Max Happe

T-206

Midterm Photo Project

The aesthetic I chose to emulate was that of the movie (500) Days of Summer. These pictures are supposed to be looked at in order to tell a short story about one-sided love. I have tried to make the lyrics, “I’m a creep,” show how a boy who loves a girl is unsure of himself and becomes depressed due to fear of this emotional expression. I chose the look of (500) Days of Summer after trying three other aesthetics. I tried black and white for a more dramatic effect, but felt like I could present a lot more with color. (500) Days of Summer tells a similar story of heart-break and has a lot of color and sunniness to it and I really like how it showed a sad meaning mixed with a mostly bright and deceivingly happy look. The trees in my pictures are mostly leafless though to show a more subtle sense of loss or losing.

Photo 1. This is the girl the boy loves. I deliberately did not use the rule of thirds to make the focus on her less natural. She is the main focus, walking towards us, but I wanted her presence to feel uniquely important. This is also why I used a low angle shot. Looking up at her makes her appear important and dominating. I also use the lines of the sidewalk and chain rail to give the impression that she is coming right at us, almost to us. What I am hoping to convey is this is how the boy in love feels when he first sees her. She stands out and is coming to or for him. The other girl walking past with her back turned emphasizes even more the importance of the girl walking towards us. Walking away makes the one girl smaller and less important, while walking up towards us makes the focus girl more important.

Photo 2. I had trouble deciding between which one of two pictures I should use here. I had one at the same setting, but with a close up on the hand holding flowers. I really liked this, but wasn’t sure if it would lose people as to what was going on, so instead I chose a low angle almost full body shot of the “creep” looking up at what is supposed to be the girl’s house. I tried to make it obvious that the boy is contemplating going to the house by focusing on him and the steps. I chose this house because the bushes block off the front of the house, almost as if making a wall between the boy and going up to the house. The door is also just out of frame, because one: I wanted the focus on the steps and two: It being just out of frame is used to help show that actually going up to the house is just out of reach for the “creep.” “What the hell am I doin here?” is the line that inspired this shot.

Photo 3. I used a low angle to show the emotion of the “creep”. He is slouched over looking down to show he is sad. I wanted this to show that he did not go up to the door, or tell the girl how he feels. Instead he feels like a creep. He is sitting mostly in shadow to contrast the sun he was in when he was at her doorstep. He has given up hope and the darkness of the shadow helps demonstrate this loss of sunshine and happiness.

Photo 4. These are the flowers the creep was holding in photo 2. He has given up and just left the flowers to dry in the sun. The flowers represent his love. The image of them being left on the sidewalk should show the opposite of happiness and the crack they are laying on reiterates his broken heart and self-esteem. Having them in the sun will also lead to them drying up and eventually dying.

Photo 5. I wanted to start and end with the girl. At first the creep thought she was coming for him, but now she has her back turned and is walking away to show that she never recognized him. This is also behind the chain rail to serve as a barrier between the creep and her. The girl is now walking in shadow, because the creep has lost the initial happiness of seeing her. Now seeing her is sad because he knows she will never be aware of him. It is still looking up at her because he still admires her though.

Max Happe

Song:

Creep by Radiohead

You're so fuckin' special I wish I was special

But I'm a creep,

I'm a weirdo What the hell am I doin' here?

I don't belong here

Visual Aesthetic:

(500) Days of Summer

This is a picture of one of the scenes form the movie. It is sunny and bright outside, which I have incorporated into my pictures. The movie is also about heartbreak, which is what inspired me to use bright sunniness and outdoor shots to tell my 5 photograph story of unreciprocated love. I drew a lot form this picture in particular, using many low angle shots and focusing on individuals.