While doing all of the research for my opening, I realized something crucial, within horror films, color schemes play a crucial role in the film's development, and will therefore be very important to incorporate in my opening. Color schemes can not just manipulate viewers emotions, they also influence mood, tension, and evoke psychological responses within audiences, when used strategically, they can evoke feelings of fear, disorientation, and unease. All of these responses are what helps add the large element of terror to horror movies by making them immersive.
This being said, I want to delve deeper into the specific colors used within horror films, and their effects by discussing the color Red, Black, Green, Blue, Yellow, and different contrasts overall.
The color red is known to trigger a primal response within all humans and heighten your emotions, as it has typically been linked to danger. Within horror films, we see it used to foreshadow violence, or even signal a characters switch over to "the dark side". Some key examples of this are the use of red in the movie The Shining, with the blood filled elevator and red bathroom. In this case, red is used to reflect on the hotels violent past, and foreshadow the horrors the family would experience. Another key example of the use of red is within the movie Carrie, where the red prom scene is used to symbolize humiliation, revenge and destruction within the films plot. These key uses of red, and their greater significance within the film show the importance of a developed color palette, and the effects it can have on a film.
Now, for the color black, it is usually used to represent the unknown within films, as well as death, and emptiness. It can heighten suspense, and is used often to create contrast and make audiences fearful of what may be lurking in the dark. Some key examples of this are within the film The Babadook, where black is used to reflect grief and depression, and Nosferatu in which the shadows and darkness are used to enhance the terror behind the vampire.
Green, is more commonly used within sci-fi films, but it is also largely associated with toxicity, illness, or just something overall considered to be unnatural. Green is usually used in horror to create an eerie presence. This is evident in films such as The Ring, in which the green filters make the tape feel unsettling and supernatural, as well as in Saw, where the sickly green tint is used to reinforce the grimy and decayed environment.
Blue is known to create a chilling, lifeless feeling, and is especially great when used to reinforce themes of isolation, and sadness. It represents the cold, which usually leads viewers to connecting it to feelings of death and isolation. Notable examples of this are within the conjuring, where the blue lighting makes already haunted settings feel even colder and lifeless, and the movie Insidious, where blue depicts the "further", a kind of limbo.
Lastly, the use of not just yellow, but similar tones such as orange create discomfort within audiences, as it is often linked to sickness, decay, anand overall psychological instability, a large contrast from its use in other films where it represents happiness and the sun. We see this in films such as The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, where yellow hues add to the heat and insanity, causing chaos, this is also evident in the film Midsommar, where bright pastel yellows create a large contrast between what we know as horror, and beauty, unsettling viewers.
Apart from just colors within the film, lighting choices can also be crucial, as blue lighting creates coldness, red creates intensity, and green creates a feeling of unease. This also goes for costuming choices as a character wearing red might symbolize danger or bloodshed to come, while a green environment can suggest some sort of corruption or illness. Overall, color is more than a tool used to create an aesthetic environment in the film, it can be used as a psychological tool to enhance fear, and tensions within the crowd. It manipulates emotions and can further deepen the experience of viewers, differentiating a good film, from a GREAT one.
No comments:
Post a Comment