Light and Shadow

The Quay Brothers typically employ a dark, textured, grungy style with a definite dose of surrealism. The aspects of their work which are of particular interest to me in reguard to ideas for my own film are that of cinematography and lighting.

Street Of Crocodiles, perhaps the best known work of the Quay Brothers which demonstrates the techniques which I have examined.

Something I like about their work is the strong use of light and shadow and the relationship between what is seen and what is not. The hard contrast between light and dark forms a foreboding mood in which a sense of mystery is created. Things are not always what they may appear to be and the viewer is left wondering what is around the next corner. This aesthetic is heavily complemented by the cinematographic techniques used in many of their films. Shallow depth of field as well as extreme close-ups allow for focus to be placed directly on the subject of the shot as well as providing ambiguity to the surroundings.

In terms of my own project, these ideas are extremely useful to consider. Stylistically, such an aesthetic would work well with my story as it would undoubtedly complement the darker tones of the plot. There is also a highly practical advantage to this approach in that such techniques can be used to give the illusion of depth and expanse without actually revealing a whole lot of the set. This would be a useful consideration to make in the set design itself as even a small scene could be manipulated into an enormous landscape with the right camera and lighting setups.