Many filmmakers that love to make zombies movies have done great jobs visually showing us that world their characters live in is bleak, cold and dead but there are some filmmakers that don’t know how to accomplish that feeling. The other day I saw a movie called Bled White that did just that without investing in lighting or any other external camera devices. How does one do this, you ask? Filters. As simple as it is, there are a lot of indie zombie movies that don’t use filters either on their cameras or in editing. It is very simple and un-expensive. I’m not sure why some filmmakers haven’t tried this before but it does work and it can really set the mood for your movie.
Examples from Bled White:
1. Throughout the entire film they used a filter on their camera (or maybe they used it in post production, who knows) that really captured the desolate and apocalyptic setting that this film takes place in. It makes everything washed out white and black, it gives the picture a very gloomy mood to it and it made things seem dead and hopeless. How perfect for that setting?
2. There are also some shots that have a yellow/orange tint to it… and these shots are normally used when the sun is out or in the daytime. Here, the orange tint starts at the top of the screen and slowly fades away as it reaches the bottom and I love these kinds of filters. In the movie it makes the setting seem even more apocalyptic because it gives the sky this atomic look to it. Almost as though the sky itself is poisoned by whatever killed half of the world.
Now, I don’t want it to sound like I am putting every other indie movie down by using this film as an example nor am I saying that Bled White has the best use of it, but it is a film that had a small budget and created a good atmosphere. This is more of a suggestion to filmmakers to help them with their films. I enjoy zombie movies that have atmosphere and I think by experimenting with filters, a filmmaker can really accomplish that look to it. As you can see by my examples, a filter can go a long way.
