COLOUR SPECIAL
C olour is a unique beast; not only does it make an image pop, but it’s also a powerful tool in the art of emotional provocation. It can influence the audience’s psyche in ways that range from subtle to overt; green can signal envy and red could represent danger. But the theory goes deeper than that, and a colour’s ultimate impact depends on context. Take The Green Knight , for instance – a film with colour baked into the title. Directed by David Lowery, the old folk tale recounts the story of Sir Gawain, who embarks on a hero’s quest and has his chivalry, loyalty and honour tested by the anonymous Green Knight. Andrew Droz Palermo, ASC ‘employed an expressionistic chromatic strategy’ in lensing Lowery’s adaptation. “We used colour as a narrative map, assigning specific hues to represent the film’s shifting mental states,” he describes. “The film starts in a desaturated, stone- cool environment. As the pagan world becomes more present, the palette is increasingly verdant. By the climax, the world takes on a feverish, amber- gold quality suggestive of atmospheric delirium or a jungle-like density.”
Andrew Droz Palermo, ASC discusses how colour plays a crucial role in his filmography, from The Green Knight and Marvel’s Thunderbolts* to this year’s Mother Mary
WORDS KATIE KASPERSON
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