The Waldon Empire

Essay

Photo Essay

My Essay

Colour is a vital element in visual communication, often overlooked that conveys both emotion and certain ideas. With the evolution of cinematography, genres are now expected to adhere to their ‘natural’ colour schemes. As with other elements of visual communication, the presence of certain colours or lack of colour entirely helps propel the narrative. Colours initially contain one general motion and branching out from this, other more evolved and complex meanings. Adding filters in post production provide a relatively easy means of giving a scene new meaning with colour.

Exploring the use of a yellow filter, we can see how its application conveys warmth and other positive emotions. Yellow filters not only evoke positive feelings but romantic, idyllic notions due to the prominence in early colour films and association with certain ideas. Most notably Western and American films when dealing with idyllic representations of the past or family life employ a yellow filter extensively. As demonstrated below with stills from O’ Brother, Where Art Thou (2008) that aimed to capture an idyllic dreamlike American past and a number of generic shots with a yellow filter applied. In these examples light is never white as in real life but yellow.

Another extensively used colour in filters is blue that is generally associated with cold, negative emotions and ideas. Blue filters are usually employed when attempting to convey feelings of loneliness, decay and failure. For instance the common motif of a character behind a computer screen in a darkened room almost exclusively uses a blue filter to emphasise the loneliness and isolation present in such a scene.

A final commonly use filter is the red filter that generally conveys lust or also danger. A very powerful colour red can easily be overused. However, subtly used it can guide the narrative by suggesting possible associations with characters and scenes be it lust with a red filter in a bright scene or danger with a red filter in a dark scene.

Not only do filters exploit our preconceived emotional attachments to particular colours but they also on create new associations and meanings as they are continually associated with particular genres, styles and other visual elements. Though filters can convey emotion their success in doing so will always depend on other visual elements such as contrast and composition. As with the example of yellow filters, due to their relation to romanticism, the idyllic and domestic they are best employed with shots of the fertile outdoors or the domestic rather shots associated with blue filters such as those of urban degradation. When employed in tandem with other elements of visual communication filters successfully and subtly convey motion and thus help propel the narrative.

Bibliography

O Brother, Where Art Thou? 2000 Touchstone Pictures
Three Colours: Blue 1993 Canal+
Three Colours: Red 1994 Canal+

 

 

 

 

 

The Raids

Woke up this morning to Elle slapping my face and screaming at me to get dressed. A sick feeling in my stomach grew as we sped off from the motel and she kept fiddling with her blackberry muttering, “fuck, fuck, fuck! That fucking bitch!”. As we drove out of Seattle she turned off the blackberry and let forth, “We’re the fall guys John, we’ve been fucked over! absolutely fucked!” Teary she revealed that a friend of hers had emailed her the news that federal police back home had raided the call centre and LCG offices. Susan Black and a spokesman from LCG had appeared on Sunrise accusing Elle and I of being behind the scheme and warrants were out for our arrest. Apparently Elle was the head of the Sydney branch and I’d been an executive for months not a few days – I guess they’d doctored the records.

We pulled into a gas station on the way, I walked in to pay and who should be on the attendants TV but dear old Jess. Baby and adoring husband beside her she was condemning me as an evil self-absorbed mastermind. Why not? Track record of desertion, anti social, secretive, a Commerce grad with honours… it all fit. I was the perfect fall guy. I guess it was a slow news day, that or LCG and Susan Black really do have powerful friends. A news ticker below revealed an anonymous tip off was responsible for uncovering the scam. No need to guess who that was.

I paid quickly and left, the attendant didn’t even look up as I muttered thanks in a faux Southern accent.

We drove for hours and stopped in a little town between Seattle and Portland at an Internet cafe. Elle’s trying to find the numbers of friends she made with when did an exchange year in San Francisco during uni. They’ll look after us she assures me, they wont rat us out and they know guys who make fake drivers licences “they made me one when I stayed as I was only 20”.

Why bother? I just can’t win.

Flying out

We’ll be flying out tonight, this is finally the life I’ve wanted, what I’ve deserved. We’ll be going to L.A then onto Seatle. I’ll try post something when we land but no promises considering how busy I’ll be.

Bliss

Elle

“You’ve already been screwed trying to do ‘the right thing’  and I don’t want to see it happen to you again” she pleaded. We kissed. She whispered, “John, I need to trust you, I want to be with you but I need to trust you that you wont talk, don’t talk about LCG and we’ll be set. Susan is a good person really! And she’s willing to offer you a lot if you play ball. We can be together John, I’ve wanted to be for so long but I need to trust you, can I trust you?”

My conscience wanted me to ask if she was sent over but I wouldn’t do it. I just wanted normality again, she was right, I’d tried to do the right thing and I’d been fucked over, I couldn’t do that to myself again, I wanted Elle, my infatuation wasn’t just to get over Jess, I really wanted her, just her. I wanted the life I was cheated out of whatever it took

 

Lunch with Henry

I watched The Firm again last night, this scene really hit home that I really cant go public without thinking it through.

Self-loathing

After yesterday I don’t know what to make of myself. I’m ashamed, deeply ashamed and disgusted with myself. I came into the meeting confident and feeling a drive I hadn’t felt for years and left it as a stooge. I tried calling Elle but just got her voicemail, I don’t know if she’s in on this too, she must be as Susan’s assistant. What the hell have I done? Is this what I’ve become? Jess was right, I’m no man.

The Meeting

Before the staff meeting I told Henry he had my backing and I let him in about the empty Inbound floor. He took it surprisingly calmly. We agreed that we wouldn’t try to be confrontational, just curious. It was fair enough to be curious about the whereabouts of an entire floor of staff especially when our databases showed otherwise.

We walked in and sat at our side of the long conference table. Normally a pudgy Ocker guy of about forty and two younger Mediterranean women sat opposite to us; the forth floor supervisors but today they were absent. In their place sat three suited beefy guys “The new supervisors” I thought, I shifted uneasily and felt my skin itch. At the head of the table sat the company president Susan Black and her assistant Elle. I hadn’t seen Elle since we had coffee; she looked uncomfortable and didn’t meet my gaze whereas Susan eyed me like a hawk. I’d only seen Susan two or three times since I’d started. She had air of Margret Thatcher about her, no nonsense and authoritative, today’s meeting must be important.

She began,

 “I’m going to keep this meeting short and direct. You’re all doing marvellous work and I the utmost faith in you and the future of our company provided we all continue to abide with the new structural changes we’ve implemented. If you are sitting here today it is because I have faith in your ability and loyalty to the company whereas those faces who you may notice are missing did not possess such qualities. Now if there are no questions I will get down to business about a new client we will be taking on shortly.

Henry interrupted “I actually have a question, uh I and John here have noticed some things since the new changes that we’re curious about..
I chimed in “Why is the Inbound floor empty?”

“Empty?” she laughed “Ask that to the gentlemen across from you, our new forth floor supervisors, I can assure you it’s not empty I just came from there.”

I pipped up, I wasn’t going to play games “With all due respect Mrs Black I’ve been there, its empty. I’d like to know why our Inbound floor is empty when our database shows we have fifty people on an LCG campaign as we speak.”

She didn’t look pleased; neither did the pit-bulls opposite me.

Her face twitched, “The database is correct as am I Mr Waldon and I do not tolerate snooping around other floors. I’d like you to stay behind and your friend there after this meeting so I may relieve your anxiety.”

There were no more questions. We waited, at the conclusion of the meeting everyone filed out apart from Henry and I, the pit-bull forth floor supervisors and Susan. Elle gave me a worried glance as she left. When we were alone Susan addressed Henry and I again.

“I apologise if I seemed flustered before but I don’t enjoy being second guessed. The fact is the LCG campaign is the sole concern of myself and the gentlemen across from you and due to the particularities of the campaign our Inbound floor for the moment appears empty. I know you both want to ensure we fulfil our obligations to clients and customers and believe me we are but for legal reasons anything to do with the LCG campaign is off limits to you both.”

One of the bit-pulls produced twin contracts and slid them towards us. Confidentiality contracts for signing away our chance to raise the alarm.

I was silent and dumbstruck. This was all happening so fast. She spoke again and spilled the beans, clearly she though I knew more than I did.

“I know what you know but see it their way. LCG have requested we only put on a certain amount of Inbound staff and as our client we merely obliged. If we did put fifty staff on the phones they’d make a huge loss and the money would need to be found somewhere and where do you think they’d get it? Staff layoffs and cost cutting. It’s simply not right to put people on the street in order for someone to get a free holiday.”

She continued “See it from our perspective, we’re providing companies a chance to rectify mistakes that will ultimately hurt their employees and customers and they’re lining up in droves begging us to take them on. We’re making more than we would for a charity with less staff and that means bigger salaries for all of you next year and if questions are raised we can refer people to our database records, our fine new Inbound supervisors and the employees on the third floor. All the loose ends are tied up, there’s no risk provided no moron rocks the boat“.

More silence.

One of the pit bulls spoke, “If you leave here without signing expect not just us but LCG and every other company like them to come after you”

We signed.

Empty Floor