Shadows in Cinema

Ryan Patrick O'Hara

Ryan Patrick O'Hara

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Because my searches on google have failed me once again....

I am trying to rack my brain about moments in cinema where shadows/silhouettes have been used very successfully... (not exposure silhouettes, mind you)

Examples include:

Nosterafu (creeping vampire shadow)
Bugsy (Kiss in front of projector)
Elephant Man- Elephant man is behind medical examination curtain
Raiders Of the Lost Ark- Carrying the Arc
The Setup- where protagonist is assulted in an alley

Feel free to throw out good examples of the use of cast shadow within a film!

Thanks!

I'm simply needing visual examples to back up part of an article I'm writing. Those four are enough, but I'd like to see if I was forgetting a major bad boys that would knock the ball outa the park.

Best,

-Rpo
 
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fixitinpost said:
The Return of the King (Sam's "Elven warrior" shadow in the Tower of Cirith Ungol).
Click to expand...

Awesome suggestion.

But if I remember correctly it does not serve the story/audience in cinematography ways but rather serves as a gimmick within the story plot. Sam knows he is casting a shadow, and so does the audience. I was thinking about shadows used to tell the story not used in the story.

The elephant man shadow was to hide/prolong the reveal of the horrific elephant man while still 'showing' him. The shadow suggests a disgusting figure to horrific to show and leads the audience to let their imaginations take over.

The same for the assault. Many films cut away to a shadow of a horrific beating or murder to let the audience's imagination take over or to suggest that it is to gruesome to show on screen.

The projection silhouette kiss in Bugsy was symbolic because their first date/kiss takes place seen through a movie screen. It foreshadows a dramatic future for their romance as tragic and as large as the cinema.

I hope that helps. I'll rewatch LOTR and see if I can use that example.

Thanks again.
 
Is he a shadow? If he is simply a silhouette, that does not count either.... has to be a shadow/silhouette against an opaque window, screen, curtain, glass blocks, etc.

Lol. I don't make the rules.... wait, I kinda do. But still! :)

DJkarn, "M" was a great suggestion by the way! Forgot about that intro!
 
Bram Strokers Dracula (Gary Oldamn).

Shadows are used to throw the audience off. Gary Oldmen Exits left but the shadows remains, suddenly there is a whoosh as he appears on the right as the shadows slowly draws away. (Many more in the movie).

The Draculas shadow stargles Keanue Reeve's shadow as they quietly talk in the foreground.

All done mechanically, no CG.
 
The film noir classics from the '40s/'50's are filled with shadows.

Kiss Me Deadly
Out of the Past
The Killing
Shadow of a Doubt
Touch of Evil
Night & the City
..........
 
The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (shadows painted)
Last Year at Marienbad (shadows painted)
Indiana Jones and the Cristal Skull (camera in shadow of actor, with mesh netting in front of camera to silhouette the actor)
Almost all Hitchcock films use shadows in one way or another.
 
Yes, but what about those shadows were used for story? Not looking for contrasty films or noir examples, but rather examples where specific shadows are used for specific purposes in story telling visual language.

I'll post my article in the future, as it's far from being finalized.

Actually here is the first part I'm still editing. The other sections are being written. The shadow section is written but not examples not explained as I did earlier in this post.
http://ryanpatrickohara.blogspot.com/2009/02/lighting-types-units-and-globes.html
 
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Running Scared (2006) - shadow (imaginary) of scary nursery rhyme type character that appears behind actors at parts of the film to reinforce the themes at present. That type of shadow?
 
Almost anything produced by Val Lewton, RKO producer. He was called The Man in the Shadows!

From Cat People:
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_ImHsGa18NYM/RygBjyUmqJI/AAAAAAAAAe0/HSC-UXkivkE/s400/cat3+copy.jpg

http://lh6.ggpht.com/oohdahling/SFKSG5_QZ2I/AAAAAAAACqQ/r1ipvacB_Bk/s400/cat people 2.jpg

spider web/target

http://lh6.ggpht.com/oohdahling/SFKSKL_jswI/AAAAAAAACqY/RhG2TQKZ87w/s400/cat people 4.jpg

Seventh Victim:

"In The Seventh Victim, Lewton creates a wholly insular world wherein there is no solace, no light. .....New York is an empty place totally void of anything but shadow produced by unseen light"

http://www.bombingnumberten.com/val lewton seventh victim mark robson film noir.jpg

http://chud.com/nextraimages/7th_victim_image (2).jpg

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_4A7UzrLiZao/RwQlWD-b__I/AAAAAAAAAJc/duZsP899yWw/s1600-h/Seventh+Victim.jpg
 
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