Sunsets, Wheat and Cinematography

Days of Heaven (1978) is noted for its powerful (and Academy Award-winning) cinematography, and I must say, I have never seen wheat look so beautiful. And there was A LOT of wheat in those 94 minutes. The cinematography of Days of Heaven directs the film’s focus to the setting and environment of the film. The view occasionally sweeps across the landscape, but more often the camera lends its effect to a more stagnant feel, emphasizing the storyline of Bill, Abbey and Linda as they find themselves trapped in the wheat fields of their [supposedly] dying boss.

The story takes place in the Panhandle of Texas, but all of the exteriors were actually filmed in Canada (Wikipedia). There are a variety of shot lengths used, including extreme long shots, long shots, medium shots, and a few close-ups; however, the extreme long shots and long shots dominate. These images, those including characters and those of just landscape, are what remains in the viewers’ mind after the credits roll. This is in part due to the sheer proportion of landscape long shots to actor close-ups and partly due to the visual beauty and impact provided by these shots. Throughout the movie, the characters are often silhouetted against the farm landscape of rolling hills, vivid sunsets, and the iconic Victorian home of the landowner as it stands alone, looming impressively large in the midst of the vast, surrounding fields. The majority of the action is filmed at a camera angle that encompasses these landscapes; very few scenes take place indoors. The story of the evolving love between Bill and Abbey and Abbey and the dying boss essentially happens because of the wheat fields and is shaped by the characters’ experiences in the fields, making the indoors almost irrelevant and pointless. The end of the movie shows the characters after they have left the fields (Linda is sent to a ballet school and Abbey leaves on a train); the cinematography of theses scenes provides a contrast with muted, blue tones and a more urban landscape. 

The tonalities of the cinematography consist of mainly warm, dusty colors. The warm reds and golds of the color palette are especially emphasized when the fields are burning and the golden wheat melts into orange flames against the red sky. The sharpest contrast in this film’s cinematography is found in these sequences, when the characters are silhouetted against the sky; otherwise, the contrast remains mostly balanced with the natural tones of the fields and dull colors of the worker’s clothes. There are also many scenes filmed in the natural light of dusk and sunset, lending to the rich tones and feel of the film. As a viewer, you become engulfed in the cinematography of the movie and can easily forget that you aren’t outside because the natural lighting of the film is so true and tangible.

Although the plot is important, it is interspersed amidst a cinematographic masterpiece. Dan Schneider explains in his movie review on CineScene.com, “Naturally, in a film like this, the what that happens is not as important as the how.” The storyline would be almost dispensable without the setting. The cinematography, however, could exist alone as a silent film. Besides environment and beauty, the fields present the hard work, isolation, and unpredictability of life, which are the central ideas of the film. A film without cinematography is like a camera without a lens; a film with sub-par cinematography is like leaving your camera on “Automatic” and using the flash at all the wrong moments. This film, however, uses the camera and lens to the full potential, creating a beautiful film with cinematography as the shining element.

Once Upon A Mise-En-Scene

What type of power lies in the ability to create a world? To develop its atmosphere, environment and interactions from beginning to end? The mise-en-scene of a film is the reality of a filmmaker’s imagination, the diegetic world created for the characters’ life and the audience’s amusement. Through the shaping of the mise-en-scene, the filmmaker has the power to spring personalities into life, shape conflict into mystery, and blend a fairytale with actuality.

The Once Upon A Time series takes these creative opportunities a step further – the filmmakers created two worlds that coexist, bound together by a parallel mystery that pervades the series. These two interwoven worlds contain the town of Storybrook, where the characters are citizens in a small-town environment, and the storybook world that contains every character’s fairytale counterpart. The characters living in Storybrook all have character traits that allude to their fairytale identity. As the viewer attempts to demystify and make sense of the two coexisting worlds, elements of the film’s form come together to provide the viewer with non-verbal clues.

The Evil Queen (Snow White’s stepmother) is mirrored as the mayor of Storybrook, Regina. Her dark aura is tempered as she plays the part of the mayor, replaced instead by mystery and underhanded deceit. As the Queen, however, her outward evil is directly reflected by her costuming, make-up, mannerisms, and lighting. The Queen’s dramatic costumes generally follow a dark color palette consisting of black and rich jewel tones. Her make-up and hair styles are severe, with dark red lipstick, dark shadowy eye make-up, and regal “up-dos” all enhancing her intense appearance. As she enters a room with a determined walk, haunting and dark music often plays; as the Queen moves closer to the other person in the room, she makes intense eye contact and steps increasingly closer to him/her as she attempts to intimidate her victim.

The same formula is used on all the characters in the series: the character traits and visual elements used to develop their persona hints at their fairy tale identity and links the parallel stories the character is involved in. Mr. Gold (Rumpelstiltskin) owns an eerie and mysteries junk shop which is always cast in dim lighting; the chaos and junk inside his store mirrors the confusion surrounding his character. He is often subdued and mysterious, but he will occasionally make a comment or gesture that directly mirrors his persona as Rumpelstiltskin. Snow White’s counterpart in the “real” world, Mary Margaret, is often wearing light-colored clothing (pastels and white) and the lighting used around her is often bright to contribute to her innocent aura. Emma Swan, often called the “savior” because she is meant to break the curse that sent the fairytale characters into the “real” world, wears a red coat (the color of sacrifice) and is frequently cast in contrasting lighting (half in dark and half in light) to enhance her inner conflict about believing in the fairytale world and her role in saving it. Her character is fair and blond (enhancing her innocence) and generally stands out from the other characters to signify her connection to the outside world (she was originally a visitor to Storybrook and the only character who can leave the town).

The apple is considered the Queen’s symbol and is used as a motif throughout the episode An Apple Red As Blood, as well as in the entire series. Sometimes it represents (or is used as a part of) the Queen’s murderous plots, sometimes an apple is used as a reminder that Regina is not the innocent mayor she is pretending to be, and sometimes the apple is eaten by an innocent character, used simply as continuity in the visual plot. Apples are also sometimes placed innocently in the background of a scene, sometimes more noticeably than other times. Many times, specifically in this episode, the apple is used in the central storyline.

The symbol of the apple comes full circle within this episode. Regina has apples on her desk in the opening scenes, her counterpart (the Queen) is shown giving a magical apple to Snow White right before that particular cursed apple is pulled from the fairy tale world into the “real” world, which Regina then bakes into a turnover that she gives to Emma; during the last scenes of the episode, Emma’s son is seen eating the turnover which causes the curse to fall on Henry.

Mystery is a main element of the series and it pervades this episode through varied [often dim] lighting, dark costuming, the symbol of the apple, and the contrasting settings of Storybrook and the storybook land. In a majority of the Once Upon A Time episodes, the two worlds are very separate; however, in this episode, the two worlds begin spiraling together when Regina retrieves the magic apple from the fairytale world to use as curse on Emma (the “hero” protagonist character). At this point, Regina begins to openly act like the Evil Queen as her two characters become more cohesive.

No element of this series’ film form is unintentional. The attributes of each character enhance the persona and storyline surrounding him/her. Each is portrayed in calculated lighting, costumes, and environment which converge to present a unified diegetic world that proves the power filmmakers have to captivate an audience with the world they create.