In the title sequence of the HBO series Westworld, the use of light and shadows is breathtaking and dramatic. Westworld is directed by Jonathan Nolan and was released in 2016, starring Anthony Hopkins, Evan Rachel Wood, Jeffery Wright, and Ed Harris. The title sequence does not give you a lot of information about what the show is about. Through their brilliant use of shadows and light, one gets the sense that something dark lies unseen in the shadows.
Westworld is a TV series remake of the 1973 film Westworld. The premise of the show is that androids are created for the amusement of human guests who are visiting, in all reality, an amusement park in the Old West. The androids are human in every way. They experience pain, suffering, loss, joy, and happiness. The androids are unaware of their nature and are unable to hurt guests, leaving them to believe that they are living their lives in a normal fashion. Guests can do anything and everything they wish to any of the inhabitants with no fear of being stopped or hurt. With human nature striving to dominate, destroy, and subjugate, the worst aspects of humanity are on display.
When the opening credits first start, you see a bright light that is almost blinding and a pitch-black ground. As you see the light moving around the top of the screen like a clock, you realize that the light is the sun, and what lies in the shadows is a desert. The beautiful scene reveals the textures in the sand and dunes. However, by seconds six and seven of the intro, you realize that it is not a desert at all. At this point, you still don’t really know what it is, but it symbolizes not only an android being created but also the desert where the community of Westworld resides. This is truly an amazing use of light and shadows to give clues as to what the story is about. All of this makes more sense once you watch a full episode.
During second seventeen, you see the beginning of the muscles of a horse being constructed by machines, and then the horse begins running in a stationary position as a light source moves horizontally across the bottom of the screen, illuminating the contours of the animal. The light causes your eyes to focus on the horse, not the machines in the darkness that are creating this beautiful creature, as the machines are only briefly glimpsed in the shadows. The use of dark shadows that accentuate the belly of the horse and almost makes you forget that there are hydraulic arms on both sides of the screen.
Another scene that makes excellent use of shadows and light is during second thirty-sex and forty-eight, when an android is lying on his back with a bright light above his face, showing human features, with a long needle about to be stuck into the back of his neck. The device being inserted into his neck can barely be seen as only a fraction of light is hitting the instrument, but the light above clearly shows the face, neck, and chest of the android
The director of Westworld and his team were brilliant with their use of light and shadow. The credits may only be a minute and forty-eight seconds, but the creative team were able to emphasize each subject with light and used shadows to isolate the focus of each work of art. They used light and shadow to not just show you the build they were working on, but also to put little clues about what the show is about in each scene. The opening sequence is full of many different images, with varying sources of light illuminating dark scenes, to create a world filled with shadows with brief glimpses of light.