"I want to paint the way a bird sings." - Claude Monet
Often, I get in moods and solely create with a specific inspiration or concept, where those feelings ultimately influence all work produced within that period. It's a given; you still have to deliver to the specs of the clients' needs, but unless you put a piece of yourself into the project, you're kind of just a robot who can be easily replaced.
At the moment, I've really been enjoying experimenting and working with color. While brainstorming ideas for different projects, personal and professional, one of my inspirations has been director Wong Kar-Wai's beautiful movie "In the mood for love."
From a photography/cinematography viewpoint, it's most likely top ten all-time for the use of color in films. Shot on Kodak filmstock and set against a backdrop of 1960s Hong Kong, they created a sense of nostalgia, energy, and vintage mood WITHOUT special effects that came together brilliantly. From the use of music intertwined with saturated, lush colors, the level of detail and cohesiveness from scene to scene is exquisite and quickly becomes the movie's star.
This film is a great starting point if you want to dive headfirst into learning about color theory that has real-world application. The movie is in subtitles; it's not trendy, it's slow at times, and the colors used aren't winning some current color trend of the year award, cringe! (it's a thing, look it up). Still, it does have that raw grit of creative rebelliousness, vision, innovation, passion, and 15 months of dedication from the cast and crew to bring to life what you see on screen.
It is a hidden gem that will stand the test of time; After viewing it, I know you will never regard color in quite the same way. You will not only develop a more nuanced approach for the use of color within your own projects but will have a better appreciation for those who use color with intention. Anyone can add digital photo filters and preset LUTs to an image after the fact, but only an artist will first create a picture in their head and then figure out ways to produce it in the real world; enjoy!
