Colour in films

Spoilers for Blade Runner 2049, Jurassic Park and The Shawshank Redemption

Colours in films are interesting aren't they?

Even people who aren't necessarily film buffs can look at a shot from Blade Runner 2049 and tell you if it's a better shot than something from Transformers.

I confess these examples aren't entirely fair. Taking a shot from a slow establishing shot to a fast-paced action shot, but you must understand my point.

Think about what that shot from Blade Runner 2049. The context for it is that Ryan Gosling's character, K, goes into a desert to find Harisson Ford's character, Rick Deckard.

The colour orange is all that we see. What does the colour orange tell us?

Orange as a colour represents satisfaction and fortitude. This works with Deckard being holed up in his mansion, fortified away from society and being generally satisfied with his place.

K himself was obviously satisfied earlier in the film. Him having to go into the desert and leaving his own satisfaction and fortitude, as her enters Deckard's, covered in darkness, representing an alien intrusion on Deckard's life. K will disrupt and cause chaos in Deckard's only safe space, but he doesn't care. Dark colours are synonymous with evil and monsters, that's exactly what K is to Deckard initially

Blade Runner 2049 is an interesting film with a wide spectrum of colours that convey a lot of messages and feelings. I'm sure with more time I could think of other excellent films that use colour in a creative way and teach people about the film's themes. Did you ever think about the outfits of the characters in The Breakfast Club and how each of their colours tell us everything about their characters before they've even started talking? Maybe you should have a second look at Jurassic Park, Stand By Me and Corpse Bride.

Generally the personalities of characters are displayed in the film, rarely the director expects you to learn about the characters from their outfits. But it's an important clue. Sometimes it tells you more about a character than is initially let on. Sometimes the clothes can even be more an indicator of how a character views themselves.

John Hammond in Jurassic Park isn't a squeaky-clean, friendly entrepreneur but he presents himself in pure white and wishes to present a squeaky clean outer shell. But if you look behind his clothes, his skin is red indicating a possibly more malicious or ignorant side. This is corroborated in the film as he insists on keeping the dinosaurs safe, rather than the people he brought with him.

Another great film with a creative an subtle use of colour is The Shawshank Redemption. I'm sure I don't need to praise the film much more than it's already received, but this is a wonderful film.

The particular scene I'm talking about is the store room scene when Andy Dufresne is attacked by Boggs and the other sisters.

The scene opens with Andy heading into the store room to get the hexite that he was ordered to get. He leaves the surprisingly calm wash-room, and enters a room covered in darkness. He walks up to a group of barrels when Boggs steps out from the darkness. He was literally impossible to see before here. Andy turns and spots him and another 'Sister' stepping out of the shadow. He grabs some powder from a barrel and another man comes out from behind Andy and grabs him. After a short scuffle Andy is brutally beaten by the three men.

You almost certainly will recognise the harsh dark colours used here. The symbolism of entering the darkness tells you, even without context, that Andy is in danger. He continues to walk and Boggs appears. As if he was formed by the darkness, his red face staring without care directly at Andy. His red face could be seen as symbolism for evil, like Satan. It's almost as if he was a creature formed by the darkness, created by the insanity Andy is facing at Shawshank prison. Andy also contains all of his emotions throughout the film. He only pauses to smile at certain moments, but even here he remains stern and seemingly calm. We know however, that this is't the case as he stumbles for a moment and clumsily knocks off the lid of the barrel. As Andy is grabbed and gets brutally beaten, he no longer is visible, becoming shrouded in the darkness. He has been bested by the evil, the light, goodness, hope, has been thwarted.

It is only later in the film when there is no shade from the darkness Andy is able to convince some officers to deal with Boggs for him.