Movie Magic by Daniela Acuna

To me, art is about creativity, but also, interpreting art means using your creativity to understand the message behind a piece. I try to find that message through music and, in acting, trough body language; but it depends on influences, current mood, knowledge, likes, and, also, it carries cultural and personal issues. Colors, specifically, can bring to our minds memories, experiences and make us feel emotions trough the different tones used in a particular item.

The first movie clip I chose is Chicago, because the colors create a balance in each set. The dark colors used to create the jail backgrounds, like dark ground brown and different tones of grey (from lead grey to cloud grey) evocate feelings of sadness, melancholy, loneliness and discomfort, by being in a place with no freedom. At the same time, there are light tones, light yellow and bone white, that reminded me of the sun, liberty and outside spaces, represented in Roxie, a white skinned woman with blond hair, as blond as the sun; also, the colors reflect her strong and happy personality, no matter the circumstances. The colors of the background contrast with Roxie’s, and so do the feelings they transmit, because as same as there can be felt sorrow and loneliness by being in a place for prisoners, there is also hope and happiness, reminding the sun is still out there. Black is the color used to create the performance background; black as the infinite night sky, giving a complete stillness and loneliness impression; and it is contrasted by Roxie’s colors, wearing a shiny silver dress, like if it was made with thousands of sparkles or tiny stars that are shining in the infinite dark; and by the red letters spelling her name. These light but strong colors give movement to the scene and stand out over the background; they give impressions of grandness, strength, importance and light in the dark; the red means, to me, intensity and passion for showing the artist inside of her and her desires of doing what she loves.

To make my mosaic of this movie I used black color chips for the background, red ones to make a heart in the middle of the square, and white and different tones of yellow and placed them inside of the heart, representing light, movement and happiness in the middle of dark, and passion for doing what you love.

The second movie clip I chose is 8 Mile. Scales of grey (like ash grey, smoke grey and darker and colder tones of grey) and black are the main colors in the background. Also the crowd is part of it, and there can be seen only black and dark brown skinned people, wearing dark blue, black, plum grey and dark brown clothes. All this combined with soft light and only one white spot (or person) give the idea of a conflictive atmosphere which expresses the difference between black and white colors, the misunderstandings between dark and white skinned people, and also the separation between them by not trying to coexist in the same environment.

I used dark brown, dark blue and olive green color chips to make the background (which includes the crowd) of the mosaic; I ripped them representing the tension and discordance felt in the scene. I also used one black color chip and one white color chip and placed them in opposite sides, not to represent only the difference between the colors, but also racism, cultural and social conflicts, and that each men represent only two pieces in our multicultural world.