Project Update 6: "Two Birds, One Stone (Iconography)

ICONOGRAPHY 

Iconography refers to visual images, objects, and symbols used to convey meaning, themes, and genre conventions to the audience. In drama, the iconography is largely implicit and focused on realistic elements that signal character, social standing, and inner state, rather than o genre symbols.

The most powerful iconographic elements in drama relate to costume, props, and set dressing as social markers. A character's attire can be meaningful, for example, business clothes that represent authority and repressed feelings, or worn, frayed clothes that indicate financial struggles and a tough existence. Props like a broken toy, a wedding band, or an open bottle of liquor are often used as a visual merely to represent larger themes of tragedy, dissolved marriages, or addiction. These objects are not background; they are visual metaphors that assist in adding the emotional and psychological weight of the story. 

Settings and architecture themselves commonly serve as rich iconography. A dilapidated, disorganized house can represent a dysfunctional family or the psychological struggle of the main character (Manchester by the Sea), while the towering, orderly shape of a courthouse or state building can symbolize iconically the unforgiving, unyielding nature of institutional power or the strictures of official existence. In addition, the mode of transportation of a character—a beat-up pickup truck over a glossy, high-priced car—immediately becomes a visual shorthand for economic class and path in life, setting us up with the necessary background information before even a word is uttered. Lastly, light and color schemes are employed to set up the emotional tenor.

While not exclusive to the drama genre, the genre will frequently employ low-key lighting with deep contrasts and heavy shadows to symbolize moral ambivalence, inner conflict, or a negative attitude. Conversely, a sudden shift to high-key or natural lighting can iconographically symbolize an instance of hope, understanding, or redemption for a character. The deliberate use of a desaturated or washed-out color palette (grays, blues, browns) is the great dramatic icon, and it immediately tells the viewer the movie will be about serious, perhaps somber, subject matter.