In at least 2 paragraphs, discuss the use of color and the use of light in this film. Choose a topic you would like to explore regarding the film and how Nicholas Ray presents this topic cinematically.
Nicolas Ray’s use of color in Bigger Than Life is to show the audience a glimpse of the characters’ minds, feelings, emotions, and even personalities. Regarding color, there is much of it used in this film. The main character, Ed, played by James Masden, would wear dark colored clothing, like dark blue or gray. This shows how dark and in pain the character feels, because he is suffering from a pain that will kill him and the medication he takes to make it go away makes him psychotic. Either way he has to deal with a life altering problem. One interesting use of color that I noticed was when Ed’s wife wore a faded green outfit. This was at the dinner table and as they ate, Ed tells his wife that he is staying solely for the boy. To me, this faded green shows how the wife’s energy, hope, and tolerance is fading due to her husband’s new behavior. This is different from the white gown she wore earlier in the film that gave her this stunning radiance. She was much more lively, hopeful, and pure before her husband went psychotic due to the medication. She was caring and the innocent wife who could not help but wishes that she could. She has turned into a wife whose efforts are in vain and not appreciated enough by her husband. She is losing that innocence and radiance while her husband gets darker and more menacing and prideful. The lighting plays a very important role in the film by setting the mood and tone. The importance of the lighting is very evident in the scene when Ed is trying to teach Richie and he will not let him eat dinner until he gets a math question correct. There is very low lighting in the room, giving the shot a dark and menacing mood, portraying Ed as some kind of evil dictator as he hovers over his son’s shoulders. Lou, his wife, walks in telling them that dinner is waiting for them. In the room is a massive shadow that is as tall as the wall. This shadow is right next to Lou and is hovering over everyone in the room, even Ed himself. The shadow is the monster inside of Ed. It is large and intimidating. One important thing to note is how the shadow hovers over Ed, showing how the monster, the medication, has taken control of him. He is no longer who he used to be. He is the monster, which is, in a sense, bigger than life.
In Bigger Than Life, Nicholas Ray uses a garish color scheme and lighting technique to depict the effects of drugs as "bigger than life." Using color in a time where many films were still produced in black-and-white, the effects of the warped visual style of Bigger Than Life helped to depict the film as a daring subversion of 50s values and film techniques, and an attempt to depict the evils in seemingly mundane middle-class life. The accepted conventions of 50s life - family, church, middle-class comfort, "Mother's Little Helper" - are subverted through color and lighting.
Similar to Rebel Without A Cause, Bigger Than Life utilizes a bold color scheme. The film uses a heavy, solid color scheme of green, red, and blue that causes Ed Avery's home to look dark and sinister. The color scheme is intentionally oppressive - during a dinner scene with the Avery family, the color of the walls renders them solid and confining, making the family dining room look more like a jail than a place of comfort. Similarly, the lighting of the film is much more similar to horror films of the era than a family drama. During the aforementioned dinner scene and the notorious scene in which Ed menaces over his son while he attempts a math problem, Ray uses harsh lighting pointed at an upward angle, so that long dark shadows are cast behind Ray. This causes Ray to look more like a supernatural phantom than a father using prescribed pills. Using a garish color scheme and horror-influenced lighting technique, Ray portrays the sinister underbelly of domestic 50s life and the danger of prescription pills.
In the first scene in which Ed is in the doctor's office, the shot is covered in red light. This colorful lighting is used to depict the transformation that Ed is about to go through, into become a much angrier person as a result of the medication. The color of his wife's dress also represents the change in her character throughout the film. Early in the film, she wears vibrant colored dresses that stick out in the image and call attention to her. This shows that, before her husband changed, she was very happy and radiant. However, towards the end of the film, the color of her dresses becomes more drab and plain, often blending in with the color of her environment. This shows that she is helpless and that no one notices or pays attention to her suffering.
Lighting is used in an expressionistic manner in the film, in order to express characterization. In one famous scene towards the end of the film, Ed towers over his son and a very tall shadow is cast on the wall behind him. His wife casts a much smaller shadow in the shot, and his son does not cast one at all. This shows that both are helpless and are unable to escape Ed's new cruelty and harshness towards them.
Nicholas Ray uses bright, simple colors throughout the lighter first part of Bigger Than Life. Before Ed becomes dependent on the miracle drug the mis-en-scene is mostly in bright primary colors such as the yellow taxis Ed runs by, the blue walls in his home, or his red couch. This follows the theme of the apparent innocence of 50’s America which will be disrupted when Ed goes mad due to his medication. Ray also uses pure shades of white in other set elements such as the refrigerator and white tile counters in Ed’s kitchen. When Ed’s disease becomes apparent, however, it literally casts a shadow over his family’s pleasant life. When Ed collapses in his bedroom the night of the dinner party, the house is darkly lit even after the doctor arrives and everyone has awoken. The Averys’ life has taken a darker turn that will culminate in Ed’s deranged attempt to murder his own son. Ray uses expressionistic tenebriso to a very memorable effect in the scene in which Ed is standing over his son, frustrated with his inability to perform a certain task. In the final scene when Ed ends up in the hospital once again the shots are very dark. As the doctors stand over him their black suits seem to blend in with the shadows surrounding Ed. They wore these same suits in their earlier appearance in the film and the “impure” black refers to their role in giving Ed the terrible pills that made him go mad. However, as they stand over him Ed is surrounded by a circle of light that represents his emerging from his state of madness.
Nicolas Ray’s use of color in Bigger Than Life is to show the audience a glimpse of the characters’ minds, feelings, emotions, and even personalities. Regarding color, there is much of it used in this film. The main character, Ed, played by James Masden, would wear dark colored clothing, like dark blue or gray. This shows how dark and in pain the character feels, because he is suffering from a pain that will kill him and the medication he takes to make it go away makes him psychotic. Either way he has to deal with a life altering problem. One interesting use of color that I noticed was when Ed’s wife wore a faded green outfit. This was at the dinner table and as they ate, Ed tells his wife that he is staying solely for the boy. To me, this faded green shows how the wife’s energy, hope, and tolerance is fading due to her husband’s new behavior. This is different from the white gown she wore earlier in the film that gave her this stunning radiance. She was much more lively, hopeful, and pure before her husband went psychotic due to the medication. She was caring and the innocent wife who could not help but wishes that she could. She has turned into a wife whose efforts are in vain and not appreciated enough by her husband. She is losing that innocence and radiance while her husband gets darker and more menacing and prideful.
ReplyDeleteThe lighting plays a very important role in the film by setting the mood and tone. The importance of the lighting is very evident in the scene when Ed is trying to teach Richie and he will not let him eat dinner until he gets a math question correct. There is very low lighting in the room, giving the shot a dark and menacing mood, portraying Ed as some kind of evil dictator as he hovers over his son’s shoulders. Lou, his wife, walks in telling them that dinner is waiting for them. In the room is a massive shadow that is as tall as the wall. This shadow is right next to Lou and is hovering over everyone in the room, even Ed himself. The shadow is the monster inside of Ed. It is large and intimidating. One important thing to note is how the shadow hovers over Ed, showing how the monster, the medication, has taken control of him. He is no longer who he used to be. He is the monster, which is, in a sense, bigger than life.
In Bigger Than Life, Nicholas Ray uses a garish color scheme and lighting technique to depict the effects of drugs as "bigger than life." Using color in a time where many films were still produced in black-and-white, the effects of the warped visual style of Bigger Than Life helped to depict the film as a daring subversion of 50s values and film techniques, and an attempt to depict the evils in seemingly mundane middle-class life. The accepted conventions of 50s life - family, church, middle-class comfort, "Mother's Little Helper" - are subverted through color and lighting.
ReplyDeleteSimilar to Rebel Without A Cause, Bigger Than Life utilizes a bold color scheme. The film uses a heavy, solid color scheme of green, red, and blue that causes Ed Avery's home to look dark and sinister. The color scheme is intentionally oppressive - during a dinner scene with the Avery family, the color of the walls renders them solid and confining, making the family dining room look more like a jail than a place of comfort. Similarly, the lighting of the film is much more similar to horror films of the era than a family drama. During the aforementioned dinner scene and the notorious scene in which Ed menaces over his son while he attempts a math problem, Ray uses harsh lighting pointed at an upward angle, so that long dark shadows are cast behind Ray. This causes Ray to look more like a supernatural phantom than a father using prescribed pills. Using a garish color scheme and horror-influenced lighting technique, Ray portrays the sinister underbelly of domestic 50s life and the danger of prescription pills.
In the first scene in which Ed is in the doctor's office, the shot is covered in red light. This colorful lighting is used to depict the transformation that Ed is about to go through, into become a much angrier person as a result of the medication. The color of his wife's dress also represents the change in her character throughout the film. Early in the film, she wears vibrant colored dresses that stick out in the image and call attention to her. This shows that, before her husband changed, she was very happy and radiant. However, towards the end of the film, the color of her dresses becomes more drab and plain, often blending in with the color of her environment. This shows that she is helpless and that no one notices or pays attention to her suffering.
ReplyDeleteLighting is used in an expressionistic manner in the film, in order to express characterization. In one famous scene towards the end of the film, Ed towers over his son and a very tall shadow is cast on the wall behind him. His wife casts a much smaller shadow in the shot, and his son does not cast one at all. This shows that both are helpless and are unable to escape Ed's new cruelty and harshness towards them.
Nicholas Ray uses bright, simple colors throughout the lighter first part of Bigger Than Life. Before Ed becomes dependent on the miracle drug the mis-en-scene is mostly in bright primary colors such as the yellow taxis Ed runs by, the blue walls in his home, or his red couch. This follows the theme of the apparent innocence of 50’s America which will be disrupted when Ed goes mad due to his medication. Ray also uses pure shades of white in other set elements such as the refrigerator and white tile counters in Ed’s kitchen.
ReplyDeleteWhen Ed’s disease becomes apparent, however, it literally casts a shadow over his family’s pleasant life. When Ed collapses in his bedroom the night of the dinner party, the house is darkly lit even after the doctor arrives and everyone has awoken. The Averys’ life has taken a darker turn that will culminate in Ed’s deranged attempt to murder his own son. Ray uses expressionistic tenebriso to a very memorable effect in the scene in which Ed is standing over his son, frustrated with his inability to perform a certain task. In the final scene when Ed ends up in the hospital once again the shots are very dark. As the doctors stand over him their black suits seem to blend in with the shadows surrounding Ed. They wore these same suits in their earlier appearance in the film and the “impure” black refers to their role in giving Ed the terrible pills that made him go mad. However, as they stand over him Ed is surrounded by a circle of light that represents his emerging from his state of madness.