Turn up the Color

Memoirs of a Geisha is a film filed with controversy and self reflection and preservation. All these themes are expressed through the color temperature of the shots and scenes of the film. Most color temperature is expressed through the settings and decor placed in this magical world of japan and the masked visage of a beautiful geisha.

This movie is narrated by a Japanese woman, who is telling the story of her hard life being sold into a geisha house and made servant and then into geisha where she had to sell herself for the highest bidder, all the while falling in love but geisha's cannot afford to love, so it is a sad tale. All this romance and hidden emotion paired with extensive histrionics is displayed through excellent acting but also the color temperature placed throughout each expressive detail.

In scenes that portrayed unwanted emotion or conflict the director Rob Marshall placed heavy tones of red and oranges to reflect an evil vibe. The devilish centers on the unwanted things in the main characters life. For instance the screen shot on the left demonstrates the man in the foreground, who is in love with her, but is taking her farther away from the man she truly wants. This is cast with red and yellow tones as if there is a fight of good and evil going on and his presence means that evil is winning. With the screen shot on the right its evident that the women in red is disliked. In fact her body language gives that away all by itself. However she is the antagonist and the road block/villain of the film, so the garnishing her in a red geisha garb puts the audience in that standoffish frame of mind. By doing this the director is creating subconsious conflict through clothing. 

The main character here is portrayed in a world where there are many shades of grey and dark colors. This kind of world suggests that it is plain and perfunctory. But the color in the protagonists ensemble make her the shining star in a world of night. She illuminates outwardly with her light pinks and whites giving her the innocence and star quality of someone surrounded by doubt and sameness. These colors of her outfits are demonstrated throughout. What's interesting in this frame is the colors of her dress. she does have the whites and pinks to show her innocence and purity but she is subdued around the waste by red and green. This suggesting that she is held down in this life of a geisha. 

This movie has scene after scene of different color temperatures, all portraying the central themes of good versus evil, innocence versus debauchery, and love versus jealousy. Through technicolor outfits and painted faces surrounded by a world filled with grey and black the color temperature defines more than fashion.

Lighting

Lighting and its various forms 

1. Overexposure- This still is overexposure because the amount of light in the frame is very harsh coming through the windows that it washes out the main subject and makes her hard to see. however it highlights what is dark because of the extreme contrast.

2. Underexposure- This still from 300 shows perfectly how the absence of light and too much dark hinder the figures around that are in darker tones and highlights that which might be in light.

3. High contrast - still shows high contrast by higlighting and defining the heavy tones of light and dark. through the tuxedo and the shadows on the actors.  

4. Low Contrast- This still of the adjustment burrow shows low contrast lighting because the lights are even throughout the room plus all the actors are in blues and gray's which is identical to the building they are in so there is little different. 

5. Hard/Direct Lighting- In Titanic there are almost no shadows in the scene everything and one is in plain sight with nothing distracted by shadows. 

6. Soft Lighting-  In this still the  soldier is in almost no light and the lighting of the sunset is so soft that you can only make out the soldier's outline. 

7. Flat Lighting - the lighting in this frame of Megan Fox is flat lighting because its not really highlighting anything in her face and the whole scene is well lit so its just there. 

8. High Key Lighting - In this still of fight club there is high key lighting over brad pit (and his abs) gives the picture an all around brighter look to a place that would be dark.           

9. Low Key Lighting - Tara Reid and gentleman are in low key lighting in order to set the mood for their tryst.        

10. Back lighting - In this Harry Potter still there is alot of back lighting all coming from the side to illuminate the area as if to demonstrate the charachters where abouts.

     Presentational Lighting- This scene of Goodfellas has perfect presentational lighting on the main character and his gun which is suppose to be the focus. 

12.Representational Lighting - this light showcases the restaurant atmosphere so its more for representation of location than for actual lighting purposes. 

13. Motivational Lighting - This still from shutter island has motivational lighting with the light from above. It demonstrates that there is more than this life giving the appearance of hope in the beyond.

Mise-en-Scene

My Room's Character.....

I am a girl who enjoys the color pink, as shown through the bedding. It is also apparent that my room shows I am messy and disorganized. However the Laptop on the bed shows studious nature and the books encompassing that support that logic. The sorority letters on the wall along with the decorated 'S' show a girly girl who is involved with extra curricular's. The many posters suggest a huge interest in TV and film. Music and Rap in particular are also a suggestion towards the teen persuasion as is demonstrated with the Eminem poster. The theme of vampires as portrayed in the posters suggests a vibrant and active imagination.

If i were to examine myself in the third person, I would notice a look of determination but relaxation. The tank and sport shorts suggests a character who loves to be comfortable in her environment. The headphones in the ears suggest a love of music and a sound mind. One has to be level headed to be able to work and listen to music at the same time. Hair is slovenly at best which suggests home is a place for comfort and efficiency not pleasing the outside world.  Noticing the Tattoo on the right ankle suggests a fun loving personality with an adamant feeling towards movies.

Static or Dynamic Composition

I think it's important when talking about a topic that you must first have an understanding of it. As such, I would like to have for record the definition of static and dynamic composition as is written on The National Gallery website. (http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/glossary/composition)

First let us examine static composition and pieces of that origin.
 "A 'static composition', for example, might stress horizontal and vertical accents, closure at the edges of the painting, and subdued colour and tonal contrasts, to give an effect of orderliness and repose " (National Gallery.org)

Then here are three examples of that: The first photo, the cube. The cube demonstrates aspects of static by showing closure at the edges of the cube. also but setting the dots along the cube it gives a sense of order. Like cubicles in an office space. I find this image neither pleasing nor disturbing, it does however strike curiousness as to why it was created. I think the message of the pieces to show that their are dips of chaos among so much structure and you don't have be stuck in a square  like state surrounded by darkness. The composition does support its meaning by reinforcing the message being portrayed. 

The second photo is the couple. The couple demonstrates aspects of static by having subdued color and tonal contrasts, like in their blue clothing in the tonal contrasts of being in the green healthy environment when blue is the color of sadness. I think the image is pleasing because I think it sends the message that sometimes through all the sadness all you need is each other and today. Which is represented through the intersection of their hand holding confirming the message.







The Third photo is the horizon. In the horizon static composition is demonstrated through the subdued color and the horizontal lines. The color being portrayed makes everything else fade away so that all that you can see is the ever elusive horizon. I find this image saddening. I think its more on the disturbing side because its so lifeless and more philosophical. With no life in the photo I think the message the artist intended to get across was life is bleak but their is always something off in the distance to admire and strive for. I think that is represented well in the composition.

Now let us examine Dynamic Composition.
"'dynamic composition', such as Rubens's 'Peace and War', on the other hand, might be based on intersecting diagonals, a lack of closure, vigorous contrasts of colour and light and dark accents - stressing movement, activity, conflict." (National Gallery.org)  The first photo is chaos. Chaos is dynamic composition because of all the intersecting lines and the lack of order. It is spitting in the face of order. The black lines mock the stipes by saying we will not be straightened. I find this image ok but I wish there was more feeling in it. I think the message here is break out of ordinary and defy it.

This second image is the Tree of Light. The Tree of Light is dynamic due to its obvious play with light and dark. There is no closure present either with the girl who one assumes is walking away. I find it rather extridinary. It seems to be portraying this message of eternal hope being in the light and just around a corner. I think the composition demonstrates that well.



Peace and War. Reuden clearly uses dynamic composition with the contrast of the dirty war and the light of the people. his analogies for light and peace being good and white and brown dirt is war and bad is the main theme here. Choas and complete lack of closure or peacfulness and extreme agression make this dynamic. I think it's beautiful because its meaning is so much more than what's been slated on a canvas. 

A Second Glance

 Have you ever looked at something a hundred times and its been the same but then you decide to look at it in a different light and suddenly it's like you've never seen it before. That's how it was for me watching one of my favorite shows Dawson's Creek.

It's always fascinated me about the human body, that when one of your senses is disabled the other four are heightened. Like when a person becomes blind and their hearing becomes so excellent they can hear paper fall and hit the floor 20 feet away. That's how my eyes felt when it was completely silent and I focused my eyes and I saw things I'd never seen and realized things I'd never even considered. Dawson's Creek is a critically acclaimed show, especially for its dialogue and seriously didactic writing, considering the actors are all 15 when the show starts. Needless to say, the filming becomes increasingly important. The episode I watched was Season 5 episode 4 The Long Goodbye. In this episode, the audiences is in the aftermath of the protagonists father's death. The first few scenes were particularly interesting to me because without the sound your eyes are searching for information from the camera. It is akin to looking through a dirty window. you have to squint your eyes and focus real hard to get what's going on.


When the opening scene takes place it sweeps the town giving the shot to desired people bustling in the environment around it. Lots of asymmetrical balance with the extras in contrast in the cape cod like town. Until it lands on a couple in a Medium Close up walking towards the  deceased restaurant. They are happy and bubbly until their faces go sour and their eyes meander towards the yellow sign on the door that reads " CLOSED.... Death in the family." The look space given gives the illusion that we the audience are inside the restaurant looking at them through the glass door reading the sign. The couples momentum and sense of direction to go into the restaurant was compensated when the frame back step deeper into the restaurant on the other side of the door and also by moving the camera vertically then pointing it down as if your eyes were acting  paralleled with the couples, demonstrating lead room for the couple to stop turn around and leave.


Another couple formal accents that became apparent were during a conversational fight between two ex lovers when she is standing on a dock and he elevated on the edge of a boat docked at port. Due to the fact that the two are engaging in conversation the camera leaves plenty of headroom on both subjects so as to not distract from facial expression and conversation.
Again the shot size here was very important because in order to keep flow of the conversation the camera had to tennis its way between the actors. When placed on the girl it was a close up  but from a up ward angle so as if to give emphasis to her looking up at her ex. Which was opposite for the male taking part. He had a medium close up and had a down ward angle so as to show him looking down at her. The rule of thirds also is prevalent at the end of their conversation when he walks away and the camera forces the girls face towards the right side showing her whole profile and longing look of anguish while sweeping towards a fade-out.

These things were just apparent in the first 20 minutes.


When I looked at the TV film it was apparent that it was an old movie being pillar-boxed for the new TV  I have an HD TV and this movie is from the nineties so the necessary adjustments had to be made. That's how it was for me watching one of my favorite Mark Wahlberg films "Rockstar."
It was clear that the aspect ratio of 4:3 was trying to be maintained, it was demonstrated by two black pillars on the right and left.