Drive (2011)

     In this entry, we are going to review Drive (2011), a film by Director Nicholas Winding Refn.

(Warning: contain spoilers)

     Drive is about a man (Ryan Gosling) who has no name and no signs of any real personal life. He barely speaks and rarely shows emotion. He repairs cars and a Hollywood stunt driver by day and a getaway car driver by night. He lives in an apartment where he met and fell in love with his neighbor named Irene, who already had a son.

     This is a very compelling film to watch. It has balance between romance and violence. In the film, the Driver doesn't have that much dialogue. The Driver's meager dialogue is not designed to present him as tough, but to soften him.

     Director Nicholas Winding Refn revealed the idea for this scene was to emulate the feeling of a "driver in an ocean of sharks", never leaving the vehicle during a car chase so that the audience can see what's happening to the characters point of view. Anatomy of the Scene

COLOR REVIEW

     Drive used orange and teal without being obnoxious or distracting to the viewers. Through out the movie, they used colors that complements each other. We can see colors like green, blue, orange and red in the film which are double split complementary with each other in the color wheel.

     As you can see, through out the film the color tones is consistent. It helps carries a heavy 1980's atmosphere even though it is set on a modern day period. They didn't just changed the color on how the director visualize it, they also did some effort on applying the color schemes in objects, costumes,  and background objects to make the film more natural looking. Here are some examples below.

     The Elevator scene is a series of stunning visuals and graphic imagery. It's a prime example of how the film conveys so many ideas and emotions through images rather than words.  It's an excellent shot where the lights changes and the camera focused on the characters. The colors helped in balancing the mood. The kiss is like a sign of goodbye because after that, the Driver attacks the other guy killing him by crushing the guys head. The low angle shot, and the warm colors helps the scene to convey the emotion of the character.

     The film was shot with minimal lighting to avoid inconsistency and to prevent any unwanted mood change. The shots are both tightly composed and unpredictable. The Director's goal is to make "a fairy tale that takes Los Angeles as a Background".

     I'd say that in every scene, we can feel the emotions that's going on with the main character because of the proper use of colors and applying it in the right situation. Since this film is more of a romantic-violence theme, it is mostly have warmer colors to show energy and strength to the viewers.