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lmj analysis
For my image analysis, I chose the 2017 smash hit Get Out. One of the striking things I observed well watching this movie is the subtle tonal shifts in the art direction of the film. The work is supposed to appear familiar and relatable, a regular guy goes home with a regular girl to meet her parents. However, beneath this normalcy the screenwriter and director use shifts in color and subtle tone to make the audience feel uneasy. These patterns of tonal shifts are visible in all three of the presented images. In the barcode, we see a darker, meaner palette of color followed by more light and a seemingly “regular” assortment of colors. Additionally, in the plot image, we see that the lighter, brighter color palette comprises a much larger number of shots than those shot with a dark array of color. This makes a lot of sense because of the director’s efforts to create unease and tension among members of the audience. Many of my friends called Get Out one of the most unnerving movie-going experiences of their lifetime. This creepy experience is definitely aided by the sparse and intentional use of color, helping blur the lines between the normal and abnormal, and what is theatrical dramatization and what is a reflection of reality. This interpretation of the use of color and tone in Get Out is also visible in the montage, as we see shifts from shots of dark interiors to bright shots of the outdoors. The montage image is particularly helpful because it lets us consider the color palette of the film and observe trends on a macro scale while allowing us to root our interpretation firmly in the actual content of the movie by detailing particular scenes. Due to the unique evident quality of this image, I believe it to be the most valuable of the three. However, by being able to explain all of them and put them in conversation with one another, I believe I was able to achieve a more comprehensive analysis than I would have been able to with solely the montage.
Ultimately, if I had more time to do movie analysis I would really like the look at the trends in color and light usage in thrillers. Horror movies usually take a sledgehammer approach to unnerving their audience. Meanwhile, thrillers have to be subtle with how they mess with their audience. Were I to do a large scale image analysis of the stills parsed from other thrillers, I believe I would see a similar trend of dark shots being sparsely deployed and frequently contrasted with long stretches of bright, light palette shots in order to subtlely evoke a feeling of unease within the viewer.