Final Project

Let's be friends from Paula Busnovetsky on Vimeo.

Post 4: Sound-Image and Image-image Relationships (Eternal Sunshine)

For this post I chose one of my favorite movies, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, directed by Michel Gondry. In an otherwise image and edit heavy movie, I decided to choose one of the more simple scenes that still exemplifies masterful editing. The scene begins with a continuous shot of Joel (Jim Carrey) following Clementine (Kate Winslet) through the bookstore. She's supposed to be working, but he's trying to have a conversation with her. As the scene moves forward it switches between that and a voyeuristic between the books point of view, which makes you feel like a hidden onlooker to this relationship. Of course, this is all taking place in Joel's mind, as the memory of Clementine is being erased. This positioning of the viewer makes it feel like you're secretly on this psychological journey with him. You're peeking through the books, watching him desperately try to hold on to a memory of someone he loves. At some points, when Joel is talking to Clementine, they choose to keep her out of focus, perhaps alluding to her immanent erasure. My favorite part of this scene is at the end where Clementine tells Joel to try his best to remember her, cuts to the between the books POV, then she disapears. You notice as soon as she is gone, something else is missing. All though it is slight, and may take a few playbacks to see, the all ready plain background of books becomes more dull as any hint of color from the spines or covers has been completely muted. The scene starts with the hope that Joel might be able to hold on to Clementine, but leaves you with a bleak reality. Clementine was the color in his otherwise dull life, as soon as she is gone so is the rest of the worlds hue. Even the most subtle editing can tell an important story.