Cinematography-Theory-And-Practice

Figure 5.8. (above) After years offoundering in the narrow darknessof obscurity, Roy emerges into thelight of the one thing that gives himpower — the bright sunny openspace of a baseball field.Figure 5.9. (top) Early in the film,Roy and his sweetheart Iris areyoung and innocent, but their purityis disrupted when they meet in theblue moonlight and make love. Wewill only find out at nearly the endof the film that this loss of innocenceleads to a son, which Roy does notknow about until he is redeemedand recovers this purity that is representedby the golden sunlight ofa wheat field where he plays catchwith his newly discovered son.Figure 5.10. (bottom) The Lady inBlack — the temptation that leads toRoy’s downfall. She is always lit dimlyand is somewhat shadowy — anephemeral figure; in this shot underlitfor a mysterious look. DP CalebDeschanel gave this scene a specialtreatment by bi-packing a slightlyout-of-focus black-and-white negativewith the color negative.Sixteen years later, we see him arrive at the stadium of the NewYork Knights. He is in total darkness as he walks up the ramp, thenemerges into sunlight as he enters the ballpark: he is home, wherehe belongs (Figure 5.8). Given his first chance to play, the sequenceopens with a shot of what will become an important symbol: thelighting towers of the field. They are dark and silhouetted againstblack storm clouds. It is twilight, halfway between day and night.As he literally “knocks the cover off the ball,” there is a bolt of lightningand it begins to rain. Lightning, the most powerful form oflight, is a recurring symbol throughout the film — light as pureenergy, bringing the power of nature. Coming back into the dugout,we are introduced to a second visual theme: the flashbulbs of newsphotographers (Figures 5.13, 5.14, and 5.15).As one of his teammates adopts the lightning bolt as a shoulderinsignia, the team takes off — a symbol of the power of light andenergy that Roy has brought to the squad. They are on a hot streak.Now we meet the Judge, half owner of the team. Slimy and evil, hisoffice is completely dark, lit only by the dim light that seeps throughthe closed venetian blinds (Figure 5.11). His face is obscured inshadow. After the Judge tries to get him to lose so he can buy theteam, Roy rebuffs him, and on his way out he defiantly flips theroom lights on. Then the bookie emerges from the shadows.Their attempt at bribery having failed, they contrive to set him upwith Memo (Kim Basinger, who always wears black) at a fancy restaurant,where the only illumination is the table lamps that cast anominous underlight on the characters, although fill is added for Roy(purity) and Memo (raw beauty). She takes him to the beach and ina reprise of the love scene between Roy and Iris they are bathed inblue moonlight. But this is a slightly different moonlight than wesaw with his boyhood girl: colder and harsher; sensuous, but notromantic (Figure 5.12).Fading FlashbulbsNext comes a montage sequence of flashbulbs popping, symbolizingfame, celebrity, glamour, and the seduction of the fast life thatwill distract him from baseball. To emphasize the idea that fame andsuccess have a corrupting influence on his focus on the game andhis nightlife and partying with Memo, many of the flashbulbs gocinematography72