We then cut back to them singing while it rains in of the living room. This is Joel when he was younger and shows the audience the memory from his perspective. While the music is playing and they’re singing along with the childish song, we cut to a bike outside in the rain and a boy staring out the window at the bike. They are playing along with the child-like theme and are trying to help Joel remember his childhood to introduce the next scene. While the music continues, it cuts back to Joel and Clementine on the couch, singing along to the song. The song is played as a memory of Joel’s and brings out his child-like self to progress to the next scene of the extract. It then cuts to a child in yellow welly boots jumping in muddy puddles as ‘Row Row Row your boat’ plays on the piano and a child sings along in the background this non-diegetic sound is showing the audience the childhood memory of Joel’s. The only sound in this scene are the dialogue and the sound of light rain in the background. These different angles show the audience the facial expressions and emotions of the characters make the audience connect with the characters and make them feel what the characters are feeling. It then cuts to the other side of Clementine as she is looking at Joel, giving more variety to the scene. It then cuts to Clementine’s crotch, to show that it is Joel’s memory and to relate to the audience by showing a stereotypical man and what he would most likely remember. It then cuts to them both on the sofa at a mid close-up with Joel closer to the camera to make the audience focus on the character and to, again, show the importance of Joel and to show that he is still the main character in this scene. Joel is mostly shown closer to the camera than Clementine to create a connotation that Joel is the main focus of the scenes.
The camera stays in that angle, still moving slightly while Clementine says, “I have another idea for this problem.” The cinematography of this scene shows the relationship between the two characters and the importance of each character to the film by positioning the camera with Joel in front and Clementine further away. It then pans to the window as Clementine says, “Joel” to emphasise to the audience the weather outside which, again, relates to later on in the narrative. We are subtly introduced to the next scene without consciously noticing it. It cuts to a toy and a window, it’s raining outside to show Joel’s childhood memories because it is to do with the narrative in the next scene. It is used to make the scene seem as if they’re in a memory because the scene suddenly changes illogically.
When the scene cuts from the forest to the living room, there is a non-diegetic sound of an arcade noise this is a sound bridge and is used to assist the transition from one scene to the next. This is meant to show the audience that the extract is in Joel’s memory and makes the audience slightly disorientated to create a dream-like state. During the extract, the camera is moving slightly and looks to be hand-held. The focus on each character as they speak, also makes it more interesting for the audience and makes it feel as if they’re there because they would be naturally looking back and forth at the people who are speaking if they were there. This swapping and snapping technique helps the audience focus on the character that is speaking at the time it means that the characters are saying something important to the narrative and the audience need to focus on the character that is speaking. Clementine talks first, then when Joel talks, the camera cuts to a different angle and back again when Clementine speaks again. The different diegetic sounds make the scene more realistic for the audience as well as the characters within the story because this part of the film is in Joel’s memory so these kinds of sounds would be heard. There is only diegetic sound of birds and the wind to create a sense of verisimilitude for the audience. The fact that they are in mid-close up means that the audience need to concentrate on the characters in the two shot. This shows the importance of Joel and shows that he is the main character in this scene. The scene starts with Joel (Jim Carey) and Clementine (Kate Winslet) talking at a mid close-up Joel is nearer to the camera. How do editing, sound and cinematography create meaning for the audience in an extract from Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind?