For this project I was placed into group 1 which was given the short film ‘Fearnando’ to analyse. This is a short horror about a young boy that is sitting in his bedroom one night when a power cut happens. As he starts to call out for his mum and search for her throughout the house we realise something more strange is going on.
CGI Animated Short Film: “Fearnando” by Exodo Animation Studios | CGMeetup (youtube.com)
For our group presentation we first decided on what parts of the film we would like to analyse. We chose to do cinematography, lighting, colour, mise en scene and sound. For my portion of the presentation I looked at colour. I think as a group we all easily came to an agreement on which parts everyone wanted and felt comfortable analysing and presenting.
The first thing I started to look at was basic colour symbolism and meaning and colour symbolism specifically in horror movies.
These websites gave me a lot of good insight.
The Color Wheel of Horror – Creating Mood with Color Lighting – Fotodiox, Inc. USA (fotodioxpro.com)
The Meaning of Color in Horror – Slow Burn Horror
Sasha from my group also sent in some basic colour analysis from last semester that helped me.
Since our short was a horror there was not much to go on as most of the scenes were dark and dimly lit but there was four main colours used in different parts of the film. The first colour I analysed was blue.
The colour blue can represent a wide range of emotions and is often associated with things like sadness, isolation, being lost and coldness. Some movies that I found that also used blue were The Exorcist and The Conjuring 2.
The Exorcist.
The Conjuring 2
This is the first scene in the film and it shows a blue tint as the camera moves through the house. I felt that the use of blue here was to represent loneliness and isolation. As the camera is going throughout the house we don’t see anyone else and that the decor is quite bare and impersonal. This all further contributes to the feeling of isolation and loneliness. We can also see this same symbolism used in the horror film examples above.
The next colour I looked at was orange/red, which is often associated with love, happiness, comfort and warmth. This colour is seen as a light in Fernando’s bedroom beside a photo of him and his mum. The warm colour of the light symbolises the love and connection between Fernando and his mum. I also felt that the use of blue from the computer screen further shows the disconnect and isolation of Fernando.
The next colour seen in the film is green. Green is often used in horror film to represent grotesqueness, decay, sickness and vulnerability. we can see this in examples like Saw and Paranormal Activity.
Saw.
Paranormal Activity.
In the film the lighting turns to green after the power cuts out. I found that this helps give us the same uneasy feeling and discomfort that Fernando is feeling in that moment. Whilst also creating an eerie atmosphere and giving us a sense of danger.
Lastly the final colour seen in the film is yellow. We see this colour as the flame of the lighter Fernando uses when he is searching for his mum. Yellow can symbolise caution, safety, calmness and optimism. Fernando uses the lighter as a form of safety and comfort as he is looking for his mum in the dark. The lighter can also be seen as a guiding light for Fernando another example of this can be seen in the horror game Little Nightmares. The use of a lighter also adds to that uneasy feeling as it could easily be blown out and doesn’t give much light making us feel vulnerable.
Little Nightmares.
Our group used a google doc that we could all easily add our own work on to which worked effectively for us and allowed us to work independently.
These were my slides for the presentation. I tried to keep the writing on my slides to a minimum and to have the images big and clear. I find that this makes a presentation easier to follow and holds peoples attention more.
Peer assessment and Overall Evaluation