Homage Presentation

Breakfast at Tiffany’s directed by Blake Edwards was deemed “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant” by the United States Library of Congress and selected for preservation in the National Film Registry in 2012. The film was directed by Blake Edwards and released in 1961 by Paramount Pictures. Blake Edwards is known primarily as a director of comedy, but has also directed dramas and detective films.  Edwards is most famous for his slap-stick comedy in The Pink Panther.  Some of this humor can also be seen within multiple scenes of Breakfast at Tiffany’s. One such example would be in the “pop-out lighter scene” of The Pink Panther and the party scene in Breakfast at Tiffany’s. 

However, the scene I am most interested in is the balcony scene.

Edwards ‘attention to eyeline is obvious. He always uses soft lighting and soft focus as is common throughout older movies. I love the framing of Paul as he is looking out his window at Holly. The lines from the fire escape perfectly frame Paul as he is leaning out the window. Additionally, the fire escape adds more depth to the shot. As the shot switches to one of Holly sitting in her window playing her guitar, the framing of the window is used as a vertex to draw your eye to Holly.  Again, the parts of the fire escape as well as the shadowing on the brick wall adds depth to the scene. There is not a lot of action within the scene, which I believe is fitting for the song that is played in the background. When the scene first opens up in Paul’s apartment, there are many objects that add depth to the scene. This includes the lamp on the left side of the scene, the hanging on the wall, the many crumpled up pieces of paper, and the litter scattered across his desk.  

First Project

LIGHTING ASSIGNMENT

This shot is from Vampire Diaries Season 4 Episode 15- Stand by Me. The overall mood for this show is, in my opinion, dark yet searching, and sometimes finding light. Because of this, there are a lot of dark and moody shots where it appears the dark is fighting for control with the light. In this particular shot, Elena is sitting in front of a window, which is where the apparent light from the right of the shot is coming from. Personally, I feel that the lighting looks natural. Clearly, because of the light and the focus, you can tell that Elena is the main focus of the shot. As I mentioned earlier, you can see how the light and shadows play off of her face, representing the conflict of good/evil or light/dark that is evident in many of the scenes of the show. If I had to guess, I would say that the key light is located to the right of the scene, to represent the light coming from the window. Also, there may be a back light behind Elena to set her apart from the rest of the scene. I also think that there may be a fill light behind the camera and to the right of the shot.

This shot is obviously very different than the first one. It is from a Trisket commercial that played while I was watching the episode that I got the first picture from. There is a great deal of light with this picture and minimal shadows. I feel that the mood is supposed to be happy and exciting. There is a window located behind the actress in this scene. That is why I believe that the back light is so bright and casts the shadows around her neck. I feel that there are more fill lights in this shot than in the previous one. If I had to guess the key light is set up to the left of the actress, and there is a fill light to the right and possibly even further to the left thatn the key light. There may possibly even be a kicker light in the shot, but of this I am unsure.  The light is reflecting slightly off of the large gold earrings that the actress is wearing, and there is a slight reflection off of the cupboard behind her. The actress is wearing many bright colors, yet the background color is a darker which assists the lighting in setting the actress apart from the rest of the scene.