Hasta La Motion!

What is the most effective non-verbal communicator in cinema? Camera movement? Framing? What about color? Though Lynne Ramsay’s filmography may be small in quantity, the meticulous filmmaker has crafted three features that rely heavily on color as a form of communication. More specifically, the color red. As she has progressed, Ramsay seems to have found a knack for using the color red as a storyteller. She uses the color the least in her first feature, RATCATCHER, where even the tiniest sliver of red alarms our eyes due to the film’s bleak, washed-away palette. On the other hand, her latest feature, WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN, uses red so excessively that it becomes impossible to ignore the significance. But no matter how frequently she chooses to use the color, one thing is for sure: it is communicating something. Here is a look at Lynne Ramsay’s symbolic use of the color red. Music: “Dedicated to the One I Love” by The Mamas & The Papas Films: RATCATCHER (1999) MORVERN CALLAR (2002) WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN (2011) Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for “fair use” for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Non-profit, educational or personal use tips the balance in favor of fair use.