American Beauty Film Techniques

The film American Beauty, directed by Sam Mendes, is an acclaimed award winning film, ending up on around 200 critics top twenty lists. It's not only the script and they way it was written that makes this film so unique, but also the techniques that were used and decisions that were made when it came to filming and editing the film. At the time the film was filmed in 1999 Sam Mendes was a relatively new director, this film put his name on the map, he later directed films such as, Revolutionary Road, Road to Perdition, Jar head, and many others including the new hit James Bond movie, Spectre. Sam Mendes has made his presence known in the industry becoming one of the most eminent directors in the twentieth century.
We see the film American Beauty really focuses on the development of characters and

questions of perspective rather than just another plot rapidly moving on he created a film that shows and conveys true emotion. When Mendes started directing this film he was coming from an extensive background of begin a theatre director. I feel that this impacted how he created that sense of the character's really developing throughout the movie and how well he created a theme of beauty being found our lives. "I am not a teacher. I am a coach.” Mendes said,“ I don't have a methodology. Each actor is different. And on a film set you have to be next to them all, touching them on the shoulder saying, ‘I'm with you. I know exactly how you're working. Now try this…’” He used his theatre background and techniques he used to direct theatre to help the actors really fit into their character and help them grow and become comfortable with their characters, this helped create the spectacular acting we see throughout the film. Mendes was such a part of the film he even shot the scene where Jane is looking at herself in the mirror while Angela is showing herself out the window. Once again giving us insight to another theme of the film of looking past the thing you think is beautiful and focus on what is more interesting.
The use of color and the choices of color in the set and clothing, help convey a big part of the story. There is a very prominent use of cold or neutral colors in the film, such as Lester’s house. It is painted and decorated in very neutral tones, along with Lester’s clothing choices. These very neutral tones that are chosen for Lester also help convey the prison like life he was living. We see right in the beginning of the movie, Lester getting into the back of the car and only being able to see the sky, along with his reflection in his computer screen at work creating a look that he is behind bars. We see him wearing a beige jacket to the basketball game, beige being a very plain color that could be used as a color for prisoners. As much as the plain colors are significant in helping convey a message in the story the use of red is even more prominent. We see the red door on Lester’s house, the red Firebird her buys, the red lamp in the garage, the darkness and red in Lester’s blood, and the red light, the red roses and rose petals . We see the rose petals in Lester’s fantasies. The red is showing when Lester is alive, and breaking free of being a prisoner. This also happens to be when he dies and we see his reflection in his red blood.
There is also a constant repetition of music and camera shots in each of Lester’s fantasies about Angela. Each time he goes into one of his fantasies we hear the same music it was consistent throughout the film. The music that is played lacks a melody and it gives the allusion of Lester being in like a hypnotic state and time slows. Conrad Hall, the cinematographer, also used a technique during these scenes that was to use a double or triple cut. This was mainly done with Angela’s hand during the fantasy scenes where we would see her hand on Lester’s shoulder and then it would cut back and repeat. However, it was also used during the basketball game when the cheerleaders performed “On Broadway” and time starts to slow as Lester only focuses on Angela and her body till it’s only him and her under a spotlight in the gymnasium, Conrad Hall continuously using the double and triple cuts throughout this scene.
Not only did Hall choose very impactful camera choices, he also lit the film magnificently.

Many of the scenes that needed to be shot in daylight were actually shot at night. Hall had mastered a way to blow out or light the windows in just the right way to give the appearance of it being day, and one who was watching the film could never tell the difference. He also lit the film in such a way and cast shadows on the characters to really help and portray the characters emotion, sometimes no words were needed and the light and expression of the character told the whole story, that is brilliance. For example, Lester’s face was lit using reflective light when he looks at the photograph during the final scene. Along with the Colonel always being lit in some sort of shadow for the last section of the movie. When he is dealing with his own homosexual feelings and goes over and kisses Lester in his garage and then walks out into the rain and Hall gives him the appearance of slowly disappearing. One last lighting example was when Barbra turned to look at Jane; Mendes wanted to show the emptiness on her face, and Hall cast a shadow on her face that said more than words

could.
There was many more film techniques and people that made this a film to remember. Together everything combined with the acting and the lighting and color choices , made for a spectacular film that captured the attention of the audience in the room, at times causing them to have some audible reactions and fully engaging them. Mendes created a film that is relatable to people on a certain level, makes people think about their own life, what is truly beautiful in life? Are you ‘dead’ like Lester was in the beginning of the film or alive like Lester was in his last moments?