Question.685 - Set design, costuming and lighting techniques are important aspects that are used in a variety of ways to affect the visual story. Watch the movie clips from Black Swan, La La Land, and The Artist and answer the following questions. How important is the set or location to the overall look of the film? Is it essentially a realistic or authentic set, or is it stylized to suggest a heightened reality? Was the filmmaker’s choice of color or black and white correct for this story? What factors do you think influenced this decision? Try to imagine the film as it would appear in the other film type. What would the differences in total effect be? Is the lighting of the film (a) direct, harsh, and hard; (b) medium and balanced; or (c) soft and diffused? Does high-key or low-key lighting predominate? How does the lighting contribute to the overall emotional attitude or tone of the movie clip? Does the makeup for the film’s major characters simply enhance the natural look of the actors or significantly transform their appearances?
Answer Below:
Paul Nur FIL 2000 30 Film Appreciation (AA) Instructor - Samantha Salzinger07/12/2022 Topic Paper Location tends to play a vital role in adding a character to the overall quality of the script, elevating and giving it the actual depiction it demands. A script without an appropriate location could be a disaster. As seen in the La La Land footage, the spring is given a warm summer tone with a vibrant pool party that tends to elevate the scenes plot. However, there are certain props used to push the location to appear more comical. We could try to imagine the same scenario in Jurassic Park; it could only prove to be dramatic irony and depict a confused comedy element to the audience. In Black Swan, the location seems to be set for a stage, as demanded by the plot of the movie. On the other hand, the Artist from 2011 tends to be shot inside a predefined set with appropriate properties to portray a vintage lifestyle. As important as the set is to a film, so do all the external factors like color tone; they all go hand in hand. The color tone tends to bring out cues in which the audience could connect, such as the director having the authority to set the tone in the way he wants the audience to receive the plot. Considering the clip from Black Swan the director has set a darker tone to it, with blackish cold. If they had given a warmer fantasy tone to the Black Sawn, it would be difficult for the audience to connect to the darkness the story tries to depict. While La La Land is getting a black and white or a noir theme of color tone, it might have gotten an entirely different perception than expected than the warm, happy tone it has. The Artist in a color tone rather than black & white might have been vaguely welcomed. But the feel of the original tried to bring a more vintage and belonging feel towards the plot of the movie. Lighting also plays the role of altering the mood and atmosphere of the audience; as seen in the Black Swam, the lighting tends to be cold to retain a low-key darker tone of the plot. Imagining a bright high-key tone for the same movie, such as the lighting used for a baby being born in a hospital with happy people around such high key lightings, could try to depict a sense of irony. While out of the three clips, La La Land tends to have balanced lighting that varies throughout the film in a drastic way. Even the nights appear well lit with a high key tone on the properties and the actors. The high key and brighter light tone tend to elevate a happier and positive mood, while the darker low-key tone with shadowy lighting will depict a balanced mood in accordance with negative emotional cues. With the increase in technology, films tend to play with lighting highlighting the characters they want the audience to perceive. Makeup helps in communicating the personality of the characters; in all three clips, the personalities will be represented by the makeup, which also enhances the portrayal.More Articles From Film and Movies