Developing research - Image Construction : 'Rosemary's Baby' (1968)

To create my final look's it is key that I need them to be able to work well for the photoshoot in which the images are gathered but it is also vital that I remember that the looks would be used within a music video and so therefore it is crucial to understand image construction, as well as how colour can be used in film and music videos to set the scene.

Over the Easter term-break I was asked to look at the psychological horror 'Rosemary's Baby' and study how through the colour palette - and the use of a limited number of specific colours, show a sub-conscious aspect of a character to the audience.

''Rosemary's Baby'' (released in 1968 - written and directed by Roman Polanski, and based on the  bestselling 1967 novel of the same name by Ira Levin) starring Mia Farrow is the story of a young newly-wed couple moving into a new apartment, surrounded with odd  neighbours and  unusual occurrences. When the  protagonist  Rosemary becomes mysteriously pregnant, the situation increases over the safety and future of her unborn child and paranoia begins controlling her life. 

During the opening scenes, the two main characters find a new property where they wish to start married life and a family. The main character of Rosemary walks in with her husband wearing a white dress indicating purity, innocence, as the classic virginal bridal stereotype. This can also be seen in the style and colour of her hair, as in the beginning it is featured as a longer and naturally styled bob, again relating to the pure, virginal however as the character Rosemary begins to make her own decisions and progressing into the protagonist character it is replaced with a more striking Sassoon-style 'pixie-crop' bob - however which still almost childlike and the innocent light-blonde hair colour to show how she is still naive to the fact of what is happening around her. In comparison, Rosemary's husband immediately seems to be the dominate figure of the relationship, which is relatable to the 1960's view of a relationship where the men would be in control and working - which is displayed throughout the film with him wearing a variety of blue coloured items displaying his authority and masculinity.

In comparison the colours that Rosemary and Guy wear to those worn by Minnie and Roman Castevet, in that Rosemary's clothes are all light of femininely styled - presenting her as innocent, naive and young. While in comparison Minnie Castevet would wear yellow and aged clothing to display how she was inviting Rosemary in sub-consciously so she could follow through with her plan of impregnating her- with the help of her husband and the rest of the witch's coven - with the child of Satan. It is also key to see that the meal in the few scenes before the night Rosemary is drugged Roman Castevet is wearing a red outfit which expresses the hidden danger that he is yet to release onto Rosemary. 

Through watching this film and observing how different colours worn by characters can subconsciously reveal motives and emotions that drive that character that the audience would only fully understand at the conclusion. However it is also shows through the use of colour it can effect how the audience can perceive a character as instantly a dramatic colour can instill an emotion to the viewer and how they associate the characters with each other.