28. Apocalypse Now 1979

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0078788/

Assignment 2
Evaluate one of the 10 following feature films in terms of the lighting and the use of color (if applicable). It is essential that you use specific terms from the textbook (like high key or low key lighting). In addition, incorporating the terms and concepts from the web links will increase your chance for a better grade.
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10. Apocalypse Now
These films were recognized by the magazine American Cinematographer as outstanding examples of great cinematography. In your evaluation, include a description of what effect you think that the director was trying to convey using this approach.

Prelude:
I feel compelled to write this annotation to my paper, not because it is a part of my assignment, but to bring a level of understanding to my analysis. Apocalypse Now being one of my top ten favorite films, I have seen it too many times to count. I have seen it in the light of day and in the darkness of night; I have seen it on VHS and on DVD. I was raised in the VHS generation, in the 1980’s and early 1990’s, and when I was first introduced to the DVD format in 1998 while working a four-year stint at Blockbuster, I, like many people who are set in their own ways, was hesitant to replace my entire VHS collection of 700 movies with DVD, for I did not see a noticeable difference. This was one of the films that changed my mind. For example, in the very beginning of the story when Captain Willard gets his orders, there is a civilian man in the room, Jerry, eating lunch with the captain’s superiors, presumably only there to see that the mission is communicated with utmost clarity and secrecy. Jerry (incidentally, his real name- he is the assistant director) says only one line: “Terminate with extreme prejudice.” I mention in the paper about the stark contrast of his tie. On the VHS version, it is barely noticeable and blends in rather nicely with the background colors.

Although I did have a copy of this film on DVD, I lost it a few years ago and did not replace it, so for this assignment, I had to rent a copy from my local Blockbuster, which only had a copy of the Redux version. I still have a copy of it on VHS, which was given to me in a set along with a VHS copy of every other American Film Institute’s Top 100 film. However, I felt that the only way I could give this film justice in my observation was to see it in digital. The color in the DVD is unparalleled. Therefore, when I talk about the color and the lighting in this paper, I will be referring to the color on the digital redux version. However, in keeping with the integrity of the storyline, I will leave out the deleted scenes which were put into the redux version, including but not limited to the Playboy bunny island, the French land-owners/ Willard’s cheesy love scene, the surf-board stealing incident which does NOT fit the character of Willard at all, and the scene where Kurtz reads to Willard from the magazine (which I was personally horrified by- because Kurtz is seen in broad daylight and in all of the other scenes he is this foreboding God of a man in the shadows). I believe that even though these scenes were filmed, if they did not make it past the original editing room floor, they should stay out of my paper.

Paper:

Color and Lighting in Apocalypse Now

Francis Ford Coppola’s Apocalypse Now is a masterpiece that is arguably the only good thing to come out of the Vietnam War. Although a fictional story of a man sent to assassinate a rebellious commander who has isolated himself and his team, it seems so real that it brings to light the spoils of war and the hypocrisy of man. While watching, the viewer embarks on a journey through the war in Vietnam with the help of source simulation and low key lighting and true to life colors that jump off of the screen.
Coppola and his director of photography Vittorio Storaro make the story believable with the use of expressionism and small scenes that are based on actual accounts of soldiers in the war. However, the lighting gives the story the little something extra that the film needs to convince the viewer that they are watching a true account and connect them with the characters. Throughout the film, Storaro uses mostly low key lighting, casting shadows on corrupt figures, and source simulation lighting, using the sun to show light as well as heat and discomfort. At night, he uses whatever light the soldiers would realistically be able to find, whether it be stringed lights on a bridge, a fire, a spotlight circling a “hot” LZ, or the cool, clear light of a full moon. In no part of the film is this lighting more prevalent than in the ending scenes which show Colonel Kurtz in the shadows. The light shows half of his face at a time, utilizing the sun setting and shining through the window to light up the right side of his face. Interestingly enough, the lighting illuminates the part of the head which holds the right side of the brain, that is, the creative or “illogical” side of the brain, which is what Captain Willard sees. He sees an illogical man who has regarded himself as a God, a man who has connived his way into becoming a cultish leader. During the night, while Captain Willard is bound, he finally sees Colonel Kurtz’s entire face, covered in camouflage, as he looks up at him from the ground, but since it is night, the only source lighting that could be used was a fire. The next day, Captain Willard goes in to see Kurtz again, but this time, Kurtz sits in the shadows and the light hits his face without method, without pattern, yet it illuminates the left, or logical, side of the head. Willard begins to see that there is some method to Kurtz’s madness, which he stated clearly that he could not see the evening prior.
From the beginning of the film, the colors jump off of the screen. They all blend well together in a sea of browns, greens, oranges, flesh-tones, reds, and whites. These are the colors of war. Browns and greens are seen in nature and at every turn. The murky brown water only turns blue at Vinh Din Dop where Kilgore intends to surf. The reds are of the deepest shade, the color of blood; the oranges, the color of fire. The contrast of the blue sky, white clouds, and green grass against the horrific images of bombs going off, napalm wiping out tree lines, and the orange trace of bullets headed to kill is sobering and suggests a duality between good and evil which is dealt with in every place that the team docks. Even the smallest detail suggests this duality. While Willard receives his mission over lunch, the food continues along the same color scheme: the brown roast beef, the green and orange peas and carrots, the white plates, and even the shrimp as a white/orange color with green lettuce and little black eyes. However, Jerry, a civilian, wears a brilliant two-toned purple tie, drinks beer from a red and white Budweiser can and smokes Marlboro Reds, in a red and white package. The civilian world is shining with primary colors while the military world is drab and hopeless. Eventually, the starkest contrast of color comes at Colonel Kurtz’s island, against the dark backdrop of a brainwashed population clothed in rags. As the camera pans across the scene, the words “Our Motto: Apocalypse Now” are emblazoned on a stone in the brightest of white paint. This color is used in a way that it is the one thing that should grab one’s attention. It is the one thing that stands out, because it is the one thing that they believe in; the same way the red scribbling on the white paper with black letters of Kurtz’s unpublished work stands out to say “DROP THE BOMB. EXTERMINATE THEM ALL.”
Through the use of lighting and color, Coppola and Storaro make a story of a real war with fictional characters and missions come to life onscreen. Together they produce a film that is both a delight and a horror for the audience to feel, relate to, and appreciate.