Movies with interesting use of colour
Submitted by buddy on Tue, 02/20/2001 - 09:17
Tags:
- The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover - had to have this one pointed out to me, but each time they show a different room, the colour of the lighting changes.
- Schindlers' List
- Pleasantville - a little obvious, but the timing and placement of colour in this movie is critical
- The Wizard of Oz
- The Sixth Sense - also pointed out to me, but interesting anyhow. Watch for the use of red.
- Unbreakable - it appears M. Night Shyamalan likes to use colour in symbolic ways.
- The Village
- Heathers - I will have to check this one out for colour, as I don't recall noticing its use when I watched it.
- Three Colours: Blue, White, Red
- Natural Born Killers - I will have to rewatch this one with colour in mind.
- Don't Look Now - I have finally seen this and can agree with 1922
- Sin City - I'm putting this on even though I think of it as a comic book. My pickiness over criteria has loosened slightly over the years, and if I have time I might come back and update this list from the comments below.
- Haven't seen yet
- The Whole Wide World
- Commandments
- Double Jeopardy
- Bound for Glory
- Vertigo
- Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me
- The Aviator
Author Comments:
Don't know why I thought of this list, it just seemed interesting to me. I like the idea that a certain aspect of the film that is not usually considered too much is used to enhance or reveal meaning in the film.
Here's an interesting colour fact: horror movies avoid the use of red (in costume, set, etc.) in order to give more impact to the blood and gore scenes. I heard this from some director of horror movies (I'm afraid I don't remember who.)
Some of my favorite movies seem to be shot with a color filter for the entire film - check out The Whole Wide World and Commandments for this (sepia and blue, respectively).
I had not heard that about those movies - very interesting. I wonder if those colour choices were meant to mean something, or if they were used just for atmosphere. I will have to check those movies out. Thanks for the comments!
I would say they were used for atmosphere, mainly. The Whole Wide World is set in Texas in the 30s I think, so the sepia gives both a period feel and also a "Dust Bowl" effect, and Commandments is about a man going through a very blue period (the premise is that he thinks God is out to get him, so as revenge he's going to break all the commandments - I find it very funny, he has all the commandments written down as a to-do list which he checks off).
The movie Heathers also has an interesting use of colour, in the costuming-- Each of the title "Heathers" always wears a signature colour, which matches their croquet mallets and rooms. I don't know if this is what you mean, but costume color choices are often very interesting and say a lot about the characters and relationships between them.
Yes, I would think that costume colour choices qualify for this list. Any conscious colour choice on the part of the director is an effort to contribute to the film as an art form, I think.
I have not seen Heathers, though I've heard some good things about it. It will go on my list of things to watch.
Surely the Three Colours films, Blue, White, and Red, could qualify then...
Shalom, y'all!
L. Bangs
I'm ashamed to say I haven't seen any of those films. I've been meaning to, and they even had a festival at the Ridge here in Vancouver where they played all three, and I still didn't manage to get out and see them. What kind of negligent movie-goer am I?!?! ;) They will promptly be added to my "to see" list. Thanks for the input.
I'm glad to see that others have watched The Cook, The Thief... by Peter Greenaway. Greenaway is one of my favorite directors and the use of color in this film is very cool. I'm not sure if I "get" the film yet, but Greenaway seems too ingenuous and intelligent in interviews to be deemed pretentious. All his movies seem to use colors to express mood, but The Cook, The Thief of course takes the cake.
Don't forget What Dreams May Come. Beautiful art, beautiful colors.
Also, Kieslowski's Three Colors trilogy--undeniable great use of color!
I hadn't even thought of this movie (forgot even that I'd seen it). The impressionistic look of many of the scenes was interesting, but something is making me hesitate before adding it to the list. I think maybe colour had less to do with what the director was trying to do than the painting style (which may or may not have a deliberate and expressive use of colour). Perhaps what is also making me hesitate is that I didn't really like this movie at all. I know my personal opinion of the film isn't really in the criteria I set out, but I do think that the use of colour should impress me before I add to the list. The whole movie was surrealistic and, IMHO, overly romanticized. However, I will think more about whether or not the use of colour in this movie is emphasized and conscious enough to make the cut.
If you see the comments above, the only thing keeping the Three Colors trilogy off the list is that I haven't seen them yet. I'm sure they'll make it once I do.
Thanks for you input!
In a different way, Double Jeopardy qualifies for this list. At the beginning, the movie (mostly sets) has very little color, monochromatic and neutral. As the movie progresses, there is more and more color, until absolutely everything seems saturated.
I wouldn't have expected such a technique from a film like this one - glad to see not only the art-house films still remember expand their film-making technique. I've actually never seen this movie. I might just have to now, though, just to watch for that effect.
I'd forgotten about this list. Thanks for dropping by!
Hey, what about Roeg's brilliant Don't Look Now. The use of colours (especially of the colour red) is stunning.
Whoa! 1922 went digging for this old list. Just a couple off the top - Bound For Glory had that sepia, dustbowl look. Hitchcock's use of color in a few scenes of Vertigo stand out, too.
Boy, I haven't maintained these lists in a while. I'll have to give it some more thought, now that I've seen so many more films since the last time I looked at this list. Thanks for the input - both of you!
Natural Born Killers. That's all I can think of right now but I'll add more if I think of them.
Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me. Lynch's symbolic use of red is pretty widely known and intriguing to watch.
The Aviator seemed to have color-coded rooms and/or time periods.
Not just The Sixth Sense, but most all of M. Night Shyamalan's stuff plays with color as a major story-telling device...
If I'm remembering correctly, Unbreakable used purple; The Village used red and yellow.... And I can't remember what Signs used, but there was at least one signature color.... Hm. Guess I'll have to netflix it.
Of course - The Village's colour was quite prominent. It's been a while since I created this list, and I tend to forget what's come out since then.
I would also add Sin City, if you have seen it. Fascinating use of colour!
What about Natural Born Killers?
There's been much debate about its actual quality--I, personally, love it--but its genius use of color is undeniable.
That one was already on my list, though I made the comment that I had to rewatch it. Years later, and I haven't done so yet. Perhaps I should up my movie viewing.