Title: The Cell
Year: 2000
Director: Tarsem Singh
Writer(s): Mark Protosevich
Producer(s): Julio Caro, Eric McLeod
Costume(s): Eiko Ishioka
Cinematography: Paul Laufer
Starring: Vince Vaughn, Jennifer Lopez, Vincent D’Onofrio, Marianne Jean-Baptiste, Jake Weber and Dylan Baker
The colors used in The Cell are distributed beautiful and equally.
There’s just as much use of color in reality than it is when we are looking for a serial killer.
For me, this film is aesthetically pleasing and beautiful. You combine some camera work and cinematography (Laufer) and with the very influential artist Ishioka, you can create some memorable and iconic imagery.
A lot of these images are pulled randomly but I did arrange them on purpose because this is how I see them. Similar or exact colors being pulled from one scene and into another, reality and fantasy mixing together, warm colors, cooler tones.
Let’s, for example, look at the 3rd row which is featuring the color blue. In the first image, the blue vehicle is indeed the focal point. But it also goes along with the blue pants that Vaughn is wearing as well as the blue top Lopez is shown to wear as well. Now, looking at the second image, it’s a similar color blue as the vehicle but it isn’t the focal point anymore. It’s taken a backseat to the pink trees and it’s a little off balanced. One thing I can remember off the top of my head from many color theory classes is that color is rarely by itself, there’s a change in value, distribution.
The colors increased dramatically.
And that’s what makes the film. The use of color and either decreasing its value or increasing the density, contrast, using bolder, unexpected colors visually pushes the film.
Have you seen The Cell? Any other film directed by Singh? How do you feel about it? Let me know in the comments below!
Shots of Horror 