(500) Days of Summer

In this unique scene from (500) days of summer, the protagonist, Tom, plays out his dream of what the night would be like ("Expectations") vs. the actual night ("Reality"). The first shot is an example of two camera angles Ramirez-Berg discussed, the close up (on the left) and the medium shot (on the right). In contrasting these two shots in one picture, the filmmaker is showing us the two different situations: the emotional bond between Tom and the girl, Summer, on the left, and the purely informational shot on the right, which lets the audience know that there isn't an emotional connection between these two characters here.

Later on in this scene, Tom's "Expectations" are shattered. The camera pans to a close up his face and then cuts to this close up. This shot of Summer's hand with an engagement ring on it lets the audience know why Tom is so disturbed. Rather than the emotional connotative meaning of the close up previously described, this close up is a denotative shot, giving us important details.

After his "Expectations" are no more, Tom runs down the stairs and outside. He is all alone and as he walks away from the camera, he places himself in a long shot, which lets the audience know that he is lonely, sad, and isolated.