Whiplash

Absolutely glorious piece of filmmaking. There’s an endless amount of elements that make this such a riveting watch. The editing pushing and pulling back in between frantic and lingering to immerse you into either chaos or tension, the camerawork sweeping you into the terror and the framing of close ups as well. The unrelenting direction and script of intensity and raising stakes. One thing however as well that immerses you into the tension as well is the color grading in the cinematography that specifically adds to the fiery intensity of the claustrophobic nature of the film’s energy and tension. Damien Chazelle and cinematographer Sharon Meir’s specific vision for the grading of yellow tints in the rooms and spaces are no coincidence or unintentional choice, but a deeply calculated one that heightens the intensity of the movie. The yellow bright lights and glare on faces constantly highlights everyone’s intense stares or focus in their eyes, considering yellow’s the brightest color. Combine it with perfect center framing and you have an intense stare down where no matter what, you always see Fletchers angered eyes of rage wanting to push Andrew to the edge, or Andrew’s eye language of fear or deep focus, willing to sacrifice anything to reach his aspirations  throughout the film, specifically in the end of it, the yellow tints of color grading almost give a sense of gold colors. The color of glory and gold medals, the color associated with being immortalized into greatness. The colors of yellow and gold in those moments not only tend to the theme of striving for greatness no matter what, but also the pain of perfection and performing under immense pressure of bright yellow lights where everyone can see you mess up and fail or not miss a single beat and be perfect. The cinematography and lighting alone heightens the stakes and asks the question of whether you are truly built for the bright stages of performance under pressure in order to be a great. That’s just one of the many things that makes Whiplash truly perfect in my book.