Episode 5 Season 1

As the plot of the show (and this episode) is very dark and serious, the cinematography of the show truly bolsters this tone by using a very dark visuals as well. More specifically, the show likes to use a classic 1940’s noir lighting by using hard light and immediately cutting to high-contrast black and white shapes. Sometimes during important dramatic scenes, the color becomes more saturated or softer during scenes conveying talent.  Also, majority of the scenes in this episode took place at night, which I thought was interesting. I think the directors shot the scenes in this way to convey the night as a more warm and forgiving setting unlike most shows, which use the night to convey the exact opposite feeling.

Scene in the show depicting the white-dark contrast in lighting

In addition, the show tends to have long scenes with minimal cuts to purposely include the whole background including the main characters. Rather than having many up-close shots of the characters, the directors purposely included a wide background in many of the shots. Unless it’s an action scene, most scenes seem to have this quality. I think the directors purposely shot the scenes in that way to strongly convey the dark tone used throughout the show.

The episode I watched for this blog didn’t appear to have any distinct/different visuals compared to other episodes in the season. However, the episode did continue to reinforce some of the colors/tones associated with the character Jessica Jones. For example, Jessica Jones’ color on screen always seems a bit de-saturated, which I think supports her steely, cool nature. In addition, when Jessica is interacting with other characters, the scene would often show contrast colors between Jessica and the other character or characters to highlight Jessica. The color often contrasted would be darker and more classic black/white than the color surrounding or reflecting off of the character or characters Jessica was interacting with.