BSA Audio Article Annotation

 BSA Audio 

Hi!
This article (https://www.peshprints.com/opinion/2020/05/21/wholesome-heartfelt-film-the-half-of-it-review/) is a review of 'The Half of It', directed by Alice Wu, the film I used in my documentation. While the article isn't very long, it has a great paragraph that I wanted to discuss, about the sound design of the film and how it enhances the story. 

"One of my favorite parts of the movie was the voice-over for each of the letters and texts exchanged between Ellie and Aster. Although Aster believes she is talking to Paul, Ellie and Aster’s words are vocalized by the two characters, making the written conversations between them a verbal one — the audio removes the physical boundary between Ellie and Aster, making the emotional connection between them more apparent to the viewer."

This idea of removing the 'physical boundary' between the characters is something I touched on in my proposal, attempting to recreate this through fade ins which overlapped. This idea is crucial to the plot of the story, which is about Ellie, the main character, messaging Aster while posing as a classmate who wants to get with Aster. Ellie can only talk to Aster through writing, but the film uses dialogue to show the connection between the two, as if they were having a conversation. 

I feel like the narration also seems very personal, as if we are watching these characters show their true selves to each other, since there isn't that fear of being judged or messing up like there is face to face. Both characters are shown to be a bit closed off, Ellie struggling to open up to people and speak up due to her lack of friends and bullying, while Aster is "quiet and plays along with what people want or expect her to be." In writing, they can be themselves while staying partly anonymous, but reading it would distance us from the film. The dialogue feels like the characters baring themselves to each other, accentuating the core theme of the film, love, which is often described as 'baring your soul to someone'. It also supports the theme of being yourself, which is a core character arc of Ellie and Aster.

Overall, the article really nails down what is so special about the dialogue in The Half of It, and why it worked so well. 

Tindal, J. (2020, May 21). Wholesome, heartfelt film: “The Half of It” review. Panther Prints. Retrieved June 22, 2022, from https://www.peshprints.com/opinion/2020/05/21/wholesome-heartfelt-film-the-half-of-it-review/