In the film Cinderella I have always loved the way the staircase was portrayed, dark and scary like real Hitchcock setting. These eerie steps represent the passageway between Cinderella’s living quarters and the rest of the house, inhabited by the stepmother and -sisters.
Mary Blair painted this moody color sketch. Her use of black horizontal, vertical and diagonal lines give the feeling of imprisonment. So great!
A final production background maintains the foreboding atmosphere. The image actually reminds me of an M.C. Escher drawing.
A dramatic downshot was used later in the film, signaling only one thing:
Trouble is on the way!
Mary Blair concept sketches are truly inspirational! She really was one of a kind.
ReplyDeleteFantastic Andreas!!! Thank you for post!!!
ReplyDeleteWow I had never seen that Mary Blair painting or stopped to really look at the final staircase design, but both are gorgeous. (and definitely Hitchcockian- very Vertigo!)
ReplyDeleteMan, the layout of that big finished background is humbling! It's so good!
ReplyDeleteIt reminds me a bit of the stylised set designs in old universal horrors, they always have skewed staircases with strong lighting like that.
who did the final layout?
ReplyDeleteIch liebe Treppen! Besonders die alten! Da kommen dann nicht nur die vielen Winkel und Ecken sondern mitunter auch die tollen Rundungen der Wände zur Geltung! Was für fabelhafte Möglichkeiten Schatten und Licht zu zeichnen und bei Dunkelheit Spannung zu erzeugen! :)
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