Today’s class discussion mainly revolved around the discussion of tone and the internal logic of a world. Having Courtney Hunt’s Frozen River screenplay as a reference was a useful tool in this discussion as it is so rich in both tone and its own internal logic.
So, what IS tone? As a class, we came up with the following as possible answers to the question of what exactly tone is and elements that effect or create it;
- The attitude the piece takes
- Feeling
- Colour and temperature
- What type of resonance
- Mood (also linked to genre)
- Affects the way the world is portrayed
After some reflection, I settled on summarising my ideas into two definitions;
- Tone refers to the mood, feeling or attitude depicted within a piece.
- Tone refers to the overall feel of a piece, created by various elements such as setting, mood, characterisation and situation or even by post production elements like score, colour grading, editing and framing.
~Examples~
Frozen River (screenplay)
Tone is created and manipulated by…
- The bleak setting/environment
- Regretful characters
- Unfortunate situation
Overall tone= Uninspiring, dull, sad
Fargo (movie)
Tone is created and manipulated by…
- Desolate landscape/setting
- Colour contrast (red blood on white snow)
- Colour grading (colours intensified)
- Characters (Minnesota lifestyle/casual tone/unobservant witnesses)
- Narrative
- Consequences (arrest, death etc)
- Costuming (lots of layers give the characters a need to be “protected” from the elements)
- Acting (protagonist’s anxious jittering, nervous sweating, convoluted and unthinkable ideas)
- Score (eerie, provoking)
- Open ending (money left in the snow)
Overall tone= Dangerous, eerie, bleak, “more to it”
La La Land (movie)
Tone is created and manipulated by…
- Opening number (sets the tone with an upbeat, catchy tune and dazzling choreography)
- Use of colour (primary colours, bright and bold)
- Score and soundtrack (can be uplifting, romantic, nostalgic, sad, thoughtful and provocative)
- Editing (fantastical elements)
Overall tone= Daydream vibe, inspiring, happy
That’s all for today’s adventures in tone, more from me when I finally watch the full product of Frozen River.
Leave a Reply