Role of Colour in the Film - Essay Example

Role of color in the film Farewell my Concubine Introduction Film production is a multi-staged process that begins with the conception of the idea. Film communicates; it communicates the message conceived in the minds of its producer. After forming the idea, a case in which is after identifying a story, a producers sets out to marshal all the necessary and available tools with which to package the message thus making it achieve its goal. There are several tools that a producer can possibly use to package a story; these are called elements of film production. These are commonly occurring but unless one is a student of film, it becomes difficult to notice and analyze thereby getting the intended message from them. The story line in most cases communicates the gist of the story. However, there are some equally important aspects of the story hidden in the elements of production whose mastery and understanding helps an audience understand the movie or film better. These common elements of cinematography and film production include color, lighting, costumes, sound or music and transition among others. Light is the basic source of illumination. Its remotest use in the process of producing a film is to illuminate the objects allowing them to be captured on camera. Apart from this basic use, light is used to shot time, a night scene lights differently form day scene. This appears to be rather common sense but what most audiences never understand is that some of the night scenes in a movie are shot during the day. Additionally, light shows dominance and superiority in a scene. This is a hidden role that light perfomes, requires both an experienced film director and a learned audience to effect appropriately, and understands. In a scene where two characters or group of characters are engaged in a discussion or are preparing for a fight, light reveals the possible winner or the one in a higher social class than the other. The one whose shadow falls on the other is the dominant character and in cases of a duel, he or she should and will always win. Light blends with color to help create all these and perform many other functions not known to many. Costume on the other hand refers to how the casts or talents are dressed in a movie. The use of costume comes naturally to the audience. From how a character is dressed, the timing of the film is determined. From the way a character is dressed, it comes possible to predict his or her social class, it is possible to predict his or her profession. Additionally, costumes help indicate the prevailing climatic conditions, winter solicits different attire from those worn in summer or any other warn season. Costumes again are manipulated in conjunction with color and light to achieve all these and a lot others in a film or movie. All the elements of film production are important and of equal significance to the success of the film or movie. There is none that can do without the other or one, which should claim dominance. However, from actual analysis of films, it becomes evident that color would possibly be of more significance than the rest of them. To succeed in achieving its roles, color manipulated, in this manipulation, coloring is key. A night scene achieves the illusion simply through the addition of the black color associated with nights. To achieve the communication of a class or social status, a costume is simply given a bright color and it will look either new or old. A newer and brighter costume is expensive thus worn only by the rich in the community while a dull color is probably cheap and only suitable for poor characters. Color reveals the personality of a character, a character who dresses in pink clothes most of the time tell most of his or her features through his attire and environment. This is so because all the colors communicate hidden meaning. Blue communicates trust and mental maturity. A man who dresses in blue is therefore somebody who is mature and very stable. Furthermore, color is used to furnish a scene thereby creating a theme of a particular scene; love and romance make use of either red or pink. A movie shot around Valentines Day will therefore make us f such vivid colors. Sound, animation, graphics, and transitions are some other elements of cinematography. These just as is the case with the rest of them are also manipulated to communicate different messages within the film or movie. Their usage must be consistent to the other elements key among which is color. A cartoon film for example makes use of humorous features. A cartoon program revolves around such themes, furthermore, such programs target children whose ability to comprehend and analyze issues are still low. The effects, transitions, and more importantly colors used must show this simplicity. Most of such films use the primary colors. Such colors are plane and simple, they their usage on such films do not require any inner or deeper interpretation, this gives such movies relevance to their target audience. The film, Fare well My Concubine is a 1993 Chinese melodrama film. The film to this day still is the only Chinese language film to win a Cannes Palme d’Or. The film was such a success a fact attributable to the effective direction of Chine Kaige one of the most experienced Chinese movie directors. In his work the director ensures an effective balance and use of all the elements of film production and cinematography (Lim 89). Among some of the most commonly used elements of production include the use of costumes, all the talents in the film are appropriately dressed for every occasion and the activities they engage in reflect the effectiveness of their attire. The film also makes vivid use of lighting. The entire film is effectively illuminated with most of these scenes being adequately visible all through to the end of the film. Apart from lighting, which as discussed above is the most basic use of light, the film employs light to develop other elements of the film such as conveyance of time and seasonality. From the face of the movie the director shows a personality that is mature and experienced in the production process. The cover of the film is done with effective and concise balance of color. The direct does not make use of unnecessary colors that may eventually turn the cover into an eye sore. Color acts as an aesthetic. Everyone n one way or another is attracted to color; this explains why everyone has a favorite color. The cover of the movie’s DVD runs a portrait of an extremely attractive woman. The woman is in font of a mirror applying make up to her already fairy face. Her entire background is blue, this makes her brown face stand out making it radiate from the fore ground. Most of the text on the DVD cover are done in black but the name of the movie is eventually done is bold font and in brown color. This makes the cover looks balanced and not crowded despite the evident numerous texts all around the scrawny and little face of the woman (Steiff 78). A concubine is a woman kept on the side by a married man. Such women know of the marital status of the men they have affairs with but still stay stuck in the relationship. The men would never marry them and the women are very aware of this. This strange structure comes in the backdrop of the ever-insecure personality portrayed by every woman. All women always want to be married, have children and space of their own. This thus makes concubines a very strange and unique group of women. To be a concubine one must understand the rules of the game because they are relationships formed on convenience, once a purpose of a relationship is outlived then most of such illicit relationships eventually die. A concubine must thus be a mature woman, one who knows how to separate her emotions from any unnecessary attachments. This is not always easy to achieve, the director successfully achieves this by the use of color. The lady in the cover of the DVD stands in front of a mirror and is most likely in her dressing table. Her background is deliberately blue to bring the element of maturity and a strong personality trait. The director therefore achieves the use of a very open and easily understandable title alongside an effectively done cover portrait. Fare Well My concubine is a straightforward title, one that requires neither translation nor in-depth interpretation. It sure implies two lovers separating; the regretting partner in this movie is the male. The society expect women to be weak and vulnerable, in such a situation it ought to have been the woman regretting and cursing all the prevailing circumstances that threaten to separate her fro her lover. Stylistically, the director makes the man regret which further espouses on the maturity of the lady character that he tries much to develop in the cover of the DVD. The movie is a melodrama, which therefore implies that it requires very simple themes, plot, and scenes. The director sticks to these guiding principles of developing a, melodrama and stick the elements of film production to the very basic uses they can ever perform. The story line of the movie is simple too. The movie is set vat time when civil war and strife in China is ending, it is to the end of the period when warlords ruled China, the Japanese invasion of China comes and as is expected of any invasion, this forced entry of Japanese into china affect lives of very many people including the lead characters. Later the Japanese surrender by the end of the Second World War and life can not possibly go back to normalcy of what it was before the invasion and the subsequent war. As the war ends, so does the reign of communism in China. Set in such a time, the director achieves all the setting and the timing through the articulate manipulation of the elements of production. It is common knowledge that the movie was shot in 1993 but the casts and the setting reflects the actual 1924 and the time running to 1945. This is clearly vivid in the manner that the director dresses his cast and balances both the lighting and color of his talents (Steiff 78). The manipulation of color in the film is very evident, the director applies appropriate colors to every scene thereby giving credit to the factuality of the movie. To help create the illusion that the movie is indeed a 1924 film, the color is drawn back to a near black and white. This was a time when there had not been much development in the information and communication technology. The theme must thus reflect this and the director succeeds in doing this by creating a near epic timing by the use of very dull colors. He uses grey in most of the themes in a bid to set timing and placement of the film. To create time in history when people did not care much about colors, the director sticks to the basic dull colors which leave one trying to picture out which and when could the time be. Back then in history, the technology that today transforms every computer user into a professional film analyst had not developed. The director scores a plus on his constancy with the retention of very basic features of the film he uses primary and most of the previously common colors all through the film. At times of war and inversion as the one auspiciously portrayed in the film, there must have been casualties, injuries, and poverty. The director uses color in conjunction with other elements of production to build characters who reflect the troubles faced by people during wars and the subsequent complications of life that come with such. Most of the characters dress in grey khaki short. Grey is dirty color one that portrays poverty due to lack of either water or soap with which to keep clean. This successfully portrays the theme of poverty and advent lack of material wealth in most of the populace. Another evident use of color in the film is the creation of uniformity. During wars, armies pay great attention to the identification of their soldiers. The film director shows a great understanding of this by dressing the Japanese soldiers consistently in marching colors as should be in an army or military set up. The first scene is a woman carrying a child in her back and hurrying past multitudes of people in a very busy Chinese market. The director scores immensely on the use of colors in this very first scene. A market place has diversity as its guiding principle. There are different people doing different things at different times. To help assert that in deed the people in the market are different, their attire must reflect the difference and the ensuing diversity. At this Chinese market, people are dressed differently with no one cast resembling the other in dressing. This way the director successfully builds a typical market setup where people act oblivious of the presence of the camera and the existence of the other thousand or so people. color positively identifies the social class of a character, the woman rushing past the Chinese multitude in a market is more likely to be a poor one. She is dressed in cheap clothes that could possible be as a result of the backward clothes manufacturing technique but the fact that the coloring of her clothes are dull and do not show any sign of cleanliness depict a great deal of lack of material wealth. As she rushes off, a second character identifies her and tries to call her but she shrugs her shoulders and rushes off into the crowd in the market. Disgusted by her action the man courses and calls her filthy names. The second character helps build out claims about the woman, the woman ignores the man who later calls her a slut. This implies that the man has no respect for the woman which could be a result of a shared past. The woman must have gotten into some compromising deal wit the man that later resulted in the intense lack of respect between the two. This is highly speculative since the movie does not give out a flash back on what could have happened between the two. However, the director uses the other possible elements of film and cinematography to group the two. Their costume both look cheap and are dull in color, which is an automatic pointer to the impoverished background, they share. This draws them to a possible common neighborhood where they might have met and engaged in an act that ended up compromising the respect that exists between humans. On the street, a crowd is gathered watching a group of pupils perform their Beijing opera for coins. With them is their aging director master Guan. A boy from the group tries to escape and a little scuffle ensues as one of the boys pick up a brick and smacks the fleeing colleague much to the dismay of the old master who later punishes him. In this brief street scene, the director communicates in nearly all the elements of film production. The director manipulates color to show how age and personal prfanrences affect the choice of color that people. Additionally, the use of color to show uniformity and order is clear and quite evident. The schoolchildren require adequate labeling; one of the most efficient ways of labeling school going children is with school uniform, which is later made as unique as humanly possible. The old master is dressed in a pair of pants and a shirt. He looks neat despite the weary condition he is in. through this old man, the director portrays how personality is influenced by color. The old man is better placed than his students are, he is employed and earns a living from teaching the students their Beijing opera. This makes him a teacher and a very respectable member of the society. his choice of color is thus assumed to be influenced by his own likes and preferences. A grown human has the right to choice; one chooses what to wear and how to wear it. However, the choices made tell other a lot about one. The teacher is dressed in blue pants and a smart casual grey t-shirt. From a distant, he looks smart; his grey hair gives him the advantage of age making him appear trustworthy and a very responsible member of the society. This the director achieves through the effective combination of colors of the old man’s attire. However, the use of color requires analytic audience, which unfortunately is never attainable as most people simply watch a movie staying stuck to the story line (Kaplan 34). The mother rushes past the crowd and takes her son to master Guan who unfortunately refuses to accept the little boy because of a birth defect. The boy had excessive fingers, this compels the woman to undertake a very unorthodox act, she takes a knife and proceeds to ruthlessly chop off the extra fingers. In the entire act, while the boy cries and writhes in pain, the director is clear on his understanding of the elements of cinematography. He keeps the boy effectively lit with bright colors. This way, the director attains the development of an abandoning personality in the woman (Healy 99). The story is entitled Farewell My Concubine, which analytically is a separation of two people in love. There is no any other love greater than that of a woman to her son. In this scene, the woman deliberately abandons her son and takes off to a place unknown. Despite his ruthless treatment, the bright colors used to light the boy even in his pain are show of a successful person, one who would never be tied down to any failures in life. His mother tries to rectify nature merely to obtain him acceptance amongst his peers. With his extra fingers chopped, Shitou accepts him immediately and the two boys become the best of friends for the rest of their lives as the movie reveals. This makes it essay and possible for an audience to predict the possible lifestyle of the boy as the film proceeds. Color is used to develop themes in a story just as discussed earlier. After few years stay with master Guan, the boy who was named Douzi soon before being abandoned by his mother plans an escape from the old man’s snare. Together with another friend, the two boys talk his best-fried Shitou into colluding with them and covering up their escape. However, in the streets, the two boys come a cross a group of opera master that makes his friend Lazi weep. The successful group of performers is brightly colored and well lit. The two elements are deliberately used and effectively balanced to bring out the difference between the two groups; Douzi and his miserable friend on one side mainly as two possible losers being dull lit and the successful opera performers on the other being portrayed as very successful and established people in the carrier. After the encounter with the successful group in the street, the boys decide to return to the old man and perfect their act, on returning, they are met with a very sorry state as the old master is bent on beating his best friend Shitou for colluding with them in the escape. The director effectively achieves the development of the two differing themes with an effective sue of color. From the street where he had effectively contrasted color between the boys and the other successful group of performers, the director introduces a dull coloring of the scene where the young boy Shitou receives a lifetime beating. From the coloring of the scene, one expects somber activities, which are later affirmed from the extensive beating received by the young obedient boy. Douzi and his other escapee friend Lazi are very sorry and apologize to both their friend Shitou and the old master. People are always attracted to color, in one way or another, a person develops an attachment to a thing, place or person depending on their colors among some many other factors. Most people in China love the opera performance held and conducted by various opera groups in the city such as the old master Guan’s academy. After returning to the academy, Douzi develops a strong friendship with his friend Shitou who later trains him to perform female roles. Later when the two perform a set to Eunuch Zang, they are dressed colorfully and look very attractive. Shitou performs the masculine roles while his friend Douzi plays the woman. Thee scene is brightly light and the two characters are portrayed as successful performers of the act. Through patience and effective training, the two are on the path of achieving their life long dreams; a carrier in the opera performance (Rochefort 101). Zang is a ruler and one very important personality in the entire kingdom, the scene is shot at a time in history when China was still dominated by sectetarian rulers most of whom were warlords. Zang is therefore one such ruler, the director therefore strives to develop an air of importance all around him. The coloring of the ruler is made to reflect his importance and dominance on the region and subjects he rules. This is done by the use of dominating colors. There are colors that show dominance and authority, one such color is red. Red is an authoritative color one that is very commonly used by rulers and states to show their efficacy and might in comparison to other states and personalities within the state. The director ensures that the scene is colored dominantly and from the outlook, it is evident that the scene runs the story of a powerful personality. While still in the very scene, the direct introduces other elements that reveal the authority and power of the ruler. Amidst his performance, Diouzi stares and admires a sword. The sword is brightly colored in pure gold. From the outlook, the sword is very expensive and must have been very important to the Eunuch. The sword is a symbol of authority and a source of power in the entire leadership and governance of the area. The admiration that Diouzi develops for the sword is definitely based on the coloring among other aspects such as design (Braester 78). In brief, the production process of a film is a detailed process which must incorporate the use of all the elements of production to achieve success. The process is divided into there; the preproduction, production and the postproduction process. In each of these, the director stays actively involved and ensures that no aspect of the story lags out of context. The first activity in the pre production a film, is the conception of an idea to communicate, the director determines a story and finds ways of clothing the story to obtain a two hour fully involving cast. Farewell My concubine, develops through the history of a friendship of two men. While the movie begins by depicting the two as fully-grown men, it travels back in time to tell how the two met and became the best of friends. This is done with effective employment of color to bring out other hidden aspects in the film. Works cited Braester, Yomi. Farewell My Concubine: National Myth and City Memories. London: British Film Institute, 2003. Print. Healy, Guy. "Bradley Received a Cautious Thumbs Up." Australian 18 Jun. 2008: 21. Print. Kaplan, Ann. Reading Formations and Chen Kaiges Farewell My Concubine. In Sheldon Lu, ed., Transnational Chinese Cinema: Identity, Nationhood, Gender. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1997. Print. Lim, Song Hwee. The Uses of Femininity: Chen Kaiges Farewell My Concubine and Zhang Yuans East Palace, West Palace. In Lim, Celluloid Comrades: Representations of Male Homosexuality in Contemporary Chinese Cinemas. Honolulu: University of Hawai’I press, 2006. Print. Rochefort, Christiane. Children of Heaven. New York: D. McKay Co, 1962. Print. Steiff, Josef.The Complete Idiots Guide to Independent Filmmaking. New York: Alpha Books, 2005. Print. Read More