Love Hard analysis

1. Directed By Hernan Jimenez Garcia

2. Introduction: • The opening sequence starts of brightly, attracting the watcher’s attention immediately due to the high key lighting used to show us the amazing establishing shots of the nature, the happy soundtrack in the background makes the viewer believe that it will continue as it is, happy and joyful.

3. The sequence continues with a tracking shot of the main actor, Nina Dobrev, at a medium shot, as she enters the bathroom. There is also a voiceover of her talking on top, this allows us to connect with her character due to the warm tone she’s speaking as she tells us her personal thoughts. Her voice over acts like an introduction, she’s not speaking to herself nor someone else meaning it gives us background information on what might the next scenes be about. To continue, there is an eyeline match where she’s getting ready, it allows us to see her facial features and expression.

4. It transitions to an extreme close up shot where the woman is swiping left and right on a dating app as she states that “Condemning humans, to spend the rest of their lives, searching for their other half”, this connotes her loneliness, looking for a soulmate on a dating app. This can also tell us what age group she might be in and the time period the film might have been made. It’s only usual and accepted nowadays, for mainly young adults.

5. Every transition is smoothly done, the editing is fast paced as we see a montage of each terrible date she’s been through as the non diegetic sound of her voice can still be heard giving us context. • By doing this, she allows us to understand her situation, it gets us ready and comfortable for the next scenes. She’s to be seen as a desperate young adult searching for love which contrast with the usual romantic movies and gives space for comedy as some can relate to. • The scene also conforms to the generation nowadays where women dress up, looking fancy, red lipstick and high heels to only get “catfished” by men. Which contradicts to the stereotype where it states that men are mainly catfished by women. The next scene is on how the women goes on her dates with the help of the dating app, with a twist. She always gets up being catfished and disappointed. We see this with the help of zoom ins on her face which denotes surprised and disappointed facial expressions. There are wipes when transitioning to her other several dates which turn up as bad as the previous ones. “I keep thinking that my perfect match has to be out there”, this connotes her forgiving and wishful personality as she doesn’t give up. The scene is full of humour, her calm voice contrasts with the actual scene where we see can see the disasters of her dates. There are many close up shots mainly focused on her, this tells the viewer her importance and role in the movie. She’s cheerful and naive.

6. Terrible Dating Scenes clip & pics:

7. Office scene: -As we still hear her voice in the background, the scene transitions to her working place. - The camera tracks around the office giving us a clear view, everyone is dressed up smartly, sitting at their desk or walking around, In full view, we see the women, in a suit and glasses, at her desk writing on her computer as the voiceover continues. - “I turned my horrible love live into a successfulwriting career”, this tells us she’s a blogger which is, again, more stereotypical for a woman to be and not a man. The camera rotates around her which may connote that the film is revolving around her, that everything is going terrible for her and that everything is messy due to the unstable hand held shot provided

8. Moreover, the voiceover transition as well, it became her thoughts instead of background context in which it turns to a sadder tone. Ambient sounds of the office can also be heard which gives a touch of realism on the office. The blonde women behind her responds to the voiceover as if she could hear it. It’s unexpected and surprising, this event creates a comfortable mood between the viewers and the character because it breaks from the sad tension created by her and gives it a touch of humor. We deeply focus on the conversation they have due to the wide shots and eyeline matches where we can only see them two as the background is blurred. It allows the audience to listen and stay entertained because it blocks it from stealing our attention somewhere else.

9. Opening sequence: Ending: • The scene ends in humor and makes the audience feel closer to the character. • The rom-com film genre is modernized for all ages to understand. It’s unconventional to see a women, as the main character, being funny but it is conventional for her to later fall in love. • We still see the stereotypical view of women having a mediocre job mainly in a journalistic/bloggeristic office working for men. • It gives enough background information in the first 3 minutes for anyone to understand what is going to happen which makes it more engaging and interesting. • It starts off with comedy and surely makes you want to continue watching the rest of the film.