Video Tribute - Carousel of Love

The name of our video tribute is “Carousel of Love”. The word “Carousel” is used to metaphorically describe spinning sensation and instability caused by the decisions made by the characters. The word “Love” can be defined by the affections and attractions that felt by our characters. These two words depict the themes of the video we have made, “what goes around, comes around.” 

The video begins with Alaric meeting Rachel for the first time in the library. Alaric seems to be drawn to Rachel. Things escalate when Rachel walks into an empty classroom where Alaric is trying to study. She dresses provocatively with the attempt to seduce Alaric. Little does Alaric knows the intentions behind his seductive vixen girlfriend. After Rachel kills Alaric she makes a phone call to a mysterious person. The mysterious phone call turns out to be Anne, Alaric’s sister. Anne reveals her true intentions to Rachel. Rachel kills Anne as she feels betrayed and she ends up  getting locked up in an asylum.

The theme as mentioned above, revolves around the consequences of doing bad deeds, thus "what goes around, comes around". Rachel kills in the name of love, Alaric is killed due to his lust and Anne kills for her own greed and is killed for her betrayal. In the end, Rachel ends up getting locked up for her actions. The pessimistic tone is enhanced by the incorporation of Film Noir characteristics. 

The role of the femme fatale is blurred when the story reveals the mastermind behind the whole thing, which is Anne instead of Rachel. We have chose to use female characters as the main protagonist instead of the usual male to show more dynamics of the femme fatale. Thus, depicting the significance of girl/women power in the patriarchy society where the women will have the right to be in control. 
 

As can be seen in the video, most of the scenes shot are in narrow spaces to indicate the intimate relationship between the characters. For instance, the scene where Alaric and Rachel first meet in the library as well as the scene in the spiral staircase where Anne and Rachel meet. 

Besides that, we have also incorporated camera angles like such as extreme close up, close up, high and low angles. In this video, close up is used to show to the expression of the characters (Spicer & Hanson, 2013). This is shown when Anne smirks when as she peeks through the door. The used of high and low angles are to show the inequality status of the characters. Low angle is used when  Anne is talking to Rachel to show that she is dominant to her as she now gains power and wealth. Whereas high angle is used on Rachel as she is mocked by Anne.

High angle shows vulnerability

Low Angle shows dominance

Next, chiaroscuro lighting is used to indicate that something bad is about to occur. In a scene where Alaric is alone with Rachel in a room, harsh lighting is used to show that Alaric is about to die. Another scene is when Rachel awaits for Anne at the spiral staircase, to hint that something malice is about to happen.

 Chiaroscuro (Low-Key) lighting casts hard shadow.

Chiaroscuro Lighting.

Additionally, we have also incorporated lines in our mise-se-scene. For instance, the spiral staircase, costumes, books and shelves in the library. This is because oblique vertical and horizontal lines can generate some sense of tension and nervousness which are correlated to the 1920s German expressionist style adopted by Film Noir (Hayward, 2013).  

Lines from Book Shelf, Books and Costume.

Lines from Spiral Stairs.

Lastly, narrations play an essential role in Film Noir as it can help the audiences to understand better. The narration is heard in the beginning our video to show how the sequence of events happen to Rachel.

Here's our Video Tribute: