Lighting Designer Brandi Pick used Rosco Color Filters to portray the different identities of actress Gena Rowlands for a dance piece entitled Gena Gena! at East Carolina University. See how she used her color choices to convey a distinctive mood for each “scene” as the dancers explore the evolution of Rowland’s personality.
The choreographer, John Dixon, describes Gena, Gena! as "a darkly comedic look at how the essence of self-identity is developed, revealed and differentiated through interactions with others. The work takes a somewhat fractured and non-linear cinematic approach, drawing inspiration from the films of John Cassavetes and his iconic leading lady, Gena Rowlands.” Brandi Pick further explains that he "wanted to explore the three alter egos he believed Gena had and her relationships with people in addition to the stripping of identity. A mix of color and light were used to explore how Gena evolved as a person.”
As an example, Brandi used Roscolux #39 Skelton Exotic Sangria to follow Gena throughout the entire performance. "She’s this over idealized symbol of what the film industry wants - women to be seen as these glamours, these 'romantic beings' ultimately used for love." Pick says. "The pink was reflecting gender norms for women and I wanted it as highly saturated as possible to help exaggerate that idea."
Pick describes how “the scene with the shirtless man covered in wigs is where we lose all identity completely.” Since she used color to represent identity up until that point, she chose to use neutral tones to create a stark, white look to convey Rowlands’ loss of identity.
The above information is a submission from our Color Resource Gallery – a source of inspiration for designers and technicians to see how others use Rosco Color Filters in their work. Explore the gallery yourself the next time you’re searching for the right color to convey the identity of your scene.
Chanda Goldsworthy November 15, 2016 Questions?