The genius of colour in Whiplash and La La Land

Whilst Damien Chazelle is an expert at using colour in all of his films, he is truly a genius when it comes to two of them. La La Land and Whiplash are two films about ambition, And Chazelle uses colour to show the journey’s of his characters in pursuit of this.
Whiplash has a largely reserved use of colour at the start of the film. But this doesn’t mean it's any less effective. Here, Chazelle uses colour to highlight the difference in power between these two characters.
Where Whiplash is reserved in its use of colour, La La Land is extraordinarily bright. But like, Whiplash, La La Land is still a tale about success. And Chazelle explores the emotions of his characters using the primary colours: Blue, Red and Yellow.
But what really makes Chazelle special, is his ability to craft the perfect ending using colour.
In this video essay I will explore how Chazelle uses colour to reinforce themes, narrative and emotions in Whiplash and La La Land.
Timestamps:
00:00 - Introduction
00:53 - Whiplash and La La Land Introduction
02:29 - Conflict
04:27 - Endings
07:20 - Conclusion
Media used:
Films: Whiplash (2014), La La Land (2016).
Music: Laundry List (Epidemic Sound), Smokey Eyes (Epidemic Sound), Every Moment (Epidemic Sound), Changements (Epidemic Sound), End Times (Outer Wilds Soundtrack), North Backcountry (Firewatch Soundtrack), Shifting Pavements (Epidemic Sound).

[@laracrosby2981]

nice!

[@maxhillier2058]

If you have any thoughts on films I should cover, please feel free to leave suggestions down below.