First Seminar - Colour Element

In this seminar we were given the brief of the module which was to create a 10 minute film that used four key cinematic devices; Use of colour as a narrative and symbolic element, lighting change as a narrative device, a sequence shot and a point-of-view sequence which privileges the 'non-active' participant.

My Reaction to The Brief
I really enjoy that the brief is very broad and open to interoperation in terms of narrative and themes as this will give me a chance to personalise the film and create it with very little limitations. The cinematic devices are also very interesting and I look forward to learning more technical information about them in our upcoming seminars, however I was already familiar with all of them apart from the use of colour as I have at least subconsciously attempted to use them all in previous films I have made. I'm looking forward to using different cameras and equipment compared to last year (Sony Z1) as it will be another learning experience for me to see how different cameras produce different images, such as a DSLR's depth of field.

Seminar Analysis/Breakdown
We were taught about the role colour has in films, as the first element we have to use in our own 10 minute one, and how it is used and what it connotes with whilst looking at examples of it in certain feature films. It surprised me how often it is used in films to help enforce the themes and/or the characters emotions and what impact this has on the viewer. We focused on the primary colours of Red, Blue and Green and what these colours could be connoting in different films, for example a 'powerless blue' is a theme throughout all of Shawshank Redemption as all the prisoners wear these colour clothes and they have no authority in the film. We also looked at the Munsell Colour System, what Hue, Chroma and Value mean within it and how it is used in post-production to get the desired colour to help the implicit themes of the shot or scene.
My own example of a film that uses colour very effectively is Sunshine (2007) by Danny Boyle. The main colour scheme in this film is of red yellow and orange as the film is about a crew on a spaceship heading to the sun. During the scenes at the start of the film that use this rich orange/yellow colour scheme connote warmth, mystery and wonder which mimics the feelings of the crew as they all want to gain this experience of travelling so close to the sun, as well a supporting the implicit themes of the film throughout.

image : http://keithmoonshine.wordpress.com/2011/08/08/sunshine-review/

 However near the end of this film the theme changes to panic and pain but still keeps with the implicit theme of mystery as the narrative changes from a normal sci-fi to a horror/thriller movie and there is an introduction of an antagonist that sets out to destroy the mission.

Image : http://www.bbfc.co.uk/case-studies/sunshine

This film therefore shows the use of colour orange/yellow as a Narrative and Symbolic element which changes through the duration of the film to add even more symbolic elements and I will take this into consideration when producing my own film and adapt this technique of alteration to make the film more entertaining and complex.