While you were sleeping essay

The opening begins with an establishing shot of a train track panning up. This may be suggesting that the film the film might take place in a train station or a key part in the film may have something to do with the train station.
There is a sound track playing from the start of the film. The soundtrack is upbeat and establishes a happy, jolly mood. The soundtrack also has the word ‘love’ in it, which could be suggesting that this film is going to be about love. The soundtrack also fits into the genre of romance. We are shown a long shot of tall buildings which suggest that the location is in the city. We also see a low angle shot of flags of other countries with tall building behind it. This possibly may be suggesting that there is an up-coming event that will include other countries and this may takes place in the city that’s why it is showing the big, tall city buildings behind the flags. We also see a bust shot of a big sign that says ‘WOLFEYS’, this co-notates that this film is set in the USA. There is a Shot of Chicago stadium; this establishes that the film is taking place in Chicago. The Chicago stadium is advertising tickets for a basketball game; this could possibly be the up-coming event that I suggested earlier. We see a close up shot of a man making hot dogs, which also relates to the basketball game. All these little things connote that something big and interesting will happen at this particular basketball game. We are shown some pigeons flying around and people ice-skating; this could be showing that Chicago is a busy city. This is appropriate for the genre because it is usually in busy places where people meet and fall in love. Then we see a statue of two men fighting over a ball, also clearly implies a sign of basketball and suggests to the audience that the basketball game will be a significant part of the film. The audience are shown busy traffic and lots of cars rushing; this could suggest it’s a holiday possibly Christmas because we know its winter. The filmmaker has made it clear that it is winter because they have shown us that people are ice-skating and are wrapped up warm in coats and scarf’s.

Later we are shown a high angle shot of the sunset panning down on a little girl and her dad, the lighting in this scene is dark. There is a voice over of a female talking. From what she is saying we know that it is the girl in the scene but is likely to be when she is older because it is a very womanly voice in the voice over which suggests many years have gone past. Also suggests that the girl is the main character because she is the first person to be introduced in the film.  We than see a close up shot of the girl and her dad and the girl imitates what her dad is doing which suggests that she sees her dad as a role model.
 

After that the audience are shown the girl when she is older working at a train station. The filmmaker has done this to show that she has moved on with her life and is no longer dependent of her dad. We see a close up shot of her face observing a man who goes past, and then a close up shot of his face. This clearly implies that her attention is on him. Also suggest that the character has lust for him and this goes with the genre of romance.We are again shown a close up of her face; this is a shot, reverse shot. This shows that something will happen between these two characters later on during the film and also hints to the audience that the genre is romance.

Later on we see the main character pulling a Christmas tree through a snowy window. This tells us its Christmas time and that it’s been snowing. Also tells us that the character is a single woman who lives by herself and doesn’t have a man in her life to help her with her Christmas tree. We can see that she is struggling by her facial expressions. The filmmaker has done this to show she needs help. We then see a close up of her slipping on a wire this connotes comedy and may be implying that the genre of the film is also comedy.

The costume she wear when going to her neighbours is a big grey woolly jumper possibly because its winter and its cold. The costume also suggests that the character is someone who like to wear comfortable clothes. Her neighbour is wearing a shirt and a cardigan; this is something someone old would wear.

From the opening it is clear that the narrative of this film is to show the the main character who is a middle ages women go through key stages of her life. The filmmaker shows this by showing how her life was before with her dad and how her life is now (single, lonely). The filmmaker will also show very important part of her life, which is when she falls in love. We as the audience know this because the filmmaker has denoted it and given us hints e.g her staring at a handsome man in the train station where she works.


Furthermore i also realised that the filmmaker used non-diegetic sound, for example the voice over of the main character. I think that this voice over was used so that we are able to establish what the character is thinking and feeling at each specific stage of her life.

Joygun Yasmin Nessa