Exodus - Gods and Kings - Parts Contributing to Composition Unity - Movie Review Example

Couse Visual elements contribute to the unity of a composition Directed by Ridley Scott and produced by Peter Chernin, “Exodus: Gods and Kings”, is a 2014 epic film inspired by the bible; notable stars featuring in the film include Christian Bale, Joel Edgerton, as well as Aaron Paul, and John. The film is a cinematic interpretation of the departure of the Hebrews from Egypt under the leadership of Moses as narrated in Exodus (‘Exodus: Gods and Kings’). In filmmaking, cinematographers arrange multiple visual elements of composition together, to relay their stories, and to elicit specific audience responses. The numerous visual elements inherent in film’s cinematography contribute to the overall meaning of the film, thereby giving it a sense of unity or wholeness. Keeping with tradition, Scott has used a number of filmmaking conventions in his visual composition, to communicate the film’s meaning to audiences. Lines are one of the most essential elements of composition, particularly because the human eye is often attuned to following lines. Like all artists, Scott is clearly aware of this fact, thus, he uses lines to guide the viewers’ eyes around his composition. The film has a thorough blend of thick, thin, curvy, jagged and straight lines, which have been used effectively to guide the viewers’ eyes around the motion picture on the screen(‘Exodus: Gods and Kings’). In terms of value, the film’s picture has a wide range of tones, from dark to light and both values have been utilised for deliberate communication purposes. Besides creating meaning, light and dark tones in the movie have been used to trigger audience responses when experiencing the film. Light draws attention to principle areas within the frame of the film while the creative control of the same light has been used to produce shadows that conceal details and enforce moods while suggesting realism and guiding the viewer’s eye to points of emphasis. The film’s picture is a blend of numerous colours, both light and dark colours, which are in both in harmony and contrasting, thereby contributing to the cinematic outlook of the entire picture. Numerous colour sequences have been used creatively, to give a distinctive dramatic emphasis for the film, which enhances the “larger-than-life” atmosphere of the film’s spectacle (Lemire). Though earlier films use colour specifically for dramatic emphasis only, colour is a central element in the aesthetics of the film’s spectacle. Evidently, the film follows in the tradition of most epics, by using colour metaphorically, through the use of both complementary and contrasting colours to represent a rich spectrum of the contradictory forces that shaped the biblical story. The film has both geometric and organic shapes, but the later are dominant, to emphasize the imperfections of nature, which is rife with organic shapes, unlike inorganic shapes, which are perfectly aligned. The film is also dominated by negative shapes that represent voids, alluding to the afflictions of the Hebrews in bondage, as well as the numerous hardships they endured on their treacherous exodus to the Promised Land. In cinematography, space or depth often refers to distance or the illusion of it, and the film’s cinematographer has managed to create the illusion of depth in numerous ways. For instance, apart from using lines and lighting, the cinematographer has placed objects/subjects in the foreground and in mid-ground, as well as in the background of the frame. Furthermore, movement of objects within the frame has also been used to emphasize the illusion of depth. For instance, objects become smaller when moving from the foreground to the background but larger when moving from the background to the foreground, thus yielding a sense of depth (‘Exodus: Gods and Kings’). Texture generally refers to what something feels like when it is touched, and objects are often described in terms of their roughness, smooth, and silkiness, among other terms; however, texture is conceptualized as the graininess of an image in photography. In this film, texture has been suggested through the film’s visual design, which has been manipulated to yield graininess in the pictures. Consequently, grain in turn produces patterns and shapes that eventually yield an illusion of varying textures in the film; one can almost think that there is an actual texture on the surface of the film, but that is not the case(‘Exodus: Gods and Kings’). The film has given emphasis to some visual elements thereby allowing them to receive more attention than others; for instance, the film conjures a mighty and momentous spectacle that rivals all other lavish cinematic visions of ancient times beheld before (Lemire,). Most of scenes such as the partying of the Red Sea, and the plague scenes are nothing short of awe-inspiring and they cannot be ignored, because they are visually imposing to the audiences (‘Exodus: Gods and Kings’). The film has strong visual contrasts of lights and darks, hard and soft, solids and voids, as well as large and small. Contrast has been used effectively in the film, to create edges and lines, which eventually focus the viewers’ eyes on the points of emphasis on the visual composition of the film. The film has successfully elicited rhythm and pattern through the repetition of various visual elements, thereby creating unity or a sense of order/wholeness that holds the work together. For instance, battle sequences and rousing martial episodes have been repeated in the film, thereby forming a strong visual rhythm and pattern while contributing to the film’s sense of unity (‘Exodus: Gods and Kings’). Movement, both of camera and of the subject within the frame, can be used effectively to create meaning and to trigger audience responses. In this film, movement towards the camera has been used to suggest a sense of power and dominance while movement away from the camera has been used to enforce emotional distancing. Moreover, movement of subjects from light to dark areas of the frame has been used to communicate characters’ shift into troubled mental dispositions or frightening moments in the narrative. Generally, movement in the film serves three principle purposes; principally, movement has been used to create an illusion of three-dimensionality, which has allowed the director to tell the story from multiple viewpoints and to create visual interest. Movement has also been used to introduce new information about the subject to the viewers, thereby allowing the cinematographer to show the action from several points of view. Apart from that, movement of the subjects or objects within the frame have been used creatively to draw the audience’s attention to the crucial details of the frame, and to enhance dramatic suspense (‘Exodus: Gods and Kings’). The film has both balanced and imbalanced visual designs, with imbalances in composition being used to highlight moments of tension and conflict in the narrative. Contrariwise, balance in composition is being used to emphasize calm moments in the film; however, the film is nearly full of tension, the film is asymmetrical, which explains the dominance of imbalances in frames (Burr). The film eventually holds together as an overall entity, since all the different parts of composition have been tied together effectively, which makes the entire film pleasing as a creative piece, despite its minor shortcomings in some sequences. In conclusion, the numerous visual elements inherent in Scott’s cinematic vision of the biblical Exodus story contribute to its overall meaning, thereby giving the film a sense of unity. From an artistic point of view, the director succeeds in creating a unified and magnificent cinematic vision of the biblically-inspired Exodus story. This observation is based purely on the evaluation of the success of parts of the film as detailed in the analysis of individual elements of composition evident in the film’s cinematography. Eventually, all the individual aspects of composition come together beautifully, thereby giving the film a sense of wholeness that is hard to come by in most films that attempt to recreate biblical stories on the screen. Works Cited ‘Exodus: Gods and Kings’. Dir. Ridley Scott. 20th Century Fox Film Corporation, 2014. Film. Burr, Ty. “Where’s your Moses now? With Ridley Scott’s ‘Exodus’”. Boston Globe .2014. Web. Dec. 17 2014 Lemire, Christy. “Exodus: Gods and Kings. Rogerebert. 2014. Web. Dec. 17 201 Read More