The Use of Symbolism in Horror...

Metaphorically a number of aspects of plots, or attributes for misé-en-scene emphasise and highlight the mood, theme and concept of the film itself, they can intensify the tone and depth to the piece and overall play a huge part in the construction especially of props or setting.

The most commonly used symbolic aesthetics to a film include:

• Religious Symbols: Prevalent especially in the occult genre, due to the nature of opposite mediums of life and death, devil and God, good and evil, inner and outer demons etc, religious symbolic relics can be in reference to satanic, occult or voodoo rituals. Illustrated below with the Devil Inside.

• Death: Used as a form of foreshadowing for either certain characters or to illustrate it as a distinctive theme with objects such as coffins, gravestones, graveyards, angels of death, skulls, skeletons, corpses etc; for example the disfigured faces in Jacobs Ladder seen below, along with the birds used as a presentation of the body's decay.

• Colours: Representationally used a symbolisation of a characters powers or nature as either good or evil. The colours such as red despite being connoted with passion or lust, can denote danger or evil; whereas in opposition, the hero or good characters will generally be recognised in earthy colours that are of a neutral whiter shade.

• Light: Despite its usual depiction of hope, light can also demonstrate death due to the concept of its transition into the afterlife; minimal light from candles, torches etc since it demonstrates a menacing unknowing of what lies in the shadows that cannot be illuminated by these objects. One of my personal uses of light, is the light vision POV from Silence of the Lambs as demonstrated below. 

• Weapons: Weapons are especially used in Slasher genre, due to their phallic reference of masculine power with the final girl inevitably castrating him; weapons are generally more of those of an extension of our arms to make the killings more personal, in comparison to a gun etc. This is especially evident in Texas Chainsaw Massacre.

• Fabric: The use of material covering settings, props or people, can disorientate our viewing of a film and enhance the mystery behind it. The flimsy nature of it, provides unstable protection for a protagonist providing a barrier between them and what fears them. For example in the Others fabric is used in the coverings of the furniture, or with the use of curtains to demonstrate the barrier of the real and unknown.

• Doors and Windows: Can present the opposite concepts of confinement or freedom, looking out a window or passing through a door can be the idea of being trapped within an area or running from one (even though it can be into something just as worse). The suspense of not knowing what is looking in through your window, or whats behind or through the door aids to the mystery and jump nature that horrors embody. Both examples below being from the Woman in Black.

• Labyrinths/ Mazes: To heighten the concept of the protagonists lack of control, and inability to understand or assess the situation or dilemma they find themselves in. To concept of escaping seems unlikely and death always seems inevitable, due to its basis of the minotaur concept. The most famous examples being Pan's Labyrinth.

• Mirrors: Often used in psychological horrors, due to the reflective qualities presenting the concept of multiple personalities; with these being shattered once the glass is broken. Yet to include the horror genre more, we see mirrors reflecting sudden dangers of a ghost, monster or murderer. 
  
  

• Ropes: Its initial symbolic meaning of perhaps death as a noose, flogging or torture, yet most commonly as bondage can in contrast mean survival or means of escape. The most common use of it is most definitely is with bondage, to resemble the concept of being trapped or hunted. Especially evident in The Gallows.

• Keys & Locks: representational of confinement, or hidden truths and secrets (a convention of psychological horror) which are trapped behind a door or basement. For example this is the main feature of The Skeleton Key.

Children in Horror

Whilst deciding what characters to include within our film opening we had to make the decision as to what age the protagonist should be, we then questioned why the villains in horror movies are nearly always children or targeting children. We decided to look at some prime examples of children in horror and why the character was a success at portraying horror.

Horror movie villains used to just be typical monsters, vampires and ghosts etc until the idea of children portraying the villains came in, the direction allows evil to come from an unlikely source, especially with them looking so innocent.

Esther Coleman- From Orphan (2009)

• Poses as a nine year old Russian orphan when in actual fact she's a thirty-three year old woman from Estonia named Leena Klammer.
• Manipulative and deceptive.
• Her hobbies include seducing her adoptive father and killing her adopted families.

Samara Morgan - From The Ring (2002)

• Samara was pushed down a well by her adoptive mother and died seven days later which created a cursed videotape to portray the horrors of her life.
• Her powers include her being able to appear as a ghost, water manipulation, body possession and spider walking.
• An addition to her character is that she is hydrophobic, meaning the fear of water.

Rhoda Penmark - From The Bad Seed (1956)

• She is a sociopathic, eight year old girl who has evil tendencies that are genetically inherited.
• She appears as a bright and talented con artist through coming across as a perfect angel to made of the adults she meets 
• However, children can see beyond her 'perfect angel' act and see who she really is and therefore avoid her.

Toshio Saeki - From Ju-On: The Grudge (2002)

• After Toshio witnesses the murder of his mother he is drowned in the bathtub which results in him becoming a ghost that goes on to haunt and torture many. 
• Often seen without clothing and as chalk-white as his mother, in addition, Toshio was the only ghost that haunted his victims instead of killing them. 
• Toshio is capable of controlling anyone claimed by the curse under his control. 

Danny Torrance - From The Shining(1980)

• Danny has the 'shining' which allows him to read people's mind and speak with others that have the 'shining' ability as well, making him a target of the hotel. 
• He has the ability to see past, present and future events through his 'guide' - Tony. 
• As he grows up he uses his ability to set out a career with the nickname 'Doctor Sleep'. 

Carol Anne Freeling - From Poltergeist(1982)

• Being the youngest child of three she appears to be very wise beyond her years.
• Her ability to know what is happening before anyone else around her does. 
• She is presented as very innocent before and after her abduction and battle for her soul that would rage on for the next six years of her life. 

Regan MacNeil - From The Exorcist(1973)

• The twelve year old is caught between her mother's grueling working schedule and the fact that her parents are in the process of a messy divorce.
• She is described as shy and devoted to her mother (making clay animas as gifts for her and a giving her a rose each morning) 
• Regan is eventually revealed to have psychic healing powers, which is why the demon attacked her previously. 

Damien Thorn - From The Omen(1976)

• He is the Antichrist and the son of the Devil. However, it was only around the age of 5 when people noticed something strange about him. (When his nanny hung herself at his birthday party claiming to have done it for him). 
• Damien was an orphan that was brought into a family of politics as a replacement for their still born baby although they were not aware of his true heritage. 
• Unaware of his own powers, he unwillingly kills the majority of his victims which is an unusual trait for a child in a horror film. 

Grady Twins - From The Shining(1980)

• Their fairly neutral facial expressions help to portray their meaning in the film- to scare.
• Don't have a huge role to play in the film, however they are very rememberable 
• Identical everything from head to toe- this adds to the horror of the scene / identical twins are fairly rare and they don't tend to dress the same.

Isaac Chroner - From Children of the Corn(1984)

• Isaac was a teen preacher, leader of the fanatical teen cult called 'The Children of the Corn'. 
• He's a human representative of the demon god spirit 
• He wears a big black hat, not usually worn by a child which suggests he's wise beyond his age. 

Initial Ideas - Our First Rough Story Board

 SCHIZOPHRENIA 

After many considerations, we have finalised our choice of sub genre, opting for a psychological film opening. The photos posted here are the very first initial sketches I drew to plan ideas.

We have decided to use a girl character (details will be in our character post) of adolescence, with dark hair and pale skin. She has a serious condition known as SCHIZOPHRENIA: a long-term mental disorder of a type involving a breakdown in the relation between thought, emotion, and behaviour, leading to faulty perception, inappropriate actions and feelings, withdrawal from reality and personal relationships into fantasy and delusion, and a sense of mental fragmentation.

The girl acquired the condition from a cause in her life - this could be either of the following: insecurity, sexual/ physical/ mental abuse, drug abuse, a broken home, social isolation, inheritance, too much dopamine in the brain, or stressful past events that have triggered her problem.

The girl can see herself, almost like an out of body experience exchanged between her split personality. She looks at her altar-ego, wearing black contacts/ dark, grudge-like clothes, but she is emotionless and blank, unaware of the deadly person in front of her (the other side of her personality). The sequence will then go on to show her normal self in the tunnel (one of our definite location ideas), running, and walking, away from something - she is frightened, confused, vulnerable. The feelings are all in her mind as the shots go back and forth between her usual self and a crippled, manic, crazy protagonist. This, we plan, is to be shown in reverse order, using a rewinding technique that we can edit in, almost as if she is returning back out of her out of body experience, but her mindset is so dark, so sad and dangerous.

The setting will be dark, minimal, and relatively normal, to stick with psychological conventions, and we will shoot at indoor locations, apart from any running scenes. Music and sound will be low - we want an eerie, still atmosphere, abruptly filled with fuzzing, discomforting sounds to slice through the silence, to translate the way in which her brain is working and functioning through to the audience. Therefore, creating a real sense of detachment from the normality of humanity.

Films that have inspired our ideas:

• Black Swan
• Grudge
• Memento

What makes a good villain?

We decided to do a bit of background research on popular villains in horror films and find out exactly why they're popular. This way we will be able to come up with a few ideas as to what type of villain we should include within our film (opening).

Here is a list of some of the most popular villains in films of the horror genre:

The Shark (Bruce)

From Jaws - 1975

Bruce was a large man-eating great white shark that attacked and terrorized beach-goers on a fictional New England summer resort town, Amity Island. The fact Bruce didn't look like an ordinary great white shark added to the horror of the film as the shark was instead shown as a mutated beast. Nevertheless, the image and view of sharks changed rapidly after the first of the three Jaws films. People became more nervous and terrified of sharks after watching the actions by Bruce, that even influenced people to mention great white sharks amongst their worst fears.



Charles Lee Ray

From Child's Play - 1988

Charles Lee Ray, the human form of Chucky, is a fictional character seen as one of the most iconic horror movie villains of all time. Chucky is a doll that became possessed by the means of voodoo magic powered by the serial killer and it's human form, Charles Lee Ray. Even as a doll, Chucky had many human qualities; notable qualities he had were that he could bleed, procreate and even had organs inside of him compared to other dolls that are filled with stuffing and wiring etc.

I believe that one of the main reasons Chucky was such an iconic character was that dolls have always been unnerving but it developed a real scare factor around dolls that is on-going, even now, 27 years after the first film instalment.

Ghostface

From Scream - 1996

Ghostface is a fictional character also known as one of the most iconic villains, the character was voiced by the same actor regardless of the person behind the mask which makes it even more effective. The inspiration behind the mask is from the famous painting by Edvard Munch. The character is used to disguise and mask the true identities of each antagonist of each film. Something that adds to the greatness of this character is the fact it stays and even becomes more scarier as more and more instalments are added to the film series. What tends to happen with other characters is that they don't have the same effect as they did in their first appearance.

Jigsaw

From Saw - 2004

Jigsaw is a fictional character that differs from other movie villains as he didn't directly kill his victims yet instead he relies on various lethal traps placed on his victims. As it's so unique, it became refreshing for the audience to witness a different kind of villain. One of the most notable features of this particular character is his frequent use of the words 'Game Over'.

Pinhead

From Hellraiser - 1987

Pinhead is a fictional character known to be such an iconic movie villain, he is one of the leaders of the Cenobites, humans turned creatures that travel to earth through a puzzle box called the 'Lament Configuration' on a mission to harvest human souls. The character's appearance kick started a whole new depiction for horror movie villains as Pinhead was quiet, articulate and intelligent; very different to the general stereotypical villains before 1987.

Norman Bates

From Psycho - 1960

Norman Bates is a fictional character in which suffered emotional abuse as a child from his mother; this resulted in Bates murdering his mother and her lover. His character was inspired and loosely based on the real-life murderer Ed Gein. Bates is presented as mid-20s, tall, slender, handsome, 'boy next door' type which added to the shock when his dark side is shown. One of his most iconic actions is when he brutally stabbed the female lead in Psycho with a kitchen knife as she was in the shower, whilst dressed as his dead mother. The fact he looks like a normal and ordinary man in his 20s yet is actually a serial killer is a very effective and notable feature of the film.

Hannibal Lecter

From The Silence of Lambs - 1991

Hannibal Lecter is known as one of the most iconic movie villains of all time purely because of his characteristics that make him differ from the stereotypes. Lecter is a forensic psychiatrist and cannibalistic serial killer in which does not fit in any known psychological profile but is referred to as a pure sociopath at times. Not only because of his decision to consume his victims rather than dispose them, he's a character that's too intriguing to watch and just forget about with his charisma and intelligence adding to the mysteriousness surrounding his character.

Freddy Krueger

From Nightmare on Elm Street -1984

Freddy Krueger is a burnt serial killer who uses a glove armed with razors to torture and murder his victims in their dreams, resulting in the death in reality as well. He's a powerful and easily recognisable character with normal human vulnerabilities when in the real world. Krueger is a vengeful ghost with a memorable look; the red and green striped jumper, burned a disfigured face and the iconic metal glove armed with razors. His character represents subconscious fears through his actions throughout all of the film series.

Character Ideas

Here are a few ideas we had when brainstorming what we want our character to look and act like. We had to take under consideration that we would eventually have to find someone to fit our requirements so our ideas had to be within reason. This is what we came up with:

Age

• Our ideal character would be the playing age of teens, between 15 and 17 as they'd be both mature whilst their innocence would still be portrayed clearly.

Gender

• We decided that having a female protagonist would be most suitable for our chosen storyline.

Hair

• Our original thoughts were that our character should have long hair of any colour but after some deliberation we decided that they should have long dark hair.

Height

• We would want our character to be around the average height of a 16 year old to further portray the character. This way her age would be fairly recognisable. 

Features of personality

• Innocent
• Confused
• Depressed
• Uncontrollable 
• Anxious

Additional requirements

• Black pupils - will use eye contacts for this feature.

Inspiration
Our ideas were inspired by a selection of characters from not only horror films but ones of other genres as well. Here are some of the characters that inspired us:

• Samara Morgan (The Ring):

The requirement of our character having long hair was inspired by that of Samara Morgan. Her long hair made her more mysterious.

• Toshio Saeki (Ju-On, The Grudge):

The requirement for our character having black pupils was partially inspired by this character as it adds that all important horrifying side effect.

• Tumblr

Looking for inspiration through creepy-themed tumblr pages we came across this image. This is a similar look as we thought our character should have but with long dark hair, not white. This image inspired us to consider this kind of make-up both white and black colours.



Once we gathered an idea of what we wanted our character to look like we had to try and find someone willing to portray the character. We selected and contacted five different people in which fitted our criteria and then decided as a group who we thought would do the best job and come across as the most convincing. Here are the five people we narrowed our decision down to:

Megan Cunningham
Age: 17
Height: 5ft 8

Hannah Bouhamdi
Age: 12
Height: 5ft 4

Silvia Presente
Age: 16
Height: 5ft 7

Phoebe Cooper
Age: 16
Height: 5ft 8

Miriam Maslin
Age: 17
Height: 5ft 6

Our Final Decision
To make our final decision as to who to cast in our film opening we took under consideration whether or not they would be reliable and be willing to spend some of their free time filming with us. In addition we ended up choosing the person we thought would do the best job as being the character we wanted to include. We chose Silvia Presente.

Continued ideas for setting and location

To decide on a location, we had to come up with the plot for our film opening. Once we had the plot in place we built the setting and location around this idea and we have come up with the places that we want to film. Along the way we found that one location would not be as suitable due to it being a public walkway and busy throughout most of the day; alongside the aspect of it being crowded for most of the day, there was also a complicated process of getting permission to film there and insurance would have had to have been settled in order for us to go there. To combat this we found another area wherein the tunnel scene of our opening could happen, this area has turned out to be more suitable as there is already lighting there and there is a more close atmosphere to what we wanted from it.

As our opening comes from three scenes, put together by a series of quick cuts, we needed three available locations. these are a bath, a girls plain room and a tunnel. 

We have chosen to film in a house where the walls are plain without decoration, this will reflect the idea of the girls 'lost' nature and allow the audience to focus on the only two things in the scene that we want them to: the girl and her 'reflection'.

For the bath scene we will just use the bathroom of the house, we will likely have to use a waterproof camera and film above the actress to see her slip down under the water for the drowning scene.

Lastly, the tunnel we originally planned to use the tunnel in Greenwich that goes underneath the Thames. This ended up being more trouble than it was worth as we would only need it for a quick series of cuts to create a montage and one longer shot used in a running scene. We instead used an underpass located near Danson park, our other chosen location that we were able to film in during the day without much disruption from members of the public.

Mise en scene

Straightaway as a group we decided that the overall genre that we would cover would be horror. Whilst we were developing our knowledge on the genre to find out what sub-genre we would choose, we learnt about the different aspects of cinematography that make up an effective horror film.
Mise-en scene is a highly important aspect of making a good horror film,

Costume, Hair and Make-Up:
This makes up an important part of the characters overall display to the audience, through the use of these three areas a characters personality can be shown without them even having to open their mouths. It can also explain the idea behind the story, for example in American Psycho when Patrick Bateman kills Paul Allen, the make up after he takes off the rain coat depicts him as a split personality character.
In this shot of Bateman, the blood and his messy hair on the right side of his face shows his killer side of his personality. In this way, the idea of the movie is reflected as the film never concludes whether he in fact committed the crimes or he just believes that he did. The make up and hair used here is effective in achieving Bateman's crazed and psychotic look, whilst still allowing the audience to see that there is a split chance that this is in his mind.



Settings and Props:
Different props and settings can be used for specific genres e.g.: an axe murderer in an abandoned shack in the country side makes for a perfect slasher horror. Furthering on with the theme of American Psycho, there is a scene where the different men in the office are showing off their new business cards. The business cards are analysed each time and the intensity that the men compare and compete for the best business card helps to present the characters in the film with regards to their personalities.

Facial Expressions and Body Language:
The characters facial expressions and the way they use their body language heavily impacts the tone of their appearance and can allow the audience to connect/understand the true personality of the character, or sometimes e.g.: in a horror, the idea may be the lack of facial expressions and body language which can also tell us about a character.

Facial expressions can convey a range of emotions better than most over techniques. In this .gif from Quarantine, the character shows fear and desperation as she is dragged away, through the scrunched up and screaming facial expression and her arms reaching out for something to grab to hold onto.

Bateman's dancing before killing Paul Allen displays his madness and erratic behaviour. The body language here is used to contrast against the act of murder about to occur, which is horrific and bloody as this little dance makes it almost seem humorous.This further conveys the point that Bateman is a psycho and not of sound mind.




Lighting and colour:

Lighting and colour can be used to express a certain atmosphere and create tension and suspense in the horror genre.
In Resident Evil, the RedQueen is displayed in red light in front of a dark and blurred background. This is to make her more profound in the shot and to create the tension between her and the characters she is speaking to (project Alice).
Lighting provides the means to make a character stand out more or to seem more insignificant, it allows the characters to further present their personalities e.g.: a killer or a criminal in a film may have the fill light dimmed out more to show half of their faces in darkness to reflect the inner characters personality.
Colour allows us to explore a range of presentations of a character. In the .gif out of Resident Evil, the RedQueen, being red can reflect overtones of evil and deceit, allowing us to have our view of her before she needs to say or do anything else. Contrastingly, a character may be presented in all bright colours and be shown to be an image of purity. Angelic figures within films are often presented with bright white lights behind them and a strong tri-light on themselves, they also have bright white clothing on to reflect the innocence and purity of the character.




Galadriel from Lord of The Rings is shown to be this innocent, angelic figure dressed all in white with a bright shiny crown. Her clothing reflects the personality that we are supposed to see of her and then the lighting further expresses this as it shines from behind and onto her to keep her as the bright character in the shot.




Position of Characters/Objects Within the Scene:

The positioning of characters in the scene allows us to engage and evaluate the characters. In the opening scene from The Ring, the two girls are on/by the bed and are planning on watching a film. By being around the bed we view these girls as innocent, with the greatest aura of innocence coming from the girl who is lying on the bed swinging her legs behind her. This innocence can be contrasted with the idea of what film they are talking about and indeed with what happens to the people who have watched it.

Initial Ideas on Genre

Something we came across when brainstorming our initial ideas was that we had to choose a genre for our film opening. This genre had to be well suited to the content ideas we came up with as well as the fact it had to be something we are able to use with there only being four of us. In addition it had to be the genre that best suited our group's preferences. 

Here is a brainstorm of our thoughts on the possible genres we could choose from:

Comedy

• Can work as a low cost production.
• Could potentially appeal to larger audiences; both younger and older audiences.
• There isn't a conventional comedy location so would be easier to choose a place to shoot.

• Wouldn't be everyone's comedic taste so may receive negative feedback. 
• Can be very unrealistic.
•  If it's not truly funny then it won't work so very risky but could also result in confusion if too much humour.

Action

• The depth of the storyline can stay quite brief as they don't tend to have the most complex or elaborate plots.
• It allows flexibility regarding film locations as there are no traditional action film locations, e.g. a haunted house- horror. 
• Can allow creativity with mise en scene.

• Very hard to keep the plot original.
• There can be a heavy usage of props in traditional action sequences. 
• Many action films rely on special effects and CGI resulting it generally being a high cost production.

Horror

• Can allow creativity with mise en scene. 
• The storyline can be simple and straightforward, it doesn't have to be complex. 
• Can work as a low cost production. 

• Hard to perfect and if done badly it can look terrible.
• Mise en scene, such as blood, has to seem realistic if used, which requires skill and equipment.
• The editing within horror films generally involves fast, jumpy shots, so lots of footage needs to be taken in order to select the best footage possible.

After much deliberation, we came to a conclusion that horror would be the best genre to show our capabilities. Nevertheless, an initial idea we came across when discussing subgenres was that we should do something both intense and attention-grabbing thus we brought the many possible subgenre solutions down to two; psychological and possession. However, before we cancelled it down to two possibilities we had the idea of basing the film opening on the zombie subgenre as we thought it would be both fun to do and it would allow us to be creative. In the end we decided that it may be too hard for the opening to look convincing and realistic which are two important factors.

Comparison of a film opening and a film trailer.

Film Trailers:
Usually within the first couple of seconds of a film trailer, the production logos will be shown e.g.: new line cinema, Dreamworks, universal studios, film 4.

This is to help the production companies out, if someone has previously watched and enjoyed another film that has been produced by New Line Cinema, then by seeing the logo come up on the trailer they may be more likely to be drawn in and watch a). the rest of the trailer and b). go and see the film.
Also, in most cases you can tell from the production company logo what type of film is going to be presented. It sets the tone for the film. For example if you see the Dreamworks logo, you will likely recognise that there will be a large budget for the film and it will be family-friendly e.g: Shrek.

The title of the film is in every film trailer, and this tells you what the film is called but more importantly it can reveal the genre of the film by the design and colour of the title.

This film title has a white background, bright font surrounded by a dotted heart. In this way you can tell that the genre of the film is more than likely a romantic comedy film.


Film opening:
Film openings need to quickly determine the genre of the film and set the tone for the rest of the film, this is achieved by accomplishing the relevant aspects of cinematography relevant to said genre.
The camera shots will each achieve a different meaning. For example, in 10 things I hate about you, the establishing shot of the college at the beginning with a present American flag allows to quickly assume that the film will be based around a group of students at the shown college. From the soundtrack that ties with the establishing shot we will then develop our assumption into a teen drama/rom-com film about the fore mentioned college students.

On the other hand, a film that opens with a close up view of a girls face with zombified make up and fake blood over her will give a very different image of what the genre is and what the film is about. This will instead give off the tone of a tense zombie horror film and put us in the action, as if the child is staring directly at us.
Following on from the idea of a zombie film, a technique that may be used (seen In the opening of 28 weeks later and zombieland) is a device called tracking. This allows the audience to follow the action as it occurs but also helps to put us into te position of  running alongside the person, trying to get away from the zombie threat. This is a close to medium shot of the person and the zombie and will often be done to show the camera moving erratically, rocking as if the running movement is happening to the cameraman.

Similarly, a pan can be used to show the chase of the survivor (similar to tracking) but this wider shot also allows some of the setting to be shown to allow us to grasp an idea of where the film is at that point in time (will include noticeably identifiable things E.g.: football marking of an American football field, a red phone box in front of white concrete buildings to show central London etc...

Colour within Film - Meanings and Importance

Colour is a powerful tool, sometimes going by un-noticed in film. Colours are there not only for a visual satisfaction and impact, but for representation too. I have researched into the importance of colour, and what certain colours connote within film.

• The colour palette for film is devised and worked on by the directer alongside photographers, production designers and costume designers.  The colour is then controlled on set and in post-production. Colour can help to tell a story in itself, depending on meaning, symbolism, themes or emotions and moods that it is projecting. It can largely dramatise scenes and influence how the audience feels about particular characters, decisions or events that occur in film. Factors that play a role in colour are in almost every aspect of film - from the characters, costumes, settings, lighting, time of day and situations that are happening, the overall look of a shot is determined by its visual presentation (hence why colour is so important). 

• Black and white, or other coloured filters can give shots a new dimension. Black and white scenes usually look classy or old-fashioned, or can symbolise a flash back or memory to another time and place. 

 
This shot from Psycho in the black and white filter disguises the murderers face, casts more shadows and creates mystery to give an overall scarier feel. 

• Colour and lighting play a role together - lighting can affect the entire atmosphere or view of a shot, but the colours are physical within the mise en scene.

• Colour temperature is also a crucial technique used in film - dark tones, blues, purples and greys are usually cold or sad, whereas yellows, oranges, pinks and whites connote a warmer, happier feel. Therefore, colour affects the mood of a scene, and this is delivered though the context of what is happening at particular a moment. 

For example:

Jack's death scene in Titanic is depicted as a devastating, sorrowful moment through cold blue colours and a dark, limited palette of night-time hues.

In the scene where Jack draws Rose, colours are warm (golds, oranges, pinks and browns) to represent his admiration and lust for her, creating a romantic, heart-warming feel.

• Colour represents character personality - what they wear presents them in a certain way, and is highly important to make them appear realistic and believable, but this doesn't only rely on the style of their costume; the colour is a big contributor. 

For example: The character of Sandy in Grease wears pale yellow and white (shown below), which are soft colours, showing her innocence and purity. However, when she appears at the end of the movie, her clothing changes to red and black, instantly portraying her as a sassy, rule-breaking trouble maker, with an aura of sexiness and heat. Therefore, showing her personality in a completely different light. 

• The colour wheel/ spectrum has individual associations too. Each colour can represent or symbolise different things: feelings and emotions, atmospheres and moods. This is incorporated into film to help the audience relate, sympathise or feel a certain way in response to the colours they are seeing. 

• Lastly, colours having meaning - these can be shown in film in elements of mise en scene or location. The table shows various associations with basic colours:

The characters of Disney Pixar's Inside Out are a really simple example of colour meaning, as each character's personality are reflected through their colour. This is more about the emotions that colours connote. 

The pinks and reds of Regina George's bedroom in Mean Girls shows her as being girly, spoilt, sweet and princess-like. 

The blackness of these shots from Maleficent shows the how the villain is evil and powerful.

Greens and blues in The Sound of Music help present the beauty of nature, life, faith and freedom.