Pre-production: color (planning)

Hello, reader. Welcome to my blog. In the previous blog post, I researched how color psychology works in films and the meaning of each color. In this post, I will be applying what I learned about color psychology to our film opening.

Applying color to my film opening:

Color in shots is not something that should be added in post-production. Since I plan to use it in the mise-en-scène, it has to be planned from the beginning of pre-production. This is especially important in our case, as we are creating a film opening.  That is, we have to connect with the audience from the very first moment, using colors that appeal to the emotions we want to convey. Openings are the first emotional connection formed with the audience.

Color as emotional shifts:

As I mentioned before, our opening is going to be like a roller coaster of emotions that ends the ride when the audience is at the highest point of the roller coaster, about to descend. For this, I plan for the two scenes to be distinct, each having a dominant color to represent the change in emotion and time.

I will use cool colors (and purple to represent mystery) in the first scene, and in the second, I will focus on red to represent danger.

Why is this important?

When we plan color choices from the beginning, color becomes a storytelling tool and not just decoration. Objects, spaces, and characters gain meaning through their color, guiding the audience’s emotional response without the need for dialogue. This also creates a brand, a visual identity for our film.

Final thoughts:

Color psychology works on a subconscious level, which means the audience may not consciously notice every color choice, but they will feel its effects (subconsciously). By using color intentionally in my film opening, I aim to build tension and guide emotion.

That's all for now, reader. Thank you for reading this archive of thoughts.

-Dragorite

Pre-production: color (Research)

Hello, reader. Welcome to my blog. In this post, I'll be exploring the psychology of color and its use in films.

Idea

I was researching ways to make a film unique. When we talk about color in films, we almost always think about the color of the atmosphere or color grading. But what happens when you use a specific color for specific elements? In the mise-en-scène, for example, or in the characters themselves.

Color psychology: is the strategic use of colors to evoke specific emotional and psychological responses from the audience.

How can it be used?

Color psychology has diverse uses. As the name suggests, it is highly related to psychology and how the human brain reacts to each color. It's surprising how a single color carries so much meaning and can add details to the plot.

Color choices enhance storytelling, develop characters, and create immersive atmospheres. Each color carries its own associations and connotations, influencing the viewer's perception and feelings. By applying color psychology, filmmakers tap into the viewers' subconscious reactions, intensifying the impact of scenes and narratives.

Common meanings of each color:

According to editor Lilly Mtz-Seara, these emotions and adjectives are attributed to each of these colors. Of course, they can also vary and are not a rigid mold or a rule. 

RED – anger, passion, rage, desire, excitement, energy, speed, strength, power, heat, love, aggression, danger, fire, blood, war, violence

PINK – love, innocence, healthy, happy, content, romantic, charming, playfulness, soft, delicate, feminine

YELLOW – wisdom, knowledge, relaxation, joy, happiness, optimism, idealism, imagination, hope, sunshine, summer, dishonesty, cowardice, betrayal, jealousy, covetousness, deceit, illness, hazard

ORANGE – humor, energy, balance, warmth, enthusiasm, vibrant, expansive, flamboyant

GREEN – healing, soothing, perseverance, tenacity, self-awareness, pride, unchanging nature, environment, healthy, good luck, renewal, youth, vigor, spring, generosity, fertility, jealousy, inexperience, envy

BLUE – faith, spirituality, contentment, loyalty, fulfillment peace, tranquility, calm, stability, harmony, unity, trust, truth, confidence, conservatism, security, cleanliness, order, sky, water, cold, technology, depression

PURPLE/VIOLET – erotic, royalty, nobility, spirituality, ceremony, mysterious, transformation, wisdom, enlightenment, cruelty, arrogance, mourning, power, sensitive, intimacy

BROWN– materialistic, sensation, earth, home, outdoors, reliability, comfort, endurance, stability, simplicity

BLACK – No, power, sexuality, sophistication, formality, elegance, wealth, mystery, fear, anonymity, unhappiness, depth, style, evil, sadness, remorse, anger

WHITE – Yes, protection, love, reverence, purity, simplicity, cleanliness, peace, humility, precision, innocence, youth, birth, winter, snow, good, sterility, marriage (Western cultures), death (Eastern cultures), cold, clinical, sterile

SILVER – riches, glamorous, distinguished, earthy, natural, sleek, elegant, high-tech

GOLD – precious, riches, extravagance. warm, wealth, prosperity, grandeur

Examples:

The use of color in films

Takeaways:

Color is a narrative tool that is developed from pre-production, it not only provides meaning but also a unique design and a unique brand for films (if the audience can recognize the film only by color it means that its use was a success)

Using specific colors on elements like objects, settings, and characters gives them meaning. It occurs to me that in Inside Out, the emotions had specific colors that represented them, like disgust and green, sadness and blue (these are colors universally associated with those emotions).

Color psychology appeals to our subconscious, activating emotional responses.

That's all for now, reader. Thank you for reading this collection of reflections.

-Dragorite

How will we use suspense in our film? (Planning)

Hello, reader. Welcome to my blog. In this post, I'm planning how we're going to use suspense in our film opening. This is a continuation of the research on how to create suspense.

Recap:

The genres of our film opening are Thriller and Mystery. One of the main elements these genres share is "suspense." As I discussed before, suspense engages the audience.

What suspense technique will we be using?

Hiding information. I think this technique is the easiest to recreate and also the most effective. Since our opening is only two minutes long, our goal is to do everything possible to grab the viewer's attention. That's why we chose Thriller, Mystery (genres) and Causal Agent (opening type) for our project. They are perfect for keeping the viewer attentive and making them want to see the full film. We also plan to end the opening at the highest point of tension. Like a roller coaster at its highest peak, we will stop the experience before the big drop. We plan to play with the audience's expectations.

How does it apply to our project?

Thrillers: feeling of suspense and worry.

Mystery: suspense, investigation and the resolution of enigmas.

Causal agents: Introduces an event, object, or character that triggers the story.

Hiding information: Withholding information from our audience is also another way to create suspense. Secrets. It works by giving the information to ourselves, not telling the audience the secret.

Hiding information in our film opening

The causal agent of our story is a book. Not where it is located, nor who is holding it. In fact, we have no information about any of the characters, nor is there a connection to the location of the events, because the most important thing is the book and what is not shown.

A boy arrives running to the library. Scared and agitated. The boy's face is not shown. He is holding a book. This book is unusual. It has no title or author. The boy looks for an empty space on a bookshelf and places it there. Time passes. A person arrives looking for something to read. They are drawn to the book. They open it. We see their expression. We do not see the contents of the book at any point. 

This raises questions such as:

What does the book contain? What will happen next? Why is that book important? Why was the boy scared? Why did that person make such an expression?

How to create suspense? (Research)

Hello, reader. Welcome to my blog. In this post, I'm researching and planning how to use suspense for our film's opening. But why is suspense important? Well, suspense plays a very important role in thrillers, but especially in mysteries. And since those are our main genres, it's crucial that we know how to develop suspense effectively.

First things first, 

What is suspense?

According to this super useful video I watched for my research, suspense can be defined as a state or feeling of excited or anxious anticipation about what might (or not) happen. It's the tension of waiting for something that comes from waiting for an outcome. Basically, it's a great tool for creating entertainment. 

                            Alfred Hitchcock On Mastering Cinematic Tension

The elements of suspense

How can we create suspense?

There are many ways to do it, but here are the most common ones.

“In order to get suspense you provide the audience with a certain amount of information, and leave the rest to their own imagination”

-Alfred Hitchcock 

Knowledge and information: those are key elements. We give the audience information, leading them to think that something will (or could…) happen. And if something doesn't happen it doesn't matter, because it is that waiting process that creates tension and races the audience's heart. The work is done by the mind of the viewer.

Promises: We can create suspense by making promises to our audience, things that they know will eventually come to pass. This can be done by waiting until the last minute to finally deliver on that promise. The three D's: delay, deny, deliver. 

Parallel plot lines: We can also create parallel plotlines in our stories, having two or more characters that are connected in some way, heading on a collision course towards one another. We know as an audience by the information given that the characters will intersect with one another at some point, but we don't know when or where.

Hide information: Withholding information from our audience is also another way to create suspense. Secrets can also create tension in the audience. This works by giving the information to ourselves, not telling the audience in the secret. 

Example, we know that the character is searching for a box. We don't know, as an audience, why he is looking for the box. But then, he finds it, and in the moment he opens, we only see his reaction, but we don't get to see what is inside the box.

There's a second blog post that's the second part of this topic, go check it out!

That's all for now, reader. Thank you for reading this collection of reflections.

-Dragorite

Creating a Storyboard (planning)

Hello, reader. Welcome to my blog. In this post, we will analyze the storyboard I created for our film. Let's unravel this together.

What is a storyboard?

According to Animum 3D, a storyboard is “a set of illustrations, sketches, or images organized in sequence, designed to preview a film, advertisement, animation, or story”. 

In other words, it's a visual guide that will be very helpful to my team and me. Especially for me, because I need it to plan camera angles, shot sizes, and movements before production.

Events:

After our research and discussing our ideas as a team, our director created the script for our film's opening. We used our editor's idea, and the director refined it to create the final script.

After analyzing the script, I started working on it right away so that our team would have a visual guide. Obviously, our opening doesn't have to be exactly the same; the storyboard is just a starting point that can be edited and changed at any time. 

The process:

As I mentioned before, the first thing I did was analyze the script. Then, I divided the two scenes into seven main shots. But how do I know these are the main shots? It's simple, because they can tell the story on their own, without needing any extra details.

Then I got to work, created some basic sketches, and then refined them to make them look more detailed. The goal was to bring it into existence and then make it look good.

Final Result:

The storyboard as a digital comic:

Since I haven't created the shot list yet—which will be available in future blog posts, by the way—I didn't specify the shot numbers.

Key takeaways:

Storyboards are important because they are like the foundation of a filmmaker's pre-production. They provide structure and a strong base.

They are also a good basis for casting actors and creating the shot list.

That's all for now, reader. Thank you for reading this collection of reflections. 

 

-Dragorite 

Establishing Relationships (Research)

Hello, reader. Welcome to my blog. In this post, we will deconstruct the opening scene of Parasite (2019).  We will also analyze why it classifies as an "Establish Relationships" type of opening.

Type of Opening: ‘Establish Relationships’

This type of opening establishes the relationship between the characters and people, places, things… basically any noun. It is characterized by introducing the characters, places, or events.

Parasite opening scene:

In Parasite, what relationship is established?

The opening scene of Parasite establishes the relationship between the Kim family and their house, the representation of their socioeconomic environment. From the first few minutes of the film, we can see that the Kim family is poor; this is revealed through the mise-en-scène. We can see how the characters interact with each other.  Furthermore, the first few minutes also reveal that they were already trying to get the pizza delivery boy fired to steal his job.

How is this relationship established?

In this scene, the cinematography plays a fundamental role in developing this style of opening. I will divide these elements into three simple sections.

Lighting:

As I mentioned earlier (see Thriller (Research)), the Kim family lives in a basement apartment. This means that the main source of light in the place is the window (with a view of the street), and a small lamp at the entrance. The lack and origin of the light emphasizes that the space they have to live in is confined and limited (just like the poor, in every sense). The light highlights the family's vulnerability.

Examples: 

Still image from Parasite (2019)

Still image from Parasite (2019)

Framing and camera angles:

The Kim family is very close and understands each other very well. Framing and camera angles are used here to keep them… together, very close to each other. In my opinion, this can mean two things. One, they are a very close family. Two, the idea of ​​confinement is repeated again, so cramped together that it's suffocating.  Undoubtedly, this family is very close-knit, so that doesn't necessarily have to be a bad thing.

Examples:

                                                        Still image from Parasite (2019)

                                                        Still image from Parasite (2019)

Space:

The basement apartment is small and compact. This reflects the family's economic situation and also their limitations. 

Examples:

Still image from Parasite (2019)

Still image from Parasite (2019)

Takeaways for our film opening:

We can use space and setting to establish relationships (family, friends, social status…among others).

As a cinematographer, I can implement tight framing and close ups to emphasize intimacy or confinement.

Introduce the environment early gives context without heavy explanations.

Show interactions or habits reveal character dynamics in a natural way.

That's all for now, reader. Thank you for reading this archive of thoughts.

-Dragorite

Mystery (Research)

Hello, reader. Welcome to my blog. This post is very interesting because I'll be dissecting the mystery genre.

The allure of the unknown has captivated the human imagination for centuries. We can find these characteristics in the mystery genre.

What is the mystery genre?

The mystery genre is characterized by the exploration of suspense, investigation, and the resolution of enigmas. It attracts audiences with intellectually stimulating and emotionally engaging narratives.

My definition of the genre:

It's like walking in a dark house when you're thirsty at 3:33 am (how convenient) and you're using the useless flashlight of an iPhone.

How does mystery differ from a thriller?

While a thriller is almost constant tension and danger; a mystery is questions and problems that seem impossible to solve.

And what happens when these two come together in a hybrid genre:

Mystery thriller. A combination of the enigmatic elements of mystery with the intense emotional engagement of a thriller. Magic.

The Da Vinci Code:

The scene is being established, beginning with panning shots across the paintings and the man fleeing. We see the paintings, and a medium close-up of the man's face, which appears frightened. There are abrupt camera movements that slightly blur the image, creating a shaky effect. Then there's a tracking shot of the man, followed by a shot from behind that transitions to an over-the-shoulder shot, revealing his pursuer.

A wide shot of a museum room shows the man running, and we can also see how shadows are used to indicate that he is being chased.

A bird's-eye view shows how the pursuer catches up and leaves the other person defenseless. The entire scene has low-key lighting. The guy is cornered and the scene ends.

Problems I identified:

Although we plan to use a chase scene, it won't be very long. And since the filming space is small, we can't do bird's-eye perspectives or use space to represent vulnerability. We plan to film in a library, so we can't do the chase scene there. Also, it's going to be very difficult to adapt the lighting to a low-key style because we'll be filming in a public space, and we can't create shadows with editing, so we'll have to rule that out.

That's all for now, reader. Thank you for reading this collection of reflections.

-Dragorite