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Colour Analysis on Edward Scissorhands

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Activity- Produce three variations of the same scene by using different lighting and colours to evoke three distinct emotional atmospheres.

Teammates-

Hemansha- Editing

Sayaka- Acting

Semini (me)- Recording

Idusara- Acting

Pinipa- Acting

Cain- Recording

Minuthi- Lighting

Concept- We decided to do an interrogation scene where Pinipa had lost her necklace and accused Idusara for stealing it.

Three different variations

The white light- The white lighting was used to instill fear. The expressions and dialogue of the actors slightly varied depending on what version we were going for.

The red light- The red lighting was used to instill anger. In this scene, the dialogue was sounded more serious due to the situation they were in.

The multicolored light- The multicolored lighting was used to instill a playful and comedic feeling. This time the actors had more free range in their expressions and acting.

Behind the scenes

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Color Theory in Film

Josef Albers- A prominent figure known to experiment with color. Having a philosophical approach to color.

Anni Albers- The wife of Josef Albers, lesser known for her experimentation with color. Anni Albers was a German artist.

Contribution to color theory- he said color was best used through experience. He saw symbolism in all sorts of materials.

Understanding color- The color wheel

Primary Color- Red, Yellow, Blue

Secondary Color- Purple, Orange, Green

Tertiary Color- Red-Orange, Yellow-Orange, Yellow-Green, Blue-Green, Blue-Purple, Red-Purple

Another way to understand color is through

Hue- Colors

Saturation- Intensity of the color

Brightness or Value- The shade ranges of the color.

Understanding the color scheme in detail

Monochromatic

When you extend a single color into different hues.

Complementary Colors

Opposite colors on the color wheel, this is supposed to represent conflict, both internal and external.

Split Complementary colors

Analogous Color Scheme

Three colors that are close to each other

Triadic Color scheme

Working with three evenly spaced colors.

Tetradic Color scheme

Creating a vibrant scene in film.

The psychology of color.

Colors in film should,

Elicit psychological reactions

Draw focus to significant details

Set the tone of the movie

Represent character traits

Show changes or arcs in the story

CInematic color grading

Altering the color of footage to create an enhance a certain message to the viewer.

Types of color grading

Teal and Orange- creating contrast

Monochromes- dominant color grades

Bleach bypass- a desaturated look

Black and white- timeless classics

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Lighting in Film

There are three main aspects of lighting used in film.

Early lighting in film

Film lighting

Natural and Artificial lighting

Natural and Ambient lighting

Ambient and practical lighting

3 point lighting technique

Early lighting in film

Early lighting in film (1800s) used natural lighting from an open ceiling since they had not standardized the use of natural lighting but this proved to be a hindrance when filming indoors or at night. By the eary 1900s, artificial lighting came into use in the form of mercury vapor tubes that produced a flat lighting but after 1912, instruments such as the Kleig lights were used for motion pictures but were quickly replaced by another type of lighting called the fresnel lens spotlight. And with this, during the late 1960 tungsten halogen lamps with quartz envelopes and is still used on some occasions till this day.

Earliest use of artificial lighting in film

Director D.W. Griffith was one of the first to experiment with lighting to help heighten the mood of a film introducing soft lighting on faces as a technique. The Soft lighting can be created by bouncing the light source of a shot. This technique is used to create happier scenes.

Rembrandt Lighting Technique

The rembrandt technique uses shadows to add drama and definition to a person's face, the reflection creating an inverted triangle.

Natural light

Key light

High Key and Low Key

Fill lighting

Backlight

Practical Light

Hard Lighting

Soft lighting

Bounce lighting

Side Lighting

Motivated Lighting

Ambient lighting

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Kuleshov effect and Mise-En Scene.

The kuleshov effect is the idea of having a more impactful meaning with two sequential shots rather than one shot. The idea is to have a new idea from composition and sequence and the fact that interaction in between the shots are able to change the meaning altogether.

The kuleshov effect derives from a man named Lev Kuleshov, a Soviet filmmaker and film theorist. He was one of the earliest theorists that worked on film. Kuleshov had been intrigued at the ability of editors to manipulate emotions of the audience and a question he had posed was, ‘what differentiated cinema from other mediums?’ Mediums that he mentions include literature, theater, photography among other things. He believed the answer to this question was how the materials that were used were arranged. While this question was answered in 1910, in 1918, to demonstrate his answer, he created a short film starring actor Ivan Mosjoukin. He had the actor keep a monotone expression on his face and took a brief montage of his face.

He then took closeup shots of other images, including a bowl of soup, a girl in a coffin, and a woman lying seductively. He put the clips together to create two sequential shots and depending on what image was used, a different emotion was induced by the audience.

The first two shots depict a bowl of soup and the actor, evoking a feeling of hunger. The second image shows a picture of a girl in a coffin which evokes sadness and the third one evokes a feeling of lust due to the nature of the woman lying down. 

Despite the same monotone expression present through all of the shots, the audience that perceived them received a different message according to what they had been shown.

Alfred Hitchcock, a famous director, producer and writer used the Kuleshov effect and did a demonstration himself showing how this effect takes place.

He expanded on the kuleshov effect by doing close ups of the face that come shot by shot.

An example of the kuleshov effect done by Alfred Hitchcock is on the famous 1960 produced horror movie called psycho.

Setting- A shower scene

Space- Initial calmness and a terrifying aftereffect

Lighting- Overhead, artificial lighting

Actors- The lady in the bathroom and the killer

In this particular scene, the unsuspecting woman and the killer behind the shower creates a kuleshov effect, letting viewers connect the dots and figure out the unfortunate truth, giving a sense of anticipation to what’s about to come.

Another famous movie that could be used as an example is the shining, and there are several examples that could be used. One such example can be shown below.

Setting- Inside of the overlook hotel

Space- A quiet but disturbing space

Lighting- Natural lighting

Actors- Wendy and Jack

This scene takes place after Wendy was flipping through the pages in utter shock as all the pages were repetitive manuscripts of the same phrase, ‘All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy’. As Wendy and the viewers realize the slow descent of madness, Jack appears with a baseball bat and has a cold and eerie stare that lasts for an uncomfortably long amount of time. The use of the bat and the stare indicates a kuleshov effect, leading viewers to feel uncomfortable and terrified.

Another scene is the infamous elevator scene, where blood comes gushing out of the elevators. https://youtu.be/HNnCL0q3EuI

Setting- Near the elevators

Space- A sensation of fear is evoked

Lighting- Overhead lighting

Actors- The twins and Danny

In this particular scene, while the kuleshov effect was a series of quick shots, it was done intentionally to intensify the horror as seen on the shots below.

Both the shots above were used very briefly, almost in the blink of an eye, but despite this fact it still evokes terror in both the affected characters and the viewers.

And terror is not the only emotion this effect can spark up.

Which brings up another example, that is in the popular movie from Pixar called Inside Out

Setting- Inside of Riley's house, and the inside of her mind

Space- Excited but fearful

Lighting- The lighting reflecting onto Riley's face from the TV

Actors- The emotions and Riley

In the first few seconds of this particular scene as they watch a film, fears emotions act up at the sight of a horror movie and there is a transition between the face of Riley, the main character and fear and for a brief second it foreshadows the story of what is about to happen.

Another popular movie using the Kuleshov effect is 'Up'

Setting- Church, the house

Space- A joyous situation

Lighting- Natural lighting

Actors- Carl and Ellie

In the opening scene, Carl, the protagonist of the movie has a flashback of his life with his late wife Ellie, followed by a series of sequential shots which offers a feeling of nostalgia and happiness to Carl and helps us identify the type of relationship he had with his wife. The sequential shots itself can be considered a Kuleshov effect.

Aside from this, the kuleshov effect was used and still continues to be used in many movies, including animated ones, to spark up any particular emotion that the director wants. Despite it being many years since first discovered, it has changed in minor ways.

When doing my research, I realized that majority of the films that use the kuleshov effect use it in a pessimistic manner or use it to induce anticipation in the viewer. This is probably due to the fact that the kuleshov effect has the ability to create a dramatic scene without needing too many shots or too much effort.

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I experimented on my own accords in regards to the use of the kuleshov effect and I combined two random images to give a message.

I used these two images to indicate the food had been eaten and he was no longer hungry.

While experimenting with this, I realized in order for the two images to look like there was a correlation in between it had to have a similar color palette, hence why I used a monochrome palette, otherwise it would look like two random images.

#Youtube

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Activity

Redoing the analysis of the opening scene of Shining.

The Shining, directed by Stanley Kubrik is a thriller movie based off of the book by Stephen King. It tells the story of a family of three, Wendy, Danny, the protagonists; and Jack, the ‘antagonist’ and their stay at the Overlook hotel, an isolated hotel located on top of a mountain surrounded by emptiness besides the vastness of the forest. Jack was driven to insanity due to the sheer isolation of the hotel and seeing hallucinations of past members of the hotel and ended up trying to murder his wife and children.

The movie starts with an ominous message. Starting shot has a very uncomfortable feeling due to the tilt of the camera and the haunting and ominous music followed by beautiful imagery despite the nature of the shot. Overhead shots of forest and the small road shows how vast the forest is and how easy it is to get consumed by the large forest. Alongside this, the music that plays contributes largely to the eeriness of the shots. As the car goes down the road on the empty field, there is a slight tremble to the camera as it zooms in, contributing to the sinister factor. Side shots zooming into the mountains as one car travels on the road. Despite the mundane task of driving, the camera shot makes it look a bit disturbing and the music that plays continues the task of offering a sense of dread to the viewer. 

The typography being colored blue, catches the viewer off guard and places emphasis on the contents colored in blue, despite wanting to place emphasis, it does a poor job of doing so and it looks very out of place. As the title of the movie is shown, the singing, which is of the Native Americans becomes louder making it even more disturbing due to the grieving and pain heard in the voices and the camera starts tilting once again. As the landscape changes, the colors make a gradual decline to a more monotone color. Changing landscape of the snowy mountains looks even more isolating due to the lack of color and the house blends in with the landscape, rendering it almost invisible at first to the viewer.

Due to the above mentioned reasons, it is possible to conclude that the opening scene of Shining has a very ominous undertone to it.

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Activity

Write an analysis of the film based on concepts you learned in this lesson.

The shining

Starting shot has a very uncomfortable feeling due to the tilt of the camera and the ominous music. Overhead shots of forest and the small road shows how vast the forest is and how easy it is to get consumed by the large forest.

The music that plays contributes largely to the eeriness of the shots. As the car goes down the road on the empty field, there is a slight tremble to the camera as it zooms in, contributing to the eerie factor.

Side shots zooming into the mountains as one car travels on the road. Despite the mundane task of driving, the camera shot makes it look a bit eerie and the music that plays makes it even more disturbing and the steep mountains offer a sense of dread to the viewer.

The typography, being colored blue catches the viewer off guard and places emphasis on the contents colored in blue, despite wanting to place emphasis, it does a poor job of doing so and it looks very out of place.

As the title of the movie is shown, the eerie music becomes sharper and louder and the camera starts tilting once again. As the landscape changes, the colors make a gradual decline to a more monotone color.

Changing landscape of the snowy mountains looks even more isolating due to the lack of color and the house blends in with the landscape, rendering it almost invisible at first to the viewer.

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Activity

Watch a chosen scene from the movie “The Truman Show”. Identify the basic use of Mise-en-scene in the film.

Settings- Inside of the moon

Space- tense space but exciting for the director and the rest of the crew

Props- The moon itself

Actors- The director christof of the Truman show

Lighting- Lighting is dim but the moon is very vibrant casting a shadow on the director as he walks making him look almost ominous

Costumes- hes wearing his normal director attire

Color schemes- they all consisted of muted almost monochrome colours

Special Effects- illumination of the moon

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The Truman show (tbc)

Its a film inside of a film.

The characters beside Truman himself are speaking about how great the show is while Truman looks depressed. The whole vibe of the next scene looks as if it were in a reality show. Many scenes are recorded through a lens. Truman seems to have plans to go to Fiji, the motives for this are unknown but this could be due to wanting an escape from his current life. Everyone in his life is seemingly not aware of the peculiar things that happen just to Truman and don't seem to believe him. 

Unusual changes in the Truman show

-Glass falling due to ‘plane shedding parts’.

-Tearing a magazine part.

-Some scene are recorded through a lens.

-Loud drum noises which causes him to almost collapses due to his fear of water when he approaches the deck.

-Water pouring on him out of nowhere, and following him which is unlike a normal rainfall but eventually the normal rainfall does appear..

-His dad appearing but being grabbed by people and being forced away from Truman.

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Mise En Scene

The thing that viewers would notice the most, this can include costumes, lighting and settings. By placing scenes in a particular way you stage it thereby potentially making a mise en scene. Essentially creating a constructed realism, which is considered the reality but it is not.

Origins of Mise En scene

19th century stage play

64.media.tumblr.com

This video bends the reality of constructed reality and pushes the limit of what creative minds are capable of. Distorted forms and particular choices of lighting are some noticeable factors in this.

The cabinet of Dr. Caligari full movie

Mise En scene offers filmmakers four general areas of choice and control

-Setting

-Costume and makeup

-Lighting

-Staging

In comparison to theater, film offers way more opportunities which offers a more personal experience.

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Activity

Write down the implicit meanings of the following

The yellow brick road-

The Munchkin-

Emerald City-

Kansas-

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Patterns in films

Parallels- The use of repetition to create connections between different parts of films.

Wizard of Oz

-One of the first films in color

-They used colors halfway through the movie to entice the audience and give a surprise element

-There were a lot of patterns and parallels in the movie deliberately left to be analyzed.

Plot Segmentation- A segmentation is simply an outline of the major and minor parts or scenes of the film's narrative. A scene is a distinct phase of action that occurs in a relatively unified space and time. Essentially comparing the beginning with the end.

Development- The story progression.

Form and meaning

-Meaning is important to experience an artwork

Referential meaning

There’s a reference behind the chosen sets etc, which gives more meaning to the movie. For example, Wizard of Oz relates to the Great Depression in the 1930s. Another example is the fact that the family of Dorothy lives in a farm which might make her want to look for an alternative escape from reality

Explicit meaning

Surface level explanation of the movie. For example, could the saying ‘there's no place like home’ summarize the whole movie?

Implicit meaning

Analyzing the movie to understand the implied meaning of aspects of the movie