#i even went and tried to match the grading on the 2x06 scene to the 1x10 scene in my editing software

[gracestone]

1/3 Ever since I had a recent rewatch of the show, theres been something on my mind that I cant stop thinking about. When it comes to my ships I pay attention to every little detail, like lighting in a scene in this case. Theres been 3 major core 4 confession scenes in s1 and s2. Rini in 1x10, Rina in 2x06, and Portwell in 2x12. Since the lighting was overall much brighter in s1, I can understand why Rinis scene was bright with colorful/yellow tones.

2/3 The contrast b/t Rina and PW conf scenes is night and day. Rina flashback has white stark lighting, signifying a cold and distant feel. PW has yellow lighting thruout, symbolizing warmth and hope. Rina FB takes place in the exact same room as the Rini scene so it could have been edited w/ more yellow tone lighting if they wanted to show some hope romantically for them. But they dont. Definitely think that was on purpose. I mean, PW conf takes place at night in a parking lot but they still...

3/3 ...have yellow tone thruout and its a really happy moment for them b/. One could argue that the Rina scene was a FB to excuse the choice in lighting, but they've done FBs before w/ much better color saturation. Just s/t that I had to point out. And this is coming from someone who used to be a former Rina stan who now wants that Portwell series endgame. LOL. I know Im thinking too much, but I was just interested on your thoughts on this if you have any. You have the best theories/metas btw!

First of all, thank you for the compliment! It means a lot that you enjoy reading my thoughts ❤️🥺

You're not overthinking this, anon! In fact, you made an excellent point! Cinematography, lighting and colour grading choices matter in storytelling and can tell us a lot about the intention of a scene. To back up all the points you made, I took some screenshots of all the confession scenes.

Ricky and Nini in 1x10:

Ricky and Gina in 2x06:

EJ & Gina in 2x12:

It's understandable that they changed the colour grading of the 2x06 flashback to match the darker grading of season 2. The scene would stand out too much if it were still as bright and saturated as it would've been in 1x10. Just to make the difference between the two scenes clearer, take a look at the same shot in both 1x10 and 2x06:

Look at how different the two scenes are. Not only is the S2 version less bright and saturated, it also has a more green tone and a bit of a vignette (the darker edges). I think the vignette was added for the sake of it being a flashback, but I think the red tone being replaced with a more green tone supports your argument that the scene was meant to have a more distant and cold feeling. Especially when contrasted with the yellow and red tones in the Portwell scene. They didn't have to town down the red tones in the 2x06 scene, but they did. That's a deliberate colour grading choice and makes the scene look colder. And as you said, the Portwell confession took place outside and at night. It could've resembled the dark and cold grading 2x04 (The Storm). But it didn't, because that's not the feeling we're supposed to get when watching the scene. We're supposed to feel Gina and EJ's happiness.

So I totally agree with you, anon. The 2x06 confession wasn't a happy moment for Gina, but a sad and hopeless one, and ultimately served as a (unspoken) rejection, whereas the 2x12 confession was a happy and hopeful moment and the climax of both Gina and EJ's arcs in S2. The stark difference in lighting and grading in both scenes shows us how the 2x06 scene was a low point for Gina, while 2x12 showed her at her happiest.

#hsmtmts #ej caswell #gina porter #portwell #otp: risotto #portwell meta #i even went and tried to match the grading on the 2x06 scene to the 1x10 scene in my editing software #came pretty close but didn't get there all the way #but it helped me confirm that they did tone down on the red and upped the green #love it when you guys pay attention to these filmmaking choices! #i live for this stuff so it makes me really happy when you bring up excellent points like this one #ask