Why did I make 'Matchmaker'For me, I feel like, in society the pressure is all on the man to make the move or start a relationship with the lady. It's a huge pressure and is demanding on men, some people can handle it and form great relationships but some struggle, some aren't able to fulfil this huge, ridiculous expectation. So I wanted to make a film about an ideal world, where there's a middle man who can carry out the first steps for you, a world where a man's job is to help other men achieve these relationships, a world with a matchmaker. I see my production almost as a solution to the issues brought up within the premise of the film "Lobster" by Yorgos Lanthimos. In the beginning of the film, I found myself saying, that if the character just ignored what people may think of him and spoke to all of the women in the building, he would've eventually found his lover, but I soon realised that not all people have the ability to work this way. Me being able to classify myself as one of these people, I realised that my film is able to solve this issue as it provides a world where someone else can perform that initial contact for you. 'Matchmaker' however, takes a difference stance in the fact that, we can see this job of being a matchmaker has a toll on the character as the lines between love and reality become blurred with greed, money and the inability to love. |
Symbolism and The Eye
Within 'Matchmaker' I wanted to incorporate symbology. The most obvious is the use of a close up of an eye. I made this decision extremely last minute and it was not something that was included in the script. I decided to choose an eyeball as I have always been fascinated by the eye. It is how we see the world, it is something that we all assume we have in common, and yet we really have no idea how another person truly views the world through their own unique set of eyes.
The eye starts as pink at the beginning of the film and by the end of the film it has turned red. This was designed to illustrate how the lines are easily blurred between our perception of love and alternative motives, for example money. The slow transition between two very similar colours, red and pink, indicates how easy it is to slip from one side to the other. The lines between love and reality become blurred with greed, money and the inability to love causing the emotion we all long for to be a mere catalyst to produce income as opposed to a priceless intangible form of happiness.
In conclusion, the eye essentially represents the way we see the world, and is my way of trying to get the audience to think about the transformation that can occur if love and relationships are not cared for.
Another way I tried to incorporate this was with the opening of the envelopes. When the envelope contained a letter, it was opened with a penknife. This was to illustrate that there was delicacy and care for the relationship. On the other hand, the handle of the knife was red to represent danger and the fact that a knife was used illustrates that love can be sharp and dangerous. When the envelope with the money was opened, it was simply ripped open, indicating that the character no longer cared about the money but he cared about the relationship, and yet the eye had turned red indicating that it is too late for the character to turn back, he had made his decision to use love as a vehicle for income, and he may never be able to use it again for his own personal, emotional purposes.
The eye starts as pink at the beginning of the film and by the end of the film it has turned red. This was designed to illustrate how the lines are easily blurred between our perception of love and alternative motives, for example money. The slow transition between two very similar colours, red and pink, indicates how easy it is to slip from one side to the other. The lines between love and reality become blurred with greed, money and the inability to love causing the emotion we all long for to be a mere catalyst to produce income as opposed to a priceless intangible form of happiness.
In conclusion, the eye essentially represents the way we see the world, and is my way of trying to get the audience to think about the transformation that can occur if love and relationships are not cared for.
Another way I tried to incorporate this was with the opening of the envelopes. When the envelope contained a letter, it was opened with a penknife. This was to illustrate that there was delicacy and care for the relationship. On the other hand, the handle of the knife was red to represent danger and the fact that a knife was used illustrates that love can be sharp and dangerous. When the envelope with the money was opened, it was simply ripped open, indicating that the character no longer cared about the money but he cared about the relationship, and yet the eye had turned red indicating that it is too late for the character to turn back, he had made his decision to use love as a vehicle for income, and he may never be able to use it again for his own personal, emotional purposes.
An alternative view
The following is an alternative viewpoint taken from my production by an audience member in the premiere screening.
"The Matchmaker is an introvert in the fact that there is a role reversal with the people he seeks to help. As an introvert, he struggles to form any kind of physical relationship other than through letters therefore when he writes letters, he experiences the feeling of love and uses letters as his vehicle to have a meaningful relationship. He is someone who lives on the sidelines of the reality of love. He is a strange character in the sense that, he cares about the relationship and yet is unable to confront the women whilst the people he writes for are unable to get to the ladies heart through the writing and yet are completely capable of the physical relationship. He gets his fulfilment of love through the letters he writes, he knows the women better than the people he is writing for and once his job is done he simply moves on to the next relationship to refresh the sense of love in his life."
"The Matchmaker is an introvert in the fact that there is a role reversal with the people he seeks to help. As an introvert, he struggles to form any kind of physical relationship other than through letters therefore when he writes letters, he experiences the feeling of love and uses letters as his vehicle to have a meaningful relationship. He is someone who lives on the sidelines of the reality of love. He is a strange character in the sense that, he cares about the relationship and yet is unable to confront the women whilst the people he writes for are unable to get to the ladies heart through the writing and yet are completely capable of the physical relationship. He gets his fulfilment of love through the letters he writes, he knows the women better than the people he is writing for and once his job is done he simply moves on to the next relationship to refresh the sense of love in his life."