FAVOURITE FILMS 10- Metropolis (1927)

DIRECTED BY: Fritz Lang
WRITTEN BY: Thea Von Harbou
RELEASED: 1927

Metropolis was the brainchild of Fritz Lang and his (then) wife, Thea Von Harbou. The film was released in 1927 and has become a must- see in science fiction. 

Why do I like it? Because of the scope. This is an epic film, a cast of thousands, terrific sets and a story of class division, an evil scientist and not to mention one of the greatest robots ever designed. I'm also a slave to art deco futures. I love reading old Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers comics and seeing the designs of futuristic cities, as if the 1933 World's Fair continued. The Special effects were amazing for its day, combining miniatures, stop motion and inventing the Schüfftan process, I'll explain:

A mirror is a placed at a 45 degree angle, between the camera and the actors on set. The set is only partly built. The mirror is only reflective on the top half and this reflects a scale model/ matte painting of the rest of the set. The result is what you finally see on screen.

As you can see the design didn't change much. The only difference is the robot, where originally I had those awesome charging beams, replaced in the final with the pentagram and wires. This takes up less room.

My poster includes things that stand out to me, Evil Maria's wild dance, Rotwang the mad scientist, the ten hour clock, the MOLOCH dream, the best title screen in cinema and the Robot, with that odd Pentagram (upside-down) behind.

Separating the elements by colour was an interesting idea. The seductive Evil Maria is a cool blue to represent the night life popular in 1920s Germany. The Robot is gold because the classic Poster (plus it was the visual inspiration for C-3PO). The clock is a steel blue found in industrial settings. Rotwang, the mad scientist, is green indicating a venomous quality to him. Finally Freder is red, for his noble attitude, and wealth. I feel the background had to be black to make it stand out. I'm not really sure if I cracked Freder and Rotwang, but I think you know who they are. My favourite is the dancing Maria. As soon as I started drawing her I thought "Hmmm... She's got to be blue!". It's a black and white film so I can do what I want. 
That title really f****ing p**sed me off, especially  in the colouring.