How Does Jim Jarmusch Use Lighting In Only Lovers Left Alive

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In his film, Only Lovers Left Alive, Jim Jarmusch adds the unique element of vibrant colors to the vampire genre through his brilliant use of lighting. In doing so, Jarmusch creates a juxtaposition between the paleness of the vampires and the vibrancy of the world around them causing the audience to understand the vampires’ hypersensitivity. In a sense, Jarmusch uses the lighting of the film to force the audience into perceiving the film through the over stimulated senses of his characters. Therefore, the lighting becomes the audience’s avenue into understanding the lifestyles of the vampires living inside Only Lovers Left Alive; Jarmusch allows the audience to get sucked into this over simulated atmosphere crated through the lighting of the film. …show more content…

In this scene, Jarmusch allows the streetlights surrounding Eve to overpower the night sky conveying a sense of the lights being more important to the film. In fact, Jarmusch conveys this sense of the streetlights having power over the Eve through using a low angle shot in their appearances in the scene; he allows the streetlights to hold a power over Eve conveyed through their position in the camera frame. In a sense, Jamursch allowing the streetlights a presence in the frame conveys their importance in the film; the streetlights become a symbol for the enemy role light plays for the vampires in the film. Furthermore, Jamursch’s positioning of the streetlights forces the audience to become aware of their presence; their effect on Eve coincides with their effect on the audience creating a link to form between her and the audience. It’s a rather remarkable way of forming a connection between a film’s audience and its

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