Imagery in movies refers to the visual elements that a director uses to tell a story and convey meaning. The selection and composition of images in a film can create symbolic meanings and enable viewers to understand characters, relationships, and themes more deeply. Imagery is one of the fundamental building blocks of cinematic storytelling.
Definition of Imagery
Imagery in movies can be defined as the use of visuals to represent ideas and convey moods and emotions. It is the elements that a filmmaker deliberately places in front of the camera in order to construct meaning for the audience. Imagery may include props, setting, color, lighting, costumes, make up, etc. The director makes careful choices about every visual element that appears on screen in order to shape the viewer’s understanding of the story.
Some key types of imagery in movies include:
– Symbolic imagery: Objects, figures, colors or settings that represent abstract concepts, values, or emotions. For example, a rose can symbolize love.
– Motif imagery: Recurring images that take on a symbolic meaning through repetition. For example, a director may repeatedly show images of birds to represent the idea of freedom.
– Foreshadowing imagery: Visuals that hint at events to come later in the story. For example, showing a knife foreshadows future violence.
– Juxtaposition imagery: Placing contrasting images side-by-side to compare them. For example, cutting from a shot of a mansion to a shot of a poor neighborhood.
– Ambient imagery: Visual elements that establish an atmosphere or mood, such as fog, shadows, or green light conveying a sense of mystery.
Importance of Imagery
Imagery serves a number of crucial functions in movie storytelling:
– Sets the scene and environment: Imagery immediately establishes the setting, location, time period, mood, and genre. For example, a jungle setting signifies an exotic adventure film.
– Provides exposition: Imagery clues the viewer into backstory, context, character backgrounds, and plot points without having to explicitly explain through dialogue. For example, showing a character’s unkempt home conveys they are depressed.
– Drives the narrative forward: Motif imagery and foreshadowing imagery build anticipation for what’s to come and keep the story moving forward visually.
– Represents theme and meaning: Symbolic imagery allows the director to communicate deeper ideas that go beyond the surface level story. Shape, color, and motif imagery can take on metaphorical significance.
– Establishes emotion: Lighting, color, and composition choices create visual moods and atmospheres that emotionally resonate with the viewer. For example, low-key lighting conveys mystery or fear.
– Develops characters: Imagery reveals traights about characters that dialogue cannot, like showing objects in their home to reveal their interests.
– Creates style and identity: Distinctive imagery choices create an identifiable look and feel that makes the film uniquely the director’s own artistic vision.
Types of Imagery in Movies
There are many varieties of visual imagery used in movies, including:
Setting Imagery:
– Locations – Actual places and landscapes where filming occurs.
– Sets – Constructed spaces like room interiors, houses, or fantasy worlds.
– Establishing shots – Wide shots of exteriors like cities, forests, or buildings that quickly tell the audience where the scene takes place.
Lighting Imagery:
– Quality of light – Hard, soft, diffused, directional.
– Color of light – Warm, cool, green, red, etc. Colored lighting sets a mood.
– Low-key lighting – High contrast, strong shadows. Used in thrillers and film noir.
– High-key lighting – Evenly lit, few shadows. Creates upbeat, comic moods.
Color Imagery:
– Saturation – Vibrant, realistic, de-saturated, black and white, etc.
– Hue – Dominant colors like red, blue, yellow, etc. Red conveys passion or danger.
– Color temp – Warm or cool palette. Orange conveys warmth while blue is cold.
– Color symbolism – Specific colors carry meaning like red = anger, green = envy.
Compositional Imagery:
– Balance – Symmetrical vs asymmetrical framing.
– Rule of thirds – Subject placed at intersection lines vs centered.
– Negative space – Emphasis through empty areas around the subject.
– Lines and shapes – Diagonal lines convey tension, circles represent wholeness.
Lens/Camera Imagery:
– Lens type – Wide-angle, telephoto, macro, etc. Effects perspective.
– Focus – Deep or shallow. Draws attention to faces, objects, or backgrounds.
– Movement – Pans, tilts, tracking shots, zooms, handheld look.
– Angle – Eye level, low angle, high angle, canted or tilted. Conveys power dynamics.
– Shot type – Extremes longs or close-ups, medium or wide shots. Communicates distance.
– Camera effects – Slow motion, fast motion, timelapse. Alters perceived time.
Editing Imagery:
– Cuts between shots. Quick cuts build excitement, long takes create immersion.
– Transitions – Fades, wipes, match cuts. Smooth, creative, or abrupt scene changes.
– Montage – Series of edited shots conveying passage of time or thematic ideas.
– Continuity – Consistent screen direction, positions, gaze lines between edits.
Special Effects Imagery:
– Optical effects – Double exposure, split screen, zooms, transitions, etc.
– Animation – Hand drawn, stop motion, CGI, or motion/performance capture.
– Matte paintings – Illustrated backgrounds blended with live footage.
– Green screen – Adding backgrounds, settings, and objects in post production.
– Miniatures – Small scale models used to portray large objects like cities or spaceships.
– Practical effects – In-camera illusions like prosthetics, makeup, animatronics, or explosions.
Using Imagery Artfully
Skillful directors think intentionally about every piece of imagery in their films. Here are some tips for artful use of movie imagery:
– Motivate imagery through the story – Let the narrative context justify imagery choices rather than just imposing a forced visual style.
– Tie imagery to emotions – Choose images that viscerally resonate with the emotional state a scene aims to create in the audience.
– Build through repetition – Repeat key visual motifs to hammer home ideas, themes, and atmospheres.
– Juxtapose contrasting images – Edit together completely different looking shots to spark comparisons in the audience’s mind.
– Use restraint – Know when not to show something on camera. Leaving some things to the imagination can heighten mystery and suspense.
– Get creative – Explore inventive angles, composition, transitions and editing techniques. But don’t let style choices distract from the story.
– Set up and pay off – Insert imagery early that pays off later through repetition or narrative cause and effect.
– Keep continuity – Maintain logical visual flow from shot to shot through consistent screen direction, positioning, and matched action.
– Pick shapes/colors deliberately – Different shapes like circles versus jagged edges carry different connotations. Colors also trigger psychological responses.
– Use natural lighting when possible – It generally looks more realistic and nuanced than artificial movie lighting set-ups.
– Let settings reflect characters – Surround characters with imagery-rich environments that reflect their personalities.
– Consider timing carefully – The length of shots and how long imagery appears on screen impacts its effect on the audience.
Examples of Impactful Movie Imagery
Here are some examples of highly effective cinematic imagery from famous films:
Psycho (1960)
– The shower scene – Sharp knife slashes against naked body create visceral shock. Quick editing disorients viewer.
– High-contrast lighting – Noir-ish shadows heighten suspense and unease.
– Stuffed birds – Taxidermy avians recur around Norman, symbolizing his madness.
Blade Runner (1982)
– Futuristic cityscapes – Miniatures of dark, dense city portray dystopian future.
– Shafts of light in darkness – Creates atmosphere of fear and uncertainty.
– Intense backlighting – Gives characters a mysterious, psychedelic look.
Star Wars (1977)
– Opening text crawl fading into distance – Immerses viewer in sci-fi world.
– Used, worn sci-fi tech – Makes spaceships feel functional and real.
– Glowing lightsabers in dusk – Otherworldly weapons full of iconic visual flair.
The Matrix (1999)
– Slow motion “bullet time” – Radically altered perception of time to highlight action.
– Green digital rain – Strange images reflect movie’s themes of simulation and consciousness.
– Low angle “hero” shots – Make Neo look powerful and imposing.
Amélie (2001)
– Warm yellow/green color palette – Conveys romantic quirkiness.
– Tilted camera angles – Give Parisian settings a storybook quality.
– Intense close-ups on objects/faces – Heighten and romanticize everyday details.
Conclusion
Imagery is a vital part of cinematic language. Master directors like Spielberg, Kubrick, or del Toro all have signature styles of imagery that makes their films instantly recognizable. Audiences connect more deeply to stories when they are told visually, not just through dialog and performance. Impactful imagery also lingers in viewer’s minds long after the credits roll. The craft of designing compelling movie imagery requires immense thought, planning, and artistic sensibility. But when done well, it delivers immensely rewarding results.
