Method and Findings
Method
This project uses tools developed by and made available by the Distant Viewing Lab, founded by Tyler Arnold and Lauren Tilton. Their Distant Viewing Toolkit for the Analysis of Visual Culture is “a Python package that facilitates the computational analysis of still and moving images.”First, I used a Python script to extract the film frame-by-frame and save them as jpeg images. I set the parameters to extract one still image each second of the film. Doing so resulted in 6,949 jpeg images.
Then, I ran another Python script to determine the primary color (in RGB format) in each image. The data was exported as a CSV file, which I then analyzed to determine which scenes were predominantly Red, Green, and Blue.
Findings
Analyzing the film's colors in this way allowed me to see the film differently. While many have discussed the colors of Paris, Texas, the prominence of this tricolor palette has been overlooked.It is hard to ignore the role of the color red in the film. Some critics (the blogger kilianschuetz for instance) have noted the "red, white, and blue" color palette that reflects the Americana (along with its Coca-Cola logos and American-made cars) with which Wenders was so taken. However, rather than the sepia tones we might associate with Western films and all of their nostalgic resonances, or depictions of the Global South, including Mexico, there instead seemed to be a garrish green that puzzled me.
I encourage you to explore this project in a non-linear way. Read about color theory in film and digital technologies here. Explore "color galleries" featuring stills from the film here. See key scenes mapped onto a film timeline to explore the ways color is used at different moments of the film.
The links to each of these portions of the project are linked below.
This page has paths:
- Introduction Carly Barnhardt
