Koyaanisqatsi

(Godfrey Reggio, 1982.)

IMDB

Koyaanisqatsi, literally translated as “life out of balance”, is a collection of videos that represent moving image as art. It's an innovative, personal journey documenting time passing via various environmental, industrial and human actions. It's an epic and poetic journey through footage that speaks volumes without any actual dialogue; just the moving image choreographed to the soundtrack composed by Phillip Glass. It's systematic and repetitive music that changes very slightly according to the mood emoted by the visuals.

The initial piece of film we see is footage of slow-motion debris falling, although at first it's not entirely clear what we're looking at. As it slowly widens, it becomes distinct that it's the base of a rocket launch; the scale of which, I personally find quite threatening. In a complete change from this, the footage changes to a largely environmental scene, a wide pan across a landscape of rocks and boulders. Footage of clouds passing over the landscape, casting shadows and creating formations, is sped up to the point of darkness falling. Footage is also shot from in and above the level of the clouds, drawing attention to the movement and formation of such natural occurrences. There's imagery of clouds spilling around mountains and valleys, like water being poured. POV footage takes us through the sky, looking down on the varying landscapes below, showing the audience a different way of viewing nature. It pans across fields of rich colours; blues, purples, reds and yellows. It draws attention the perfection of natural reflections as well as the fluidity in the movement of unaltered/ untouched conditions, like the rolling of waves or the dissipating of clouds and mist.

The next section seems to focus on beauty in unexpected places, man-made surroundings. This is accompanied by big, looming music. The footage goes through a series of heavy machinery, dense black smoke engulfing the screen, implosions, explosions, stills of power lines, long leading lines of pipework; beauty amongst an engineered environment or within destruction. Similarly, the visual features offered by the imagery of war are equally hypnotic and strangely beautiful. Imagery of missiles falling in slow motion, sailing through the sky like birds. Or the POV of a fighter jet flying through the air. Rows of tanks, guns cocked upwards. The space capsule detaching. An atomic bomb detonating. All of the aforementioned are threatening, scary occurrences that, when placed within such a forceful rhythm of film and to such a strong sound, are weirdly mesmerizing.

The next phase of film is heavily centred around a cityscape; overcrowded, busy, dense and relentless. Full car-parks, planes taxiing amid the haze of water vapour, cars filtering in towards the city- bathed in the shadows of skyscrapers. Night footage of tall buildings with lights flickering on and off like parts of a circuit board. High speed, long exposure footage of cars passing through the city, creating lines of light. Aerial shots of cars moving through the labyrinth of roads. The full moon passing behind the silhouetted skyline. The vastness of the cityscape is shown in daylight via a long shot, interrupted by the lens glare of the sun reflecting off of the huge amount of glass and metalwork.

The whole thing feels like feels like a real visual feast, overpowering and stimulating the senses in a completely unique (at the time) and beautiful way.

The Rocky Horror Picture Show

(Richard O'Brien, 1975)
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RHPS started life in the Royal Court Theatre, in 1973, as a “fifties U.S. Cinematic experience”, where the cast of the theatrical performance would act as ushers and interact with the audience. The film was not initially a hit, in fact, it achieved it's cult status via VHS home invasion. It is largely a tribute to early sci-fi and hammer horror B-movies and is very much a British art college film, playing on shock value. In this sense, it aimed to be “everything your parents hate”, very alternative and underground, breaking convention. By the time of it's cinema release, fans of the stage show felt it was dated. In the eighties it was revived as a stage show in the US before the idea was sold back to the UK, where it had originated. Following this it has since become an industry in it's own right as well as something of a modern classic. The film was made in the UK and feels very British, I think.

The film offers a gritty realism in a pantomime sort of way, with levels of design never seen before. Set within a Berkshire country house (with a very “crystal maze” looking dome roof!), the interior varies from gothic to futuristic. The Lab set is sanitized, white-tiled and shiny with red embellishments. I really like the theatre space, with striped red deck chair audience seating, red and gold rope dividers and the classic red velvet curtains; it's very British and nostalgic/ classic amid such an odd array of things going on within the film.

New York, New York

(Martin Scorsese, 1977)
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New York, New York, is Scorsese's typical Hollywood telling of a love-hate relationship. As a director, Scorsese is fantastic at telling a story or opinion that is unpopular, which is probably why, at times, the film is quite difficult to watch- even to a modern de-sensitized audience. He makes us feel a real feeling of danger and threat between the two explosive forces of De Niro and Minnelli; really distressing us, as viewers, as we practically watch domestic abuse.

The design features heavy use of painted scenery and back-cloths as well as vulgar clashes of colours within the jazz clubs (purple and yellow), adding I suppose to the uncomfortable watch that the story had already established.

Sweet Charity

(Bob Fosse, 1969)
IMDB

Directed and choreographed by Bob Fosse, every movement within the film has a certain fluidity to it; a sexual and syncopated feel that hadn't really been seen before. The film itself, revolving round Charity, a dancer at a strip club, is an example of Fosse tackling a seedy/ gritty subject, via movement and theatricality. Within the strip club, the décor is tacky and feels very uncomfortable, with cheap gold embellishments adorning the space. During “Hey Big Spender” the women roll their shoulders and hips in a way that suggests sexuality, but at the same time feels quite sanitized. The women stand in a line, all fixed against a horizontal bar in various poses. Some lean against it, whilst others drape legs or arms across it, much like puppets I think. The women's movements are superimposed upon each other The transitions between scenes feel very dated, done via grainy still frames.

In a stark contrast to the aforementioned strip joint, there is The Pompeii Club, filled with tall, statuesque, model men and women. Figures are silhouetted in black amongst a set of columns, candles and marble floors. The scene screams sixties class, in that massively desirable but overtly pretentious kind of way. A cheetah sits in a cage and moving pictures are projected onto the walls. The only colour really present is the selection of feather wigs that the female dancers wear. Everyone otherwise wears black; black sequins, black feathers, white silk gloves and diamonds. The dancers perform three acts; The Aloof, The Heavyweight and The Big Finish, all the while surrounded by an elegant audience of people not watching, but instead contributing to the atmosphere by just being sexy, mysterious and statuesque themselves. Each dance is, of course, accompanied by the obligatory “sixties head-bobbing” movement. During the three acts, the mood is changed by the colour of the main wall behind the stage area. Blue during The Aloof, red during The Heavyweight and amber during The Big Finish.

Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World
(Edgar Wright, 2010)

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The film has been interpreted from a comic book and hence has a lot of graphic influence. Parts are narrated and subtitled like a comic and characters are introduced with on screen with their name, age and bio. As the music plays, graphic lightning bolts fire in time with the beat and the room's perspective becomes dramatically altered to accentuate the impact- as if the music is blowing you away, literally.

Throughout the fight sequences, comic/ graphic style text appears on screen upon impact, for example wham! And kapow! The screen also freezes and the scene becomes illustrated/ animated during the final knockout.

500 Days of Summer

(Marc Webb, 2009)

IMDB

We are introduced to the main characters, Tom and Summer, via a montage of childhood home videos, showing them developing their interests and personalities. The film constantly flashes back and forth between the 500 days of their relationship, the colours reflecting the tone in that stage of their time together.

Tom dresses in greys and pale colours whilst Summer wears pale blues and yellows. Her apartment is decorated with patterns and “ditsy”, pale furniture, whilst Tom's apartment is furnished with dark wood. When he's in a relationship with Summer, the whole filter of the film is brighter and warmer, whereas everything gets colder and pale when she leaves and Tom feels miserable.

During the film they visit an IKEA, which is exactly like every other IKEA you've ever visited in your life! Homely and a little quirky. The morning after Tom and Summer spend their first night together, everything is noticeably brighter. There's an upbeat song playing, the sun is shining, everyone smiles and walks with rhythm. The people in the park are all in sky blue clothing and form into a synchronised dance, only accentuating Tom's happiness. As he enters the elevator everything is bright, the lift door closes and it re-opens ahead in time, where the relationship has gone dark and cold, along with the tone of the film.

In the expectation vs. reality scene, the screen is split and narrated, there's no audible dialogue. The scenes start the same and reality plays out slightly behind Tom's expectations. The expectation side is bright and warming, intimate, whereas reality is more sterile and cool.

The scene takes place on a rooftop garden with pastel shades and lantern hanging lights of pinks and pale blues. Reality and expectation become one single screen as the camera pans and focuses on Summer showing somebody her engagement ring. A great realisation of emotion comes over Tom and the colour in his face fades. As he flees the scene and runs down the street, the colour begins to drain and the shot becomes illustrated and the scenery is erased until all that remains is the slumped silhouette of Tom, alone.

An Education

(Lone Scherfig, 2009)
IMDB

Set in 1961, in a middle-class London suburb we see a montage of girls practising etiquette, dancing, cooking and sport. The girls sit in a high-ceiling school room, with large windows through which they stare longingly. Jenny is a mousey, A+ student bound for Oxford. She dresses in browns and greens and lives by her Father's rules and ambitions for her. Her home is nice but dowdy, pale blues and patterned curtains.

A charming older man enters Jenny's life in a classic, maroon Bristol. He offers her excitement and colour, takes her to luxurious places and buys her quality gifts. Jenny is cultured above her age and enjoys fine music. David takes her to the theatre which is so extremely different from her pale, home life. The interior is decorated with luxurious golds and reds. They drink from crystal glasses and the singer stands amongst red velvet drapes, wearing a sequinned fish-tail dress.

David's friend lives in luxury, his apartment is furnished with white sofas, classic upholstered chairs, dark wood furniture and crystal ornaments and collectables. The exterior architecture is white, art deco style.

In France, Jenny lives like she has always desired. They dance in the street, browse book stalls of French literature and drink wine on the riverside. Paris is much brighter than home, so much more colour. Jenny dresses glamorously, with big sunglasses. She walks on the wall of the riverbank, high heels in hand.