DIRCTEOR STATEMENT
“The Perfect Picture” is a visual and artistic interpretation of dating in current reality. When lonely artist Melissa channels her emotional exhaustion into her work, a match with Jake on a dating app shifts her focus, igniting a passionate romance that spirals into obsession, forcing her to confront the thin line between love and limerence.

As a young adult, I know just as well as anyone else in my generation that dating is the hardest it’s ever been. There’s an abundance of online dating outlets that not only overwhelm users, but have given them too many options… There have been so many moments where myself and so many of my peers have caught ourselves creating expectations for people that we’ve never even met in person before. What an odd concept: we get so attached and infatuated by people who we only know from behind a screen. I’ve been a hopeless romantic ever since I watched my first Disney princess movie as a little girl, but find myself constantly
being dragged back into the cycle of online dating, and I hate it.

Limerence is heavily explored in this film. I personally believe that this dangerous mindset is becoming more and more common in today’s current generation of dating, and it needs to be talked about more. Glorification before even having an interaction with someone sounds crazy, but is actually how dating apps function. There are four stages to limerence: attraction, obsession, elation and frustration, and resolution. The film dissects these stages one by one through Melissa’s experience, allowing viewers to understand the dreadful events that can occur when sucked into this state of mind. The main message of “The Perfect Picture” is to choose wisely who you put on a pedestal… Do they deserve it?

Since this is a first year film school project, there were many restrictions/requirements put into place, one of them being no synced dialogue and sound. The film’s theme revolves around a mental state, so I wanted to make the story extremely visual anyways in order for people to really see what the character is feeling and thinking. There are a few text exchanges through phones, but other than that no characters talk at all. This decision forced me to find other ways to visualize the protagonist’s emotions and decisions. The film consists heavily of colour themes, that being red and white. The red represents love, passion, and anger, whereas the white represents a blank canvas and innocent intention. Since the main character is an artist, I additionally utilized many images and art materials like paint to reflect what Melissa is feeling. I wanted the film as a whole to feel eerie yet cozy. Though the setting is dark and isolating, it’s warmly lit and comfortably furnished, pulling viewers in two directions.

Melissa, the protagonist, is an extremely complex character. Viewers feel sympathy for the young woman as we see her try to form a connection with someone new through her art, after many failed attempts. Melissa uses paint as an outlet to express her emotions. She struggles with voicing her thoughts and feelings, therefore physically paints them onto a canvas instead. Melissa has very pure and innocent intentions as she yearns for pure, real love. She feels as though she’s incomplete without a significant other, and views herself as a blank canvas. I believe that many viewers would be able to relate to this craving for connection, and
possibly the societal pressure to find love in this day and age. Unfortunately Melissa’s poor judgement, impulsiveness, and obsession get the best of her, causing her to spiral out of control. She eventually remolds her standards for men to the bare minimum in order to satisfy and fulfill her loneliness, which never ends well…

As I’ve mentioned, “The Perfect Picture” is a first year film school project, so I came into this assignment extremely nervous, intimidated, and overwhelmed. In September of 2023 I had never touched a film camera before, and by March of 2024 I was holding a proper shoot on location with a trained actor. At first I was so scared of something going wrong, but eventually I found the beauty and thrill in being ambitious and determined. I believed in my work, and so it came out successful. I think a really huge factor that played into the outcome of my work was that I catered to my strengths. I’ve been a creative person my entire life, and so I grew up constantly writing, painting, drawing, crafting, etc. When it came to this project, I made sure I
had a very strong story and extremely aesthetic set decoration, so that if my technical skills
(cameras, lights, etc.) happened to fail, I had a strong base to lean on.

In conclusion, “The Perfect Picture” is a wake up call to those who find themselves falling into a toxic cycle of limerence. Dating apps make this experience far too common, and it’s time to raise our standards and expectations. The hope is that this extremely dramatized and over exaggerated story causes people to dig up and confront issues within themselves. This film is extremely special to me as it is my first independent, personal project ever. I am so thankful to have the opportunity to display my frustration with the current dating world in the form of a film. It’s a dream come true, and I hope that viewers enjoy the story as much as I enjoyed creating it.

DIRECTOR BIO
Jayde Sobota grew up near Niagara, Ontario and moved to Toronto at the age of 18 to attend Humber Polytechnic's film program. The now 20 year old works as a part-time content creator for the school as she completes her studies, and is currently directing her short documentary 'Born 2 Desire'. Jayde's main career goal is to direct and produce music videos for a major production company/musical artist.