The Color Palette In The Young And Prodigious T. S.

On the other hand, the color palette in The Young and Prodigious T.S. Spivet is more diverse; however, Jeunet still focuses on the reds and greens. These complementary colors dominate where T.S. lives, and once he travels farther away from home the colors become less apparent or change in hue. For example, when T.S. starts his new life in Washington, D.C., less saturated colors are seen, and the color black is prominent. This shift could symbolize T.S.’s sadness over the departure from his home. Also, there is a scene where T.S. walks by a red phone booth with a green light inside, and he imagines his family’s concerned reactions in regards to him leaving home. He decides against making a phone call, but that phone booth and its colors symbolized
Jeunet also applies “exaggerated sounds, abrupt changes of scale, huge close-ups of objects or faces balanced by long takes that use intricate camera movements.” In terms of composition, Jeunet has multiple close ups of his characters in Amélie, especially the protagonist. In these close ups, her body is slightly turned in one direction, and her face is turned toward the camera which is situated either below or above eye level. Amélie typically looks at the camera while smiling, and her facial features sometimes seem distorted because Jeunet uses wide-angle lenses for these close ups. In fact, Jeunet was particular about what wide-angle lenses worked best for each character, and he tested all the different lenses on his actors to determine which one would capture the look he was going for. In Amélie’s case, the best lenses were 25 or 27 mm. Having close ups allowed Jeunet to parallel the intimate insight into the characters’ lives with a physically intimate view. As mentioned before, a wide-angle lens can highlight or distort some of the actors’ facial features, which gives off a bizarre look for these characters. It works well, however, because this image is a physical representation of the individuals’ eccentric