The other day I rewatched The Joker, as it has recently been added to Netflix, and I thought I‘d make a post about it, as it is well known to be one of the greatest uses of colour grading in any film.
Colour grading:
The film follows a very strong teal and orange colour scheme, with a lot of scenes in the film having vivid teal and orange hues throughout.
Images of The Joker (2019).
Primary colours:
Primary colours are used through Joker, each signifying a very distinct aspect of the story.
Blue is the colour of Gotham, the city that he lives in, and the society in which alienates him for being different. The teenagers who steal his advertising sign and beat him up, the woman on the bus who gets angry at him for playing with her son, the therapist who never listens to him, as well as the three who beat him on the train, are all wearing blue.
All outdoor shots are tinted blue, and the hospital room in which his mother ends up in is also blue. Blue in the film represents sadness, isolation and suffocation almost.
Scenes from Joker (2019), showing the use of blue.
Red is the opposite, as his love interest is often seen wearing red, the little boy on the bus is wearing red too, before his mother intervenes. Murray‘s TV show is also dominated by red when Arthur is enjoying watching it. He is wearing red when he does his first stand up performance, in a room filled with red lamps, but the same performance is tinted blue when Murray uses it in his TV show to mock him.
Scenes from Joker (2019), showing the use of red.
And finally, yellow is used to represent Arthur losing grip on reality, but also his strength and resistance. He wears a yellow hoodie in difficult times, the walls of his apartment and the mental ward inside the hospital, as well as the bathroom in which he meets Thomas Wayne are yellow. The kids also bash him over the head with his own yellow sign.
Scenes from Joker (2019), showing the use of yellow.
When he gets beat up on the subway, the shot quickly turns from blue to yellow to show him gaining power. The yellow is used to eradicate the blue and emphasise him taking back control. This is also shown in the subway when the police are chasing him but lose him in the crowd of protesters.
Subway scene from Joker (2019), colour changes from blue tint to yellow tint.
The Joker Look:
By the end of the film, when Arthur becomes „The Joker“, he wears a red suit with a yellow vest underneath, and a green shirt. This shows he‘s accepted who he is, and doesn‘t try and change himself
Scenes from Joker (2019), showing his final Joker look.
Camera angles/shots:
At the start of the film, Arthur is shown as a small character, using wide shots and long lens‘ to make the audience witness him as other people see him. At this point in the movie we haven‘t been invited into his world yet, to see him any closer.
Wide shots used at the start of Joker (2019)
But as the movie continues, we get to know Arthur more, and more close up shots are used, to get to connect with him on a more intimate and emotional level.
Close up shots from Joker (2019)
The camera movement is also a massive technique used well in the film, and one example is the difference in feeling of emotion when Arthur is climbing the stairs towards the start of the film, compared to when he is Joker and accepting of his true self.
When he is climbing up the stairs at the start, there is a slow use of camerawork, emphasising the boring and forced repetitive nature of having to climb the stairs everyday. A wide shot is also used to make Arthur look small in frame.
Scene from Joker (2019), Arthur climbing the stairs.
However when he is Joker, the use of low angles and fluid camera movements creates energy and emphasises the power he now feels.
Scene from Joker (2019), Arthur finding power and freedom from becoming Joker.
References:
Höhnel, P (2019), Mooncube, The Significance of colour in Joker (2019), Available at: https://www.mooncube.space/blog/the-significance-of-colour-in-joker.html (Accessed 15/4/22)
Filmmakers Academy (2019), YouTube, JOKER | The Look Of… (Episode 1), Available at: https://youtu.be/f_Pfc4oLLic (Accessed 15/4/22)
Joker (2019), Directed by Todd Phillips, Available at: Netflix, (Accessed 12/4/22)
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