Movie Discussion: Run Lola Run

The movie I will use for this discussion is Run Lola Run. Though the purpose of this discussion is to analyze the visual elements of the film, I think is necessary to briefly explain what the film is about to better understand how those visuals enhance the film. The film follows a young woman, Lola, on her quest to find 100,000 dollars in 20 minutes to in order to save her boyfriend's life. However, the film goes through three different scenarios of what would happen depending on the slightest discrepancy in time. Each scenario offers a different outcome. The film not only shows how time affects the main characters but how it impacts the people she comes into contact with.

While there are many interesting visual elements in this film, I will only concentrate on a few. The first I would like to discuss is in the opening credits to the film. The film starts with camera moving around a crowd of people; however, some of the people appear in brighter colors, illuminated if you will. The illumination of these people is our first introduction to the important characters in the film. Illuminating these characters seems to say, " Look for us, we will be appearing again later." In fact, each illuminated character contributes to the story line. Also, in the beginning of the film a clock is shown. The camera zooms in on the clock, and then appears to take you inside of the clock. I feel that the clock is in important image and extremely relevant, since the film is so focused on the issue of time. Thus, the image of the clock helps to set the tone for the movie.

Another interesting visual element appearing in the film happens at the beginning of each new scenario. Each scenario begins as animation, but then returns to the real characters. The animation I feel helps intensify the beginning of Lola's journey and also lets the audience know that they are restarting form that particular point in storyline. The change in animation I also feel allows the audience to focus on what happens to the character, which will later change the time at which she reaches different destinations in the film. When showing scenes that happened in the characters past the film switches from color to black and white. This visual clue may help the audience determine what is happening at the present in the film and what has already occurred. When showing scenes of Lola and her boyfriend together in the past they appear cast in red light. I think this not only helps to distinguish the difference in time, put also puts forth the idea of intimacy.

However, one of my favorite visual element of the movie comes when Lola passes someone on her quest. At these points in the film, you see snapshots of what will happen to that persons life, and depending at what point Lola crosses their path their future changes. Though at no point in the film do they verbally address the future of the characters, the snapshots give visual clues as to what will happen. The interpretation of these points in the film relies strictly on the visual elements presented to the audience. I feel like this an interesting way to incorporate the lives of other characters without having the in the dialog.

There are many visual interesting and creative visual elements in this film, which all contribute to the overall feel. I could write pages and pages analyzing these visuals. Here, I have only briefly looked a few, but I feel that these discussion, though brief, give insight in how visuals play an important role in this film and help to convey the storyline.

What is Visual Communication?

I think the way we define visual communication depends on the context in which it is being discussed. In general, I feel that visual communication is the transmission of messages through visuals. Therefore, films, television, advertisements, photography, logos, graphic design, body language, personal appearance, non-verbal communication could all be described as visual communication.

However, I feel that if were discussing visual communication in relation to interpersonal or group communication it would be more about how we communicate with others using only our person. This would include non-verbal cues, body language and facial expression, which are used to convey messages visually. Non-verbal communication is a way of communicating without using words, thus it relies heavily on your audience being able to interpret visual messages. Along, with non-verbal cues, such as body language and facial expressions, I also feel that our personal appearance is a form of visual communication. We express who we are by the way we dress. Therefore, others who are looking at us can interpret these visual cues.

In addition, if we were discussing visual communication in terms of professional or technical communication I feel the focus would be on visual created by a person for the audience. Here, we would discuss the different products of visual communication, such as film, photography, advertisements, graphic design, etc. Visual communication here would be more concerned the elements used in creating visuals and how those visuals affect the intended audience.