The use of colors in films

Colour is one of the essential parts of film design. The use of color can make the plot more vivid to attract the audience’s attention. Different color has a different meaning in the film. It is a useful way for the director to express their ideas to the audience. Here is a simple example of color used in the movies. 

The first time using color to represent mood in movies is The Birth of Nation (1915). In this film, the burning of the film was tinted red, the night scenes blue, and the exterior love scenes pale yellow. 

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Composition

Composition is another indispensable element in film making. The composition of the frames is not only to express the emotion and ideas but also to direct the audience’s attention. It allows us to convey information and subtext instantly.

There are some basic methods of film composition:

• Rule of Thrids

The Rule of Thirds is a method of composition that directors often adopt. Quite simple to evenly separate the frame into three sections vertically and three sections horizontally. Then place the character or objects at the intersecting points, like the picture shows.

In this image, the protagonist stands on the left hand of the frames, and it has been showing that his face on the first intersecting point attracts the audience’s attention first. Besides, there are several people on the right hand of the frames that far from the protagonist. This composition shows the picture’s depth and expresses the story’s plot where the hero is standing in the corner, listening to the information.

• Angle and perspective

Typically most of the directors use eye-level shots to express the storyline. However, several formalist directors prefer extreme angles like Quentin Tarantino.

Low angle gives the audience a feeling about threatening and insecure.

Lighting

Lighting is another essential factor in movies. The reason is that lighting tells the audience the key point in the frames, and lighting can reflect the actors’ psychology. Besides, lighting can be used to define the film genre for some directors like Kar-Wai Wong.

Lighting can be used to highlight the character and make the composition to be more balanced.

Lighting can create the characters’ personality—for example, the murder in the movie The Silence of the Lambs and the protagonist in The Godfather.

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Both of the plots are used top lighting to describe the personality of these two characters. In the first image, the top lighting gives the audience a feeling of mystery and worshipful. However, the lighting in the second picture described a horrible and abnormal person.

Rhythm

As I consider, rhythm is quite complicated and abstract in the movies. It can be defined as the conflict in the plots that can keep attracting the audience’s attention. The pace of the rhythm can be manipulated deliberately to fasten or slow down the conflict’s progress.

REFERENCE

Giannetti, L.D. and Leach, J., 2005. Understanding movies (Vol. 1, No. 1, p. 999). Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.