Is Will Smith's 'Emancipation' a black-and-white movie? Learn more concerning the the historic drama, which seemingly boasts subtle hues of warmth.
For the most section, Oscar winner Will Smith (King Richard) has been pretty quiet since he slapped Oscars host and Emmy winner Chris Rock (Grown Ups) at the 2022 Academy Awards. The surreal moment felt like a fever dream, and it sparked both internet discourse and a slew of memes. But we aren't right here to talk about that arguable debacle; we're here to talk about Will Smith's jump back into the limelight — extra specifically, his first post-slap film.
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Will Smith stars as runaway slave Peter in Antoine Fuqua's (The Guilty) 2022 historic drama Emancipation. Inspired through the notorious 1863 images of a slave nicknamed “Whipped Peter," Emancipation tells the story of "a guy who escapes from slavery, depending on his wits, unwavering faith and deep love for his circle of relatives to evade cold-blooded hunters and the unforgiving swamps of Louisiana on his quest for freedom," the Apple TV Plus synopsis reads.
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A handy guide a rough glance on the trailer might leave you assuming that Emancipation is a black-and-white film, but we implore you to give it a closer look. Subtle hints of greens, browns, blues, and overall warmth suggest something else. Let's explore this creative decision.
How and why were muted hints of color incorporated into 'Emancipation'?
No, your eyes aren't playing tricks on you. There are both warm and cool hues present throughout Emancipation.
"The color-graded hues take a seat somewhere between black, white and grey, but why wasn’t the overall colour spectrum applied? Probably to protect the target audience from the nonstop blood and gore projected on display right through its 2-hour, 12-minute runtime," Deadline's Valerie Complex wrote in her review of the film. While that's a stellar (and somewhat sassy) guess, this isn't exactly the reason for the subdued color spectrum.
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Director Antoine Fuqua and cinematographer Robert Richardson wanted both lighting and color to reflect the nature of the brutal narrative.
"I needed to include the noon light that sits there until Four p.m. I embraced it by means of the story. The mild has to paintings with the narrative. I mentioned to myself, ‘You’re going to make a film concerning the brutality that took place and that does not include sunsets and sunrises,'" Robert told Variety.
As for the coloring, they decided to make the film “as close to black and white as possible so that we didn’t walk into a Hallmark representation,” Robert said.
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Richard graded the dailies so just hints of color would pop. “Those were enhanced to some degree to work with the rhythm of the cut and when it was introduced and when it wasn’t. That’s where it began,” he continued. “Every single take has to be graded, and that allowed us to look at it and make choices.”
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Green and red are two of the more vibrant colors in the film. “We put a little more green into the swamps,” Richard relayed.
Variety noted that crimson hues are prominent in Emancipation's final battle scene, specifically present in the Confederate flag, the Union banner, and, naturally, in blood. This type of symbolism can be compared to the little girl in the red coat in the otherwise black-and-white 1993 film Schindler's List.
“Red pushed you ahead. It’s blood from our bodies — Black bodies. Part of that purple within the flag is consultant of what used to be being sacrificed on that day,” Robert explained.
Go on, experience the symbolic colours of Emancipation, which is currently streaming on Apple TV Plus.
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