A supercut examining Stanley Kubrick's use of the color red.

Rishi Kaneria  has always been fascinated by color as a form of non-verbal communication. Color has a profound and powerful psychological effect on us and it makes the perfect tool for providing subtext in film—as well as supporting a certain theme or providing the right mood.

Kubrick has always used red to great effect—not only for atmosphere but for the fact that the various meanings ascribed to red echo many of the themes in his films.

Red’s many meanings include: death, blood, danger, anger, energy, war, strength, power, determination…but also passion, desire, love, and sex. All prominent themes in Kubrick’s work. But more importantly the very dualistic nature of red (the fact that it can mean anger but also love) plays right into the grand “Jungian" theme in all of Kubrick’s work which is this notion of Duality: sex and violence, birth and death, war and peace, fear and desire...

In the end my motivation to make this piece was simply to contribute to the growing collection of deconstruction surrounding Kubrick's work found on the web and to inspire people to revisit or discover his catalog of films and to think more critically about color in film.

CREDITS:

Edited by Rishi Kaneria (@rishikaneria).
Music from Beethoven's Symphony No. 9.

Footage from:
Spartacus
2001
A Clockwork Orange
Barry Lyndon
The Shining
Full Metal Jacket
Eyes Wide Shut


Text and video via Rishi Kaneria via Gizmodo