Research Focus: Colours
When researching into films and genres in addition to codes and conventions, I realised that colour plays an extremely significant role in a films development and production. Colours can be used as symbols or used to invoke emotion. They can bring to mind a variety of images and subsequently help set the scene and generate the appropriate tone or atmosphere for a scene. Understanding the significance of colour and the vital role it plays in all films and scenes, I ensured we had done our research regarding which colours we use in our AS media piece.
Firstly, I thought about location. We had already agreed that we wanted to stay in keeping with a horror movie's conventions, so we made a short list of a few rough locations that we should consider. The list consisted of a castle, a rundown house, a graveyard, a forest or a tunnel. In terms of colour, I personally favoured the forest for a variety of reasons. Firstly, a forest mainly consists of dark greens and browns, seen as the current season is autumn. According to my colour research, brown connotes stability and masculine qualities. I liked this because I felt that the forest could therefore act as a sort of backdrop that would emphasize how small and vulnerable our lead character is in contrast. Dark green was said to connote ambition, greed and jealousy; I felt that this was fitting for our opening scene as all three of these traits help create a tense and unpredictable atmosphere.
Next, I thought about lighting and mise en scene. Black is known to be associated with power and mystery so I recommended we set our piece at night to ensure that this mysteriously powerful atmosphere was picked up on. The only props used in the scene were a black camera, adding to the ominous tone, and brown string wrapped around various polaroid photographs, emphasizing the idea that the lead character is trapped by a stable, immovable and unavoidable force.
Lastly, I chose colours for the costumes. For the filming in the forest, I dressed charlotte in an olive green top, to represent her peaceful nature, making her all the more of a tragic victim, black coat, to bring images of death to the mind of the audience, and navy jeans, to connote the severity of the situation, seen as dark blue connotes seriousness. With the combination of these colours I hoped to create a foreboding tone yet also elicit sympathy from the audience as they would feel that the lead character is innocent and does not deserve to die, as the dark colours suggest she may. The day of shooting the polaroids, Charlotte, our lead actress, was required to change into 5 different outfits. These outfits mainly consisted of blacks, greys and whites to portray her characters innocence in contrast to the evil enshrouding her. The aim of this was to implicitly tell the audience that she does not deserve to die but is destined to. Amongst these colours I added a few red (invokes images of blood), purple (connotes gloom) and blue (represents health) items of clothing or props to remind the audience that she is in danger and to question why this is.
Firstly, I thought about location. We had already agreed that we wanted to stay in keeping with a horror movie's conventions, so we made a short list of a few rough locations that we should consider. The list consisted of a castle, a rundown house, a graveyard, a forest or a tunnel. In terms of colour, I personally favoured the forest for a variety of reasons. Firstly, a forest mainly consists of dark greens and browns, seen as the current season is autumn. According to my colour research, brown connotes stability and masculine qualities. I liked this because I felt that the forest could therefore act as a sort of backdrop that would emphasize how small and vulnerable our lead character is in contrast. Dark green was said to connote ambition, greed and jealousy; I felt that this was fitting for our opening scene as all three of these traits help create a tense and unpredictable atmosphere.Next, I thought about lighting and mise en scene. Black is known to be associated with power and mystery so I recommended we set our piece at night to ensure that this mysteriously powerful atmosphere was picked up on. The only props used in the scene were a black camera, adding to the ominous tone, and brown string wrapped around various polaroid photographs, emphasizing the idea that the lead character is trapped by a stable, immovable and unavoidable force.
Lastly, I chose colours for the costumes. For the filming in the forest, I dressed charlotte in an olive green top, to represent her peaceful nature, making her all the more of a tragic victim, black coat, to bring images of death to the mind of the audience, and navy jeans, to connote the severity of the situation, seen as dark blue connotes seriousness. With the combination of these colours I hoped to create a foreboding tone yet also elicit sympathy from the audience as they would feel that the lead character is innocent and does not deserve to die, as the dark colours suggest she may. The day of shooting the polaroids, Charlotte, our lead actress, was required to change into 5 different outfits. These outfits mainly consisted of blacks, greys and whites to portray her characters innocence in contrast to the evil enshrouding her. The aim of this was to implicitly tell the audience that she does not deserve to die but is destined to. Amongst these colours I added a few red (invokes images of blood), purple (connotes gloom) and blue (represents health) items of clothing or props to remind the audience that she is in danger and to question why this is.
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