Color It True
Impressions of Cinema
Published on 29. June 2023
Book
Paperback/Softback
360 pages
978-1-5013-8308-3 (ISBN)
Description
This often-startlingly original book introduces a new way of thinking about color in film as distinct from existing approaches which tend to emphasize either technical processes and/or histories of film coloration, or the meaning(s) of color as metaphor or symbol, or else part of a broader signifying system. Murray Pomerance's latest meditation on cinema has the author embed himself in various ways of thinking about color; not ways of framing it as a production trick or a symbolic language but ways of wondering how the color effect onscreen can work in the act of viewing.
Pomerance examines many issues, including acuity, dreaming, interrelationships, saturations, color contrasts, color and performance (color as a performance aid or even performance substitute), and more. The lavender of the photographer's seamless in Antonioni's Blow-Up taken in itself as an explosion of color worked into form, and then considered both as part of the story and part of our experience.
The 14 chapters of this book each discuss a single primary color as regards to our experience of cinema. After opening the idea of such an exploration in terms of the history of our apperception and the variation in our experience that color germinates, Color it True takes form.
Pomerance examines many issues, including acuity, dreaming, interrelationships, saturations, color contrasts, color and performance (color as a performance aid or even performance substitute), and more. The lavender of the photographer's seamless in Antonioni's Blow-Up taken in itself as an explosion of color worked into form, and then considered both as part of the story and part of our experience.
The 14 chapters of this book each discuss a single primary color as regards to our experience of cinema. After opening the idea of such an exploration in terms of the history of our apperception and the variation in our experience that color germinates, Color it True takes form.
Reviews / Votes
In his multifaceted Color It True, Pomerance, an independent film scholar, takes readers on a dreamlike, surreal, personal journey through how he sees color being used in films internationally. * CHOICE * Through prose as invigorating and engaging as many of the films explored in the pages of Color it True, Murray Pomerance takes us on an unpredictable and edifying journey through the many ways color seduces in film experience. Unhampered by any single critical dogma, and interested in a diverse array of films spanning everything from spectacular epics to intimate dramas, Color it True weaves together impressions of colors in movies with their lingering afterimages, those traces of color residing in memory long after the film has departed from our view. Reading this book is a restorative experience for anyone hungry for writing on film that eschews the usual well-trodden byways of theory and method. Every page is a marvel. * Steven Rybin, Associate Professor of Film Studies, Minnesota State University, Mankato, USA * A kaleidoscopic jewel-box of a film book. Each chapter a color, each segment a movie, and the specific mobilization of a hue. Together they form a dazzling demonstration of cinema's art and allure. Pomerance deploys his unique approach - lyrical, associative commentary combined with expert production knowledge and cultural command - to stunning effect, finding his way through sensation and resonance to the heart of every film he discusses, never losing sight of the essential question: why this color here? * Alex Clayton, Associate Professor in Film and Television, University of Bristol, UK *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
New York
United States
Publishing group
Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Illustrations
12 bw illus
Dimensions
Height: 229 mm
Width: 152 mm
ISBN-13
978-1-5013-8308-3 (9781501383083)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
E-Book
12/2021
1st Edition
Bloomsbury Academic USA
€33.49
Available for download
E-Book
12/2021
1st Edition
Bloomsbury Academic USA
€33.49
Available for download
Person
Murray Pomerance is an independent scholar living in Toronto, Canada and Adjunct Professor in the School of Media and Communication at RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia. He is the editor of the Techniques of the Moving Image series and the Horizons of Cinema series, and co-editor of the Screen Decades and Star Decades series. Pomerance is a widely published scholar; his works include A Silence from Hitchcock (2023), Uncanny Cinema: Agonies of the Viewing Experience (Bloomsbury 2022), A Voyage with Hitchcock (2021), The Film Cheat (2020), Virtuoso: Film Performance and the Actor's Magic (2019), A Dream of Hitchcock (2019), Cinema, If You Please (2018), Moment of Action (2016), Alfred Hitchcock's America (2013), The Horse who Drank the Sky: Film Experience beyond Narrative and Theory (2008), and two BFI Classics on Marnie (2014) and The Man Who Knew Too Much (2016).
Content
Acknowledgements
Introduction: The Map of Many Colors
[1] Of Blue
A Blue Parade: Irene Honestly, Blue: Les parapluies de Cherbourg [The Umbrellas of Cherbourg] Blue Narcissus: Anna Karenina Blue Distance: The Thief of Bagdad A Blue Provocation: Death in Venice A Civil Blue: Shane A Blue Tease: Psycho I Airless Blue: Le grand bleu [The Big Blue]
[2] Of Pink
Marie et Marie: Marie Antoinette Pink Again: Vertigo I A Blush: The Pink Panther Drink Me: The Nutty Professor Fitting Pink: Arizona Dream Pink Fire: The Passenger [Professione: Reporter] Pink World: Written on the Wind I The Pink Line: The Fight Club
[3] Of White
White Redemption: Fahrenheit 451 Weisse: Marathon Man Snow White: Akira Kurosawa's Dreams I Smashing!: The Bed Sitting Room Grave White: Forbidden Planet The Whitest Blood Around: Alien The Prince: The Godfather: Part II The White Butterfly: Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence [Senjo no Meri Kurisumasu] White Presence: The Band Wagon
[4] Of Purple
Disney Purple: Fantasia, Aladdin I The Purple Blade: The Fall of the Roman Empire Grinning Purple: Batman Purple Fingers: The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T. Purple Tensions: Magnificent Obsession
[5] Of Orange
Mad Orange: Alice Through the Looking Glass Modest Orange: Aladdin II An Orange Meow: The Long Goodbye Orange for the Adventurer: Close Encounters of the Third Kind An Orange Shield: Vertigo II Temptation Orange: Written on the Wind II Death of a Fruit: The Godfather Burnt Orange: Jungle Book
[6] Of Gray
Historical Gray: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone; Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban; Lord of the Rings; The Hobbit Gray Style: The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit: I Inert Gray: Donnie Darko Gray Proportion: 2001: A Space Odyssey I The Gray Vigil: A Ghost Story Screen Gray: Arrival The Gray Gulag: One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich Schematic Gray: Red Desert [Il deserto rosso]
[7] Of Yellow
Paved Yellow: The Wizard of Oz Celestial Yellow: Little Buddha Yellow and Tender: The Fugitive Yellow Crust: Watchmen Mother's Yellow: Diary of a Mad Housewife Reflective Yellow: To Catch a Thief, The Dreamers Yellow Risk: Marnie I
[8] Of Black
A Tale of Horror and Imagination: The Fly Black Faith: The Silver Chalice Seeing Past Black: "The Lone Ranger"; The Lone Ranger (1956); The Lone Ranger (2013) Fate: Treasure Island A Black Stream: Grease The Black Father: Star Wars Black Search: Psycho II Jocko: In the Heat of the Night
[9] Of Brown
Continuous Brown: Lawrence of Arabia Tyranny in Beige: Interiors The Brown Frontier: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly A Brown River: Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory A Brown Chagrin: L'heure d'ete [Summer Hours] Democratic Brown: North by Northwest Brown Filth: The Magic Christian
[10] Of Mauve
Sleight of Hand: Meet Me in St. Louis Mauve in Rotation: The King and I Natural Mauve: Amadeus Hot Mauve: Blow-Up I Retreat: Splendor in the Grass: I
[11] Of Red
Explode: Splendor in the Grass: II Stench: The Ten Commandments The Red Clue: Cries & Whispers Fire Apple: Rebel Without a Cause Red River: The Talented Mr. Ripley Choose This Red: The Red Shoes Rational Red: 2001: A Space Odyssey II Macula: Marnie II
[12] Of Green
The Green and Final Sea: Bonnie and Clyde The Green Fire: Green Lantern The Water Mill's Green: Akira Kurosawa's Dreams II Spectacular Green: The Wizard of Oz II To Swim and Not To Swim: Leave Her to Heaven; Call Me by Your Name Green Boy: The Boy with Green Hair; Bigger Than Life Green Redemption: The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit: II Green of Dreams: How Green Was My Valley Green Is the Wind: Blow-Up II
Bibliography
Index
Introduction: The Map of Many Colors
[1] Of Blue
A Blue Parade: Irene Honestly, Blue: Les parapluies de Cherbourg [The Umbrellas of Cherbourg] Blue Narcissus: Anna Karenina Blue Distance: The Thief of Bagdad A Blue Provocation: Death in Venice A Civil Blue: Shane A Blue Tease: Psycho I Airless Blue: Le grand bleu [The Big Blue]
[2] Of Pink
Marie et Marie: Marie Antoinette Pink Again: Vertigo I A Blush: The Pink Panther Drink Me: The Nutty Professor Fitting Pink: Arizona Dream Pink Fire: The Passenger [Professione: Reporter] Pink World: Written on the Wind I The Pink Line: The Fight Club
[3] Of White
White Redemption: Fahrenheit 451 Weisse: Marathon Man Snow White: Akira Kurosawa's Dreams I Smashing!: The Bed Sitting Room Grave White: Forbidden Planet The Whitest Blood Around: Alien The Prince: The Godfather: Part II The White Butterfly: Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence [Senjo no Meri Kurisumasu] White Presence: The Band Wagon
[4] Of Purple
Disney Purple: Fantasia, Aladdin I The Purple Blade: The Fall of the Roman Empire Grinning Purple: Batman Purple Fingers: The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T. Purple Tensions: Magnificent Obsession
[5] Of Orange
Mad Orange: Alice Through the Looking Glass Modest Orange: Aladdin II An Orange Meow: The Long Goodbye Orange for the Adventurer: Close Encounters of the Third Kind An Orange Shield: Vertigo II Temptation Orange: Written on the Wind II Death of a Fruit: The Godfather Burnt Orange: Jungle Book
[6] Of Gray
Historical Gray: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone; Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban; Lord of the Rings; The Hobbit Gray Style: The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit: I Inert Gray: Donnie Darko Gray Proportion: 2001: A Space Odyssey I The Gray Vigil: A Ghost Story Screen Gray: Arrival The Gray Gulag: One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich Schematic Gray: Red Desert [Il deserto rosso]
[7] Of Yellow
Paved Yellow: The Wizard of Oz Celestial Yellow: Little Buddha Yellow and Tender: The Fugitive Yellow Crust: Watchmen Mother's Yellow: Diary of a Mad Housewife Reflective Yellow: To Catch a Thief, The Dreamers Yellow Risk: Marnie I
[8] Of Black
A Tale of Horror and Imagination: The Fly Black Faith: The Silver Chalice Seeing Past Black: "The Lone Ranger"; The Lone Ranger (1956); The Lone Ranger (2013) Fate: Treasure Island A Black Stream: Grease The Black Father: Star Wars Black Search: Psycho II Jocko: In the Heat of the Night
[9] Of Brown
Continuous Brown: Lawrence of Arabia Tyranny in Beige: Interiors The Brown Frontier: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly A Brown River: Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory A Brown Chagrin: L'heure d'ete [Summer Hours] Democratic Brown: North by Northwest Brown Filth: The Magic Christian
[10] Of Mauve
Sleight of Hand: Meet Me in St. Louis Mauve in Rotation: The King and I Natural Mauve: Amadeus Hot Mauve: Blow-Up I Retreat: Splendor in the Grass: I
[11] Of Red
Explode: Splendor in the Grass: II Stench: The Ten Commandments The Red Clue: Cries & Whispers Fire Apple: Rebel Without a Cause Red River: The Talented Mr. Ripley Choose This Red: The Red Shoes Rational Red: 2001: A Space Odyssey II Macula: Marnie II
[12] Of Green
The Green and Final Sea: Bonnie and Clyde The Green Fire: Green Lantern The Water Mill's Green: Akira Kurosawa's Dreams II Spectacular Green: The Wizard of Oz II To Swim and Not To Swim: Leave Her to Heaven; Call Me by Your Name Green Boy: The Boy with Green Hair; Bigger Than Life Green Redemption: The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit: II Green of Dreams: How Green Was My Valley Green Is the Wind: Blow-Up II
Bibliography
Index