Normal People (2020)

Even though Normal People is about ordinary people living ordinary lives, its visual approach is anything but bland or ordinary. Here’s a great example.

This shot is incredibly composed and designed. Every film and television show is composed to some degree, of course, but some, like Normal People, immediately announce that visual approach from the very first shot.

First, this is an overhead shot. We’re looking down at the couple almost as if we’re looking at a diagram. The perspective creates a sense of distance and order rather than placing us in either character’s point of view. It’s a very objective shot.

Second, the shot is highly geometric. The rectangle of the bed, the pillows, and the headboard create a clean, graphic composition.

Third, The balance of the composition gives the shot a quiet sense of order. Marianne occupies one half of the bed, her boyfriend the other. Their heads rest on opposite pillows, and their bodies almost mirror one another.

Fourth, their poses create graphic shapes Marianne’s arms create diagonals across the pillow, while her boyfriend curls toward the edge of the bed. Before you even read them as people, you read them as shapes arranged within a shot.

Finally, the lighting is incredibly controlled. Nothing feels randomly lit, nor is the bedroom evenly lit the way it might be in a sitcom. The brightest area is the bedside lamp, and the light of the lamp falls around Marianne’s face, naturally drawing your eye toward her.

Moreover, just because a shot is formal doesn’t mean it can’t be emotionally expressive. The shot tells us that this relationship is on verge of seperation before they even say a word. They’re sharing the same bed, but the shot already suggests they’re drifting apart.