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Six Suggestions for Creating a Film Visual Style
by eguaogie-eghosa Oct 01, 2022 Views (540)
The method of making movies was substantially altered when colour film replaced black and white. For prospective directors and artists interested in cinematography, set design, and costume design, Mira Nair's viewpoint on creating a visual palette is a helpful guide.

A Quick Overview of Mira Nair

Filmmaker Mira Nair, who has been nominated for an Academy Award, is one of the most well-known interpreters of the experience of Indian immigrants. Mira, who was born and reared in Rourkela, India, started out in theatre before relocating to Cambridge, Massachusetts, where she switched to acting in documentaries at the age of 20. Salaam Bombay!, her first narrative film, received the Camera d'Or and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in 1988.



In addition to Mississippi Masala (1991), The Perez Family (1995), Kama Sutra: A Tale of Love (1996), Hysterical Blindness (2002), Vanity Fair (2004), The Namesake (2006), Amelia (2009), and The Reluctant Fundamentalist (2010), Mira has also directed Hysterical Blindness, The Perez Family, The Namesake, Vanity Fair, and The Namesake (2006). (2012). David Oyelowo and Lupita Nyong'o are the stars of her movie Queen of Katwe, which is about a chess-proficient Ugandan child. The musical adaptation of Mira's beloved 2001 film Monsoon Wedding, which had a lengthy, sold-out run in 2017, is another of her accomplishments. Mira directed it at the Berkeley Repertory Theatre. She is the producer of the A Suitable Boy adaptation for the BBC.

Six Pointers for Creating a Film Visual Language

It's crucial to develop a distinctive visual palette for your film, whether you're doing your first short film in film school or a big-budget feature. The filmmaker Mira Nair, who has more than 30 years of expertise crafting visually distinctive and arresting movies, adheres to the following principles:

1. Possess A Viewpoint. It's crucial to have an opinion about the plot, as well as an opinion on the story's aesthetics and design. For instance, when India is shown in Hollywood at all, it frequently falls victim to clichés, including garish colours, garish clothes, and exotic clichés.

Mira aimed to avoid them and present her own unique aesthetic viewpoint. Indigo, ochre, and burgundy were the hues Mira chose for Monsoon Wedding since they are emblematic of India. Inform your whole cast and crew of your film's colour scheme so that everyone is aware of the style you're going for.



2. Put Together A Lookbook. Assemble a comprehensive manifesto of visual references. Creating a lookbook, or a collection of photos and images that convey your vision, is a terrific method to communicate your desired style for a film. Throughout preproduction, collect images that inspire you, feel appropriate for particular tenors and situations in the script, and match your chosen colour palette. For your production designer, costumer, and cinematographer to review and integrate with their individual design processes, arrange them in a binder. These colleagues should ideally share your aesthetic sensibility while also offering original thoughts and references that strengthen and broaden your vision.

3. Provide All Relevant References. It is best to show and teach your team about every potential impact and reference." For each frame, Mira creates a full page of notes outlining her ideas for how it should seem and feel. She might make references to musical compositions, the way lighting is employed to achieve a particular colour saturation or tint in a magazine advertisement, or even a document written in the sixteenth century that outlines the significance of various hues in India at the time.

4. Work With Challenging Colleagues. It is wise to liaise with those who can advance you. Prevent a situation in which you are surrounded by "yes people." The people you work with to shape your vision are crucial. Give them free reign after sharing any and all references that have inspired you. The most effective collaborators will align their vision with yours and advance it.



5. Make The Most Of Your Locations. The challenges of being in actual locations are where the genuine joy comes from. Mira searched for the site through a photograph showing a woman praying on a terrace with the expanse of Old Delhi in front of her—children flying kites on rooftops, a mosque in the distance, and the open sky beyond—during the filming of Monsoon Wedding. This actual spot was transformed into the ideal scene for a character to return to when yearning for the woman he believes he has lost.

6. Use Colour To Emphasise The Message. "Use colour desaturation to intensify colour in a different area of your film." Working with a colorist on a technique known as colour grading, it is occasionally possible to intensify specific dramatic elements in post-production. The "bleach bypass" approach was employed by Mira's team in The Namesake to remove the majority of colour from the image while allowing other colours, like red, to stand out. This decision was taken to highlight the contrast between a Bengali immigrant dressed in a vivid red sari and her new surroundings—the frigid, gloomy palette of wintertime New York.

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