Director Statement
LOVE ACTUALLY- THE STORY OF KAREN AND HARRY
LOG LINE: The perfect traditional family is falling apart but can a broken mothers strength be the glue to hold it together at Christmas?
SYNOPSIS: Nothing is more incredible but painful than the power of love, whether it is between a husband and wife, parent and child, it is rarely overcome. This is proved when Karen, a stay at home middle-aged mother is comfortably married to workaholic Harry, the managing director of a design agency. They have two children who are Karens pride and joy and she does everything she can to ensure they have happy childhoods with structure. Everything to do with the home is always done Karens way and Harry rarely helps. Karen is looking forward to their normal happy christmas but Harry puts a spanner in the works when it is revealed he is having an affair with his secretary. Karens first priority is her children therefore instead of getting angry with Harry she calmly breaks down in their bedroom alone surrounded by all their memories. She loves her children too much to let them see how empty she feels on the inside so she continues with their normal happy family act.
VISION: My vision is to create a story that captivates the love a mother has for her children as well as the pain that love and betrayal can cause. I want to use colour to reflect themes and moods, as well as the early 2000's when the film is set. To help me with this I drew out a Venn diagram for: Love and Excitement, Sadness and Loneliness, and Calm. These are the three sets of themes that I wish to highlight the most, as well as what colours symbolise each mood; I chose to structure it like this because there are overlaps in tones to some scenes and only a few scenes tend to have one tone to them, this then helped me when creating my colour palette.
I added neutral tones to the palette as the most common colours to wear and have in homes were: beige, pink, peach and turquoise, therefore these are the colours that I wish to use the most throughout my film. All costumes will contain one or more of these colours and I am going to use gel lighting to create moods to frames. For example when Karen is putting presents under the tree sh is very happy, therefore I will adjust the camera to around 3000 Kelvins to make the scene feel warmer and characters will be dressed in red and pink clothing to highlight love and excitement. There will be small props around the room such as presents in red wrapping paper to also reinforce these themes.
However in the last few scenes when Karen realises her husband is having an affair I will use a blue gel on the LED light to give the scene a colder feel to highlight sadness. I will also add subtle elements of blue to the scene such as photo frames and cushions to also symbolise this.
I discovered the idea of 'hiding colours' in a scene when researching Richard Curtis and another director Paul Whittington. They both place subtle coloured props at some point in every frame to symbolise something. Below is an example of how many times red costumes feature in the three films Richard Curtis has directed: "The Boat That Rocked" (2009), "Love Actually" (2003) and "About Time" (2013).
For sound I would like to be quite creative. I will add slightly more atmosphere to the scenes that Curtis' version by adding diegetic background sounds such as Karens children chatting in the background when she is crying in her bedroom after finding out about her husbands affair, to reinforce that Karen has to stay strong for the sake of her children and that's the reason she is not shouting at her husband. I will be using the Jodi Mitchell song "Both Sides now" in this scene as it is in the script however I also wish to include the noises or Karens breathing to reflect she is upset and add a sense of rawness.
For camera angles I wish to follow Whittingtons use of hand held shots to reinforce tension as well as Curtis' shaky hand held shots to emphasise unease. This will be at the moment when Karen finds out she has been betrayed. I will also be using close ups as this is something Richard Curtis uses in his other films but not much in "Love Actually" and I believe it it will work well to portray emotions; mainly excitement with the children when they are opening presents and the sadness with Karen. I wish to also use a wide shot to represent isolation when Karen is looking at all the family photos and thinking of past memories as she realises her life will never be the same. I also wish to use some movement when Karen ad harry are chatting in their bedroom. I will start with a wide shot on a tripod and then as they sit down and the conversation changes to Harrys new secretary (whom he is having an affair with) I will begin to move in closer with a gimble and I will also us interior angles to help the audience feel involved in the moment.
For hair and makeup it will be very subtle and nothing extravagant as I wish to create most of the tone through lighting and costume. The performance style will be naturalistic.
CAST:
For my casting I have used the website Mandy.com to approach some actors that I believe would suit the role well. I have also contacted some drama societies in Kent and have been having auditions for the roles of Harry and Karen. I also have cast two children to play the roles of Daisy and Bernie; Karen and Harrys children. Although they are only in one scene and don't have any speaking roles they are still crucial as they are the reason that Karen stays so strong, therefore I contacted a children's acting agency for the south east and decided on two children both age ten to play the roles.
CREW:
For Crew I have experiences Television Production students helping me out. I have Matthew Cowan as my Cinematographer and George Larman as my Gaffer, they will be helping my vision come to life.
LOCATION:
I am filming in a bungalow with neutral coloured furniture in a quiet area. This is because I want to have a hand held shot of Karen walking from the living room into the bedroom to create a slight sense of unease as she is breaking down on the inside. It was important for the furniture and walls to be neutral so that I can dress them and light them with gels.
TARGET AUDIENCE:
My target audience is 25-55 year old females.
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