Sitting in a dark theater while staring at a flickering screen, one cannot help but be mesmerized by the beautiful imagery displayed. The colors and visual aesthetics draw the eye in just as much as the storyline.
Without visual appeal, a movie is nothing. The real essence of a scene is captured by the tiny details that make it beautiful.
It is art as much as a painting. But how do you interpret a painting? For example, what visual comes to mind when reading the sentence: “A man playing golf in the woods gets hit in the head by a golf ball?” From a directorial perspective, this short scenario could potentially be very dramatic.
Keeping that image in mind, consider the following: A figure stands alone in a patch of grass, casting a long, slender shadow toward the bottom right. The camera pans upward, directing your gaze around his torso, slowly allowing us to get a better view. A golden beam of light slides down his faded salmon cap. The light reflects out his left eye just momentarily before continuing down his mint polo and then out of shot entirely.
The pink in his cap and the green of his shirt are two colors that oppose one another. This complementary color scheme aids in creating the tone of the scene.
The man reaches behind him and grabs his driver, the largest of 14 clubs poking out of his bag. His forehead wrinkles as he inspects it carefully before wiping it with the back of his white glove. Satisfied, he bends over to tee up. Balancing the club in his hands he gauges the weight, carefully measuring, letting his body anticipate its next move.
Now, look down at the ball from the golfer’s perspective.
He looks from the ball to the club and then toward the direction of his swing. There is a rumble of thunder in the distance followed by an intense silence. He takes one last breath, reels back and lets gravity direct his club to the ball. His gaze shifts the instant his ball moves, following it directly into the center of the incandescent sun.
Switch back to third-person perspective.
The scene zooms in, revealing the man’s two squinting eyes, the bridge of his nose and one gloved hand protecting his face from the sun.
“FORE!” A voice yells, hidden in a dark field of trees. His chin lifts in the direction of sound. The scene dramatically pans out. The golfer is small and directly centered in the frame. He stands silhouetted in the foreground by a sky of pink, sunset-kissed clouds over evergreens in the background.
We hear a high-pitched hollow thud. The man suddenly falls to the ground. The camera hovers over top of him, slowly moving in, framing the mans face. Thecamera stops and we are left staring at the man in a silent theater. His eyes fly open. The screen goes black.
By: Susana Duffy ~Guest Writer~
