Music and Lighting

Author's Note: I wrote this as an analysis of the film for the short story, "A Clean Well-Lighted Place,” by Earnest Hemingway. I analyzed the music used in the film and how it affects the tone and the feelings of the characters and the viewers watching it. I also analyzed the lighting choices and how it affected the interpretation of the film. 

The music in the film for the short story, “A Clean Well-Lighted Place,” did a good job of making you feel how the characters were feeling. In the beginning, the music was really eerie and almost like the music you hear in horror movies. The music in the beginning made you feel scared and afraid, I think the director did this because that’s how the old man and the middle aged waiter were probably feeling at the time when they were alone. Then in bar, the music was really loud and it sounded like an accordion playing. Along with the music there was loud talking and a bunch of conversations between the different groups of people, and there was the middle aged waiter saying a bunch of nonsense words and a prayer but skipping words and saying nada instead. When the director did this it makes you feel really claustrophobic and overwhelmed, which is probably how the middle aged man felt and how the old man would have felt had he been in that situation. At the very end of the film, the middle aged waiter was walking home, but it was completely silent other than the occasional seagull making noise, I think this was done to make the viewer think and feel calm like the man was feeling.  The director’s choice in music and voices did a really good job of making the viewer feel as the characters did.

The lighting in the film also impacted the film a lot and helped tell the story and how the characters were feeling. The dark eerie street view of the cafe and deep grey lighting in the beginning went along with the music and helped create that eerie almost scary scene. Then in the cafe the lighting was very bright and the walls and ceiling were bright, which made it seem like it was day time and made you feel safe and calm. Especially the open set up of the cafe helped create that calm feeling. Once the middle aged waiter got to the bar, the lighting wasn’t as bright as in the cafe but still lighter than it was in the beginning. The lighting was really warm colored and the set up of the bar was really cluttered and there were tables, people and things everywhere. Even the walls were full of pictures and things hanging, which made it feel really cluttered and helped give the overwhelmed, claustrophobic feeling, like how the music made you feel. The lighting at the end of the film, as the middle aged waiter was walking home, was natural daytime light and it gave a sense of relief, and calmness. I think this was meant to make the viewers feel as relieve as that man was that the night was over and now he could relax. That’s how the lighting impacted the story and the film.