The look...

Over the next few months I will be working closely with Joseph Henderson, who will be my Director of Photography upon Autumn Leaves.  At this stage our relationship hasn't really entered a level in which we are constantly working upon what the film will look like but since the conception of the short film I have been thinking about how the film should look.

Considering that the film is about an ageing business, one which is falling by the way-side in a time of economic crisis for local communities, I want the film to maintain a vintage look.  The film is set in present day but the cinematography should reflect the past and this is where I look for inspiration in films and art of yesterday.

The one film that I have had in mind from the beginning as a source for the way Autumn Leaves should look in terms of colour and lighting is The Godfather. Below is a clip from the opening scene of The Godfather between Don Corleone; the Mafia family figure talking to a man seeking help. The colouring in the scene maintains an orange hue upon their skin specifically and this ultimately creates a retro feel but also a sinister one. The darkness surrounding the scene shows the sinister nature of what the film may be about and the orange is a colour which shows up well in the darkness.

There has also been some speculation from fans and critics alike that the colour orange within the film is soaked in symbolism rather than just because it looks nice. People have suggested that the continual use of the colour orange and of the fruit itself presents danger and death. The colour orange to me almost represents a warning. Whereas red is associated with an immediate danger, the colour orange brings back that danger to a suspicious level, halfway between the innocence of yellow and the danger of the colour red.

Now in Autumn Leaves, the characters are literally surrounded by death which happens to be their occupation as a family Funeral Directors. But considering that they decide to revel themselves within a much more suspicious and sinister way of maintaining business, I think that the colour orange reflects how I want the audience to perceive the characters from the beginning which is with caution.



In terms of art, I have looked towards a contemporary artist who works on paintings that are similar to The Godfather. This is in the use of orange and of the darkness that is contained specifically within the inside scenes.

This artist is called Jack Vettriano and his art focuses upon vintage/period pieces. These paintings often study the relationships between men and women, drawing upon sinister scenarios that are happening between closed doors. The art is looking back at a time that doesn't exist anymore and he focuses on sexuality and lust that was often frowned upon. All in all, it's about the secrecy of scenarios that are hidden away from the idyllic perception of that time, much like Lynch's Blue Velvet which looks at American suburbia and how there is much more to the idealism than meets the eye.

In the reference book I found these images they are a stronger orange but you get the idea that these colours are often drawn out so there is a hint of brightness clouded in oranges, grey whites and browns. The characters all seem to dress in darker colours, specifically brown with white shirts on. Because the Funeral parlour is a traditional business, the clothes that they are wearing is not dissimilar to what is shown within these pictures. A business that hasn't changed the way it is represented stylistically, so colouring and lighting the film in a similar fashion will only highlight this need to hold on to the past.

For these next few pictures I have also looked at his outside paintings. There is an overall brightness showing perhaps that the outside world is where these characters are able to almost hide themselves within this innocence. What you can still see is that the orange hue of their faces is still persistent and that the brightness of some of the images is brought down and less saturated than a lot of the old fashioned posters and paintings of the era perceive it to be. The men wear dull colours which makes them stick out against this brighter backdrop. A sinister darkness hidden in this brightness? perhaps.

There is still a long way to go to make sure that the film looks right for every scene but for now The Godfather and Jack Vettriano are my two inspirations. They will help to create a sinister world hidden beneath the normal, the mundane and the realisation and desperation that these characters have been brought to because of hard times. 

Hopefully by the next post upon the look of the film I will have more film and art influences. I will lok more into making sure that the feel of the film will match up to the black comedy tone of the film.