Creating Mood With Pathetic Fallacy

The portrayal of mood and emotion within the environment in films is nothing new, directors have been using it for years. One director notable for doing so is Japanese director, Akira Kurosawa who used the elements to help portray the emotions of his character. Combined with masterful cinematography and colour, the use of pathetic fallacy by Kurosawa was second to none. Not only did he manage to use the environment but the movement of other people in the frame also supplied a unique use of this art.

Of course he is not the only director to use this technique but he is the most notable transforming his characters through the environment. If a character is angry throw a thunder storm in the mix, happy let the sun shine, upset let the clouds cover a lot of the frame. It's a simple technique that takes timing and framing to pull off correctly. Even with a lack of movement in the shot a simple piece of weather can add vast amounts of emotion whilst maintaining the interest of the viewer.

A favourite example of mine is from the film 'The Matrix' and although it is not a Kurosawa film the ideaology of Pathetic Fallacy is used throughout. When Neo first enters the real world it is raining in the matrix showing the fear that Neo has of what is about to happen. Lightning strikes when u first see Morpheus allowing the character to be introduced in a dramatic way but also showing him as a significant character. The weather really sets the tone for that scene and that is the entire reason for this technique.