Day For Night
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Day for Night, the title is a reference to a photography technique by which a scene photographed in bright daylight can be processed to appear as a night scene (by using filters and underexposure.) The film revels many of the secrets of movie magic, candles with electric lights to make there lighting more dramatic, snow made of foam and portions of building made to look like full mansions. The movie is shot in a realistic style and high key lighting, which makes it seem like you are watching a documentary about movie making. Many of the shots in the film are wide shots showing the viewer the film being made, Meet Pamela, and the outside story simatainioulsy.
The love story in Meet Pamela and the love story on the set mirror each other. In Meet Pamela a young man who has just been wed brings his new wife home to meet his family but she falls in love with his father. On the set Alphonse has brought his girlfriend Stacy to the set and gets her a job as a script girl. She leaves him for a stunt man. Shortly after this Alphonse sleeps with, Julie who is married to a much older man Alphonse hopes that she will run away with him but she chooses to be with her husband. In both stories the women chooses to be with the man. There is also another underlying love story between Truffaut and film there are several scenes in the film where a young Truffaut is stealing Citizen Cane moves stills from a movie theater. The dream sequences are repeated and done in black in white dawing special attention to them, There is also a song that is only repeated twice in the film once during a love scene and another when The director (who is played by Truffaut) is unpacking a box of biographies of film greats. Also there are many lines in the film that demonstrate his love. One of them is said when Stacy leaves the film and Alphonse by Ferrends assistant ” I would leave a guy for film, but never a film for a guy”