I went back through my film library on Amazon the other day and found myself watching through the Star Wars films again. Maybe it’s just because of my new film-student mindset but I found myself paying a lot closer attention to the colours and lighting within the prequel movies this time around and I thought it would make for something interesting on this blog.
Obviously Star Wars as a whole has always had the whole dichotomy between light and dark; it’s a very integral part of the plot and it drives a lot of the storyline forward when characters come into conflict with it and (regardless of what your opinion may be on the movies as a whole) the prequels actually do a very nice job of displaying this struggle using colour on the screen as well as lighting cues.
This initial shot of Anakin and Obi-Wan utilises lighting and costume colour to signify the difference between the two characters rather dramatically. Anakin is cast in black and the shadows across his face are far more dramatic than those of his mentor, which immediately connotes his fall into the Dark side.
Even as the two characters are fighting, the colour tones and lighting always seem to shift in favour of whoever has the upper hand. In this shot, where Anakin appears to be on top, the entire scene is tinted slightly red; red has been the calling card colour for the Dark side ever since the first movie and connotes a sense of danger as well as this.
When Obi-Wan begins to gain the upper hand, the colour pallette switches entirely to blue; a colour which both represents the side of Light and connotes a more positive tone in comparison to before. Though despite this, there is still red flashing lights at the edge of the frame (unseen in this particular screenshot) so despite the fact that our good character is obviously winning, we are never removed from the sense of urgency and danger.
Even when fairly evenly matched, there are very subtle lighting differences that fit with the characters and their views; notice how in this screenshot, Obi-Wan’s hand is surrounded in significantly more light in comparison to Anakin’s. I feel like whilst the whole “light side and dark side” factor of Star Wars is aesthetically a little bit on the nose, the lighting and colour choices within the frame compliment the choice of costume and attitude well to illustrate a point.
Ramblings of a Film Student 