightly frustrated with her mostly because when he found out she was in the main town he found out that she was with another guy. On top of it she rubbed it into his face when they were eating. James Garner showed similar feelings that Ryan Gosling did with Noah. Ryan Gosling also showed that he (Noah) really cared for Allie. James Garner showed that Noah cared for Allie when they were older. Near the end, in the scene when the day is wrapping up older Noah made sure that older Allie was being treated well and wanted to give her a way to try and remember her past. He was also displayed sadness when she went back to forgetting who he was and was freaking out.
Color was used very subtly. When the movie is current the colors are brighter and more vibrant. While when it was in the past it was there was obviously the color looks a bit aged. When Allie was in college and was a nurse in the war right after she leaves for college; had that older/duller look because it shows what time period the war was taking place. It shows that she also hoping she might be able to meet up with Noah again even though it would be hard to know if he was actually in the war, and if she did know it would be hard to actually potentially find. While older Noah and Allie were at the nursing home outside waiting for their children, and while Allie was briefly there; the lighting was brighter, and the color looks like a current movie. The colors show that there is time that has passed. As well as their relationship has changed and moved on since they got back together. The current time colors show that they are still together after all these years. The colors show that Allie and Noah are together and showing/comparing their past and their current life. The colors show that there are two different time periods are represented in the movie. Since the movie is mostly spent talking about and showing Allie and Noah's history, it helps show the difference between current and past because the current time scenes are less than the past, the audience knows the past and present.
There was use of visual design, especially with costume and makeup design. When Allie around 17, in the beginning, when her and Noah first started hanging out her clothes/costumes were more flowy and younger looking. Makeup for her makes her look like she was a bit younger and appropriate for the time. The makeup looks light and more natural looking. When Noah first meets the family and the dad was making inappropriate jokes. Her outfit was more appropriate for her age at the time because compared to the other women, were all older than her wore dresses that were more fitting to the women on top of fitting their age. Her makeup in the scene is a lot more nude or neutral makeup. The women in the other scene clearly were wearing makeup. Comparing it to the focus on relationship, there was a costume difference, in the same scene, between Noah and the rest of the people in the scene. His shirt is black while everyone is white showing that him, the poorer class, and the other people, the wealthier class, do not mix but they are there together. When Allie decides to come back to see Noah at the plantation after it was finished, you can see that they definitely had changed since the last saw each other. Allie's makeup was done up a little bit more showing a bit more maturity in her. Her costume in that shows that since they last saw each other that she became more of what her parents wanted by dressing like she had money and came from a nice family because she mature with slightly fitter clothes and nicer clothes. While Noah's clothes show that he made a little bit more money but has to work for it. He does have some clean clothes but when Allie just gets on the property his clothes obviously, he has been working in the shirt because there is sweat stains on the shirt. The make up was not much but it shows a slight bit of age under the eyes because as he gets older he is gets more tired and lonely the older he gets but the beard and hair helps show the age with little makeup. The clothes and makeup for both of them show that their lives are completely different lives but always comeback to one another.
The film's overall focus is on relationship because it is a romance movie. Romance movies are typically written and worked around the relationship of the character. The Notebook does focus on the idea of relationships because they reconnected after a handful of years of not being together without being in contact with each other. The focus on a relationship was easier to talk about with plot because the relationship formed through the storyline. It was hard to describe when using examples for things like costumes and makeup but does not mean that visual design did not help build a relationship between Noah and Allie. I thought the movie was good because that may potentially be similar for someone's love story, especially at the time they were raised and lived. I would probably watch the movie if someone put it on, but I would not seek out watching The Notebook. I see why people may enjoy the movie, but I am not really into watching romance movies.
