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Summary The use of colour in Vertigo (1958)
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Includes pictures demonstrating how colours and contrasts are used to portray ideas in Vertigo (1958).
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In the classic Hitchcock film Vertigo, protagonist Scottie is tasked with tailing Madeleine, thewife of a college acquaintance, around the city of San Francisco in order to keep track of her
erratic trances, but ends up growing close to and falling for her. Their relationship develops over
the first half of the film, up till the moment Scottie sees Madeleine falling off the bell tower to her
death. Various cinematic techniques helped to show the gradual development of their
relationship in different ways, which will be elaborated on further down below.
In terms of colour and setting, the scene where Scottie first saw Madeleine together with
Gavin in a crowded restaurant, a long shot was used to focus on Madeleine’s back profile,
where her costume of a long green evening dress stood out against the red background. The
way Madeleine is made to stand out in the red background with her green dress while Scottie’s
gaze is fixated on her from a distance tells the audience that although the two are still strangers
who have never met at this point, Scottie is very much focused on and intrigued by Madeleine
as she captivates him and takes his attention away from everything else around him.
Another instance where setting and colours were used to illustrate their relationship involves the
scene where Scottie observes Madeleine at a distance as she walks into a flower shop and
purchases flowers. She appears to be standing next to some pink blossoms while wearing a
grey dress, which again helps her stand out against the background as the dull grey of her outfit
makes her easily visible against the vibrant colours of the flowers surrounding her, while other
background characters appear more blurred compared to her as seen below.
, In terms of camera angles, close-ups, long-shots and over-the-shoulder shots were used
quite prominently. For example, in the facial close-ups below, Madeleine can be seen standing
right behind Scottie although she wasn’t supposed to know that he was watching her, and this
shows that they had turned their heads at the same time. This suggests that what the audience
was meant to focus on was Madeleine’s face and how Scottie reacted to her, implying that there
was something in her that intrigued him.
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