Wizard Of Oz Essay: Color And Its Significance

The Visual Design of The Wizard of Oz: Color and its Significance
As the introduction of the technicolor three-strip camera created a new option for cinematography other than black-and-white, the first films created in full color began to appear in the 1930’s. While some simply made the switch from monochrome to pigment and created movies as standard, others used color in a more strategic manner. The Wizard of Oz (1939) notably begins with the traditional black-and-white appearance as the heroine Dorothy is established in Kansas, then transitions to color as she enters the world of Oz, only to eventually be welcomed back to black-and-white as she returns to Kansas at the end of the film. The first transition into color is a pivotal scene as

As Dorothy’s house gets caught in the eye of a tornado, a piece of wood comes loose and hits her head, causing her to pass out onto her bed. When she awakes, she cautiously looks around, unsure of what happened, where she is, or if the danger has passed. Dorothy rushes to the door to get a grasp of her surroundings, and in one uncut take, she peers outside, then slowly steps out of frame as she opens the door and reveals the colorful world of Oz. As the door opens, the camera zooms in, and the darker colors of the door frame fade into the corners as Oz takes up the screen with its bright yellows, greens, and blues. The camera progresses a bit further into Oz before Dorothy re-enters the frame, also now in full color. Her iconic checkered blue-and-white dress is on full display, her brunette hair now appearing a bit red instead of its previous darker hue. She walks away from the camera and further into Oz in wonder, and the camera does a long, slow pan behind the flowers and trees in order to fully showcase the beauty of this new environment, eventually landing back on Dorothy as she continues to take in her

Dorothy gets to Oz through a natural disaster so dangerous that it easily could have killed her. Her last conscious moments were desperate attempts to find safety within her home after being (unknowingly) shut out of the underground shelter– it’s safe to say that she is at an incredibly low point. So, when she wakes up and opens the door to Oz, the sepia-toned house is almost like a tunnel, the door framing the light at the end as the answer to Dorothy’s calls. In this way, the colorful world of Oz appears like a beacon of hope right outside her home, the yellow brick road (the color associated with happiness and, most importantly, hope) as the lighthouse beam that will guide her and keep her safe. Black and white (and in this case, sepia) is typically associated with darker and more serious emotions, as well as feelings of gloom and depression. For example, a common technique in animation is painting a character in black and white to show that they are feeling down. Then, when they regain hope, the color slowly returns to their bodies and faces. In The Wizard of Oz, the equivalent to this is Dorothy’s world filling with color as she is taken to a magical place, somewhere “Over the Rainbow,” just like she wanted. The influx of color brings life to both Dorothy and her situation, working as a brightening of her day and life overall. And while