(22nd)weekly film analysis- if i stay

If i stay is an teen romantic drama directed by R.J Cutler, the film is based of a best selling novel written by Gayle Forman. The film grossed 78.9 million pound when it was released in 2014.

If i stay used a parallel narrative , the flashbacks and a normal narrative ,at times it seems like two different stories , one of her life and one on her recovering from her serious injuries.This is how the film introduces its themes of relationships (family, friendship and sexual) and life/death, the film does this by using a complicated structure , it's almost as the characters mind is exploring all the reasons she should stay alive by using flashbacks, although the the voice over is still in past tense. Furthermore the film puts the climax at the beginning of the film before we were able to fully establish the characters life, instead the audiences does this after. This is mainly so the audience builds up a connection , in order for them to feel emotional leading to the big decision.

In one of the opening scenes a close up of out main character Mia is used within a tracking shot however the shot is taken through a window, this distorts her face and could imply that her future is unclear. During this shot a calm classical music is played which gives the scene a calm atmosphere, although the voice over predicts the future when the character says “isn't it funny how life is one thing and in a instants its something else”. After this moment the classical music becomes more harsh, sudden and deeper notes, this is a direct link to the voice over and the action at this moment in time. These three elements were cleverly timed to make this scene as dramatic as possible, our protagonist plays a parallel narrative as at the same time she is in hospital and looking back at her past to see if she should live or die.



The film tends to use mid-shots in the most dramatic events as it allows us to see our protagonist Mia's feelings as well as the action in the background, such as fire, snow, doctors and ambulances, this adds tension to the scene as is intensifies the accident. Despite the traumatic event the lighting on scene tends to be bright which is tends to be rare as it gives off positive connotations, however when we relate this to the advent it could connote to afterlife. This lighting element is played when again after the news of a family members death as she does not want to fight for her life anymore , this light appears through a window implying passing over.
↙(lighting point)

Additionally, the film uses Mise en scene to mirror scene shown in the beginning of the film. The scene uses props such as a bike a cello in the same setting , the only difference is the the characters riding the bike,(dad then daughter). This may be done to show how Mia is just like her father, for example,of wanting to pursue a music career.
The editing in this film is usually invisible through each scene, but then  elongated cuts are used at the end to go back to hospital or to show a flashback is going to occur, this is mainly done for practical reasons as the story line may begin to confuse the audience if the cuts were not used  In some ways the cuts show the difference between past and present time.
In conclusion, in the production of this film the use of themes,cinematography, Mise en scene and editing are put together very well to make it an emotional and tense film.





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