Site of the Week: moviebarcode

This tumblr moviebarcode is friggin amazing, you guys!  Look, look, look!  What's incredible about this is that you can see how a director uses color (or lack thereof) for dramatic and tonal effect.  You can even buy prints of these barcodes!  Let's take a look at the LOTR trilogy!

The Fellowship of the Ring is very interesting in that the colors truly represents the different areas visited.  Look at the beginning with the greens, russets, blues, browns, and purples.  It's very earthy but also light and spritely, just like the Hobbits!  The darkness is then set upon Frodo and the other Hobbits when the Ring comes to Frodo's possession.  Dark hues of night blues and mud browns makes us feel the dark mood.  And it isn't until Rivendell, corely bright wooden browns, that we see light and hope.  The browns are also highly representative of the Rivendell's natural way of life.  While we have hope for the tiniest sliver of time with the bright sky blue, we enter Moria, where once again we return to dark blues and browns.  

After Moria, we enter the bluewashed Lorien, where the fellowship meets Galadriel, the Lady of Light.  Despite taking place at night, the soft glows lighten the tones for a relaxed and peaceful feeling.  Then the fellowship sets sail and ends up in the forest, fighting Orcs.  Interestingly, near the tail end, the bottom half is a dark green and top is light green-brown.  Then the next scene is the opposite, where the top is dark and bottom light.  The film ends with the light-dark content reversing again, this time in a much darker and tone absent of color.  There was a certain amount of forethought into this, as is keeps a certain edge and discomfort in a sudden switch to the opposite.  But when you look as a whole, you can see first the middle, the brightest spot, where Frodo joins up with the rest of the Fellowship.  From there, expanding to both sides is a sliver of light and then large portions of intense darkness.  These are bookended by more natural and comforting hues.

Then we get to The Two Towers.  Oddly, this is all blues and greens, which I never thought about, but when I think about it, I think the entire movie was bluewashed, where it was all tinted blue or green.  There was a whole lot of darkness and a whole lot of ethereal supernatural going on.  Most of it took place outside, too.  I think I'd like to get a print of this!

 

And here's The Return of the King, which is comprised of many colors in small chunks until the last 1/3, and it becomes brighter, more hopeful, and triumphant.  We lastly end with the browns and russets when we return to Hobbiton.

Here's the full LOTR trilogy!  The center is very blue-green and the ends wooden and natural.  What a fun thing to look at!

Point out your favorites, please!