color color

Images taken off my tv

City of Ember (Gil Kenan, 2008)

City of Ember takes place in an underground city, a fact spelled out to us but one the characters are not aware of. So, a point so obvious it must be said out loud, none of the film is shot with natural light. The two main color schemes of the film are the warm tungsten based earth tones of the city (all deep reds, oranges, and browns), and the sickly florescent glow of places like pipeworks (all greens and blues). Out from these backdrops other colors like light blue, green, and bright red just pop off the screen. With the setting being a city surrounded by darkness the film uses black as punctuations. All of Embers streets and alleys become not necessary dead ends but black holes leading into the nothingness. The city experiences ever increasing blackouts and on three separate occasions the screen goes completely dark. Flashlights and flares are often used through out the film, craving out environment detail in otherwise black areas.
Whats nice is that Ember is in the framework of a kids film so it’s always moving forward, concentrating on how scenes play for emotional impact rather than being entranced by how it looks. The city is definitely run down but rather than revel in it the film is content to just show you the city in passing glances. The film is gorgeous and those moments pass so fast if you’re not paying attention you’ll miss it. The politics of the film are perfect too, with children not only being the ones who care enough to save the city but picking up on the past activism that their parents gave up on, both through death and defeat. Oh, and it 95 min. which is pretty much my favorite action movie runtime.

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I really don't print digitally, come to think of it I don't even have any personal digital prints. So here is an image I took awhile ago and never did anything with.

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