The color scheme is also very impressive. The use of primary colors can often be very overwhelming and childlike, but RB mutes the colors in such a way that they seem totally natural to the environment. However, I feel that there is one instance where this is completely negated.
THE BIG HULKING BLACK BASSINET OF DOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!
This big mass appears at the end, completely breaking the tension. The black chiffon drapes alongside the upside-down cross just seems so completely cartoonish to me.
Why not utilize some deep red drapes instead? It seems that would have followed the mood and the tone a great deal better.
That is very interesting, I mean as the center piece of the movie, one would like to have it stand out more. I never really thought about it that way before.
ReplyDeleteBlack represents death, nothingness, evil. I suppose thats what the PD was aiming for. And I suppose black is really a great contrast to everything Rosemarry was wearing throughout the film, a lot of yellows, and blues, but light in tone.
But yeah a deep red would be awesome in showing the importance of the baby, it would also represent the unruly sex she encountered, the anger lucifer has for god.
But then I remember that Rosemary did wear deep red, it was a scene, it was right after the party they had for their friends, and she tells her hubby that "pain was a sign of trouble." Do you suppose that the baby's color was represented through what rosemary was wearing throughout the movie?
Then when she got better, she started to wear light colors again, so what is the best color to contrast anything healthy, and good with the world? I think black is a good choice. But I agree the upsidedown cross was really over the top.
Faith; did I really show Rosemary's Baby in Concept Development? Wow, Cool.
ReplyDeleteThis is an interesting point. Perhaps this first real focus on black is meant to jump out at us visually. I don;t necessarily agree the upside down cross is overdone (when I imagine what may happen with the remake I find myself fearing some really offensive over-the-top visual styling).
I agree that deep red would have been a good choice for the bassinet drapes; or possibly deep blue, since this color is also associated with the evil influence of the witch coven )note how many people are wearing it in this shot), and would contrast nicely with Rosemary's pale blue (innocence, powerlessness, "virgin Mary robes").
There a great deal of inversion and paralleling with colors; note how Roman wears golden yellow in the last scene: a darker version of Rosemary's happy, pale yellows. And Guy wears a lot of this color. Rosemary wears a great deal of dark blue in the middle of the film, often accented with red.
And what about Minnie? All that green and pink she wears, seen virtually nowhere else in the film's color palette?
I actually found the black bassinet to be somewhat foreboding in contrast to the general blandness of the "witches". For me, it was the revelation of evil having manifested itself in the bouncing baby boy. It seems like bright red would be a more blatant choice, sure, but it seems like that, more than black, would be more melodramatic. Black is death. Nothingness. It's also the polar opposite of how babies are typically cradled, in white or very light blue. I didn't think of it as cartoonish...
ReplyDelete...Until the Asian stereotype started taking pictures, at least. That's where they lost me.
I found the fact that the witches were NOT dressed stereotypically to be one of the most unnerving parts of the movie. The whole apparent normalness of these people is what gives the movie its creep factor to me. Color is almost used counter to what one would normally expect, and it is used to great effect. The black bassinet at the end is a sort of return to expectations.
ReplyDelete