Despite not having dark colors since this film is in horror and mystery genre, Midsommar didn’t disappoint when it comes to the visuals. This might be the strategy since horror contents are full of darkness and good strategy to appreciate how colors can affect mood in different genres.
THE PLOT
Midsommar is a Swedish word derived from ‘midsummer’ that refers as the first day of summer.
This is a story of a couple who travelled to Sweden to visit their friend’s hometown. During the visit, they were invited to a midsummer festival and things devolves into a violent and more bizarre things including a pagan cult.
MIDSOMMAR IN COLOR
Midsommar is overflowing with colorful visuals. It is set on broad daylight with striking colors of greens and yellow that captivate a sense of nature.
For the shots, they used overexposed ones—almost appearing as sunlight. For its brightness, it’s as if you don’t know what is clearly happening.
On the other hand, the colors are desaturated. It’s as if that people who are in that film together with the viewers are hallucinating—losing the sense of reality.
THEME AND STRATEGY
The dominating colors of yellow and blue symbolizes youth and age. There is a combination of youth and elderly and they are broadly and figuratively distinguished because of the colors.
There is an overflowing of white colors in this film to show isolation and detachment. When the white colors are blended together with the people wearing in color, you will recognize how alienation comes in.
OVERALL
The film used a lot of symbolism in the story and colors played a huge role in making this effective since darkness was associated with horror and mystery films.
The consistent pacing of colors, color palettes, audio, and stress level when it comes to Midsommar made it peculiar apart from all horror films of this time.
