#hell good omens

[stuckinanotherfandomohno]

Please do let me know if anyone else has done an analysis of this already as I’m sure it would be more detailled (and coherent), but I wanted to look at the immediate presentations of heaven and hell in the first episode of Good Omens and how they are both made pretty uncomortable.

While the set design of heaven is pretty cold and uninviting, it doesn’t neccessarily feel openly hostile from some people’s perspectives. Instead, I think they show how weird heaven is through the choice of lens:

They use a pretty wide lens throughout most of the scene- definitely under 50mm and probably under 35mm (I guess 18-24). For those who haven’t been cursed with Technical Film Knoweldge this sort of causes the same effect as those pictures you may have seen when people use the ‘0.5′ lens on a phone to take a close picture of a person’s face. We feel really close to the actors, like we are practically breathing in each others’ faces.

Different lenses cause different types of warp(?) on an image- to my very basic understanding a wider lens (18-35ish) makes faces look thinner and unnatural, while a closer lens (50+) makes faces look wider and closer to how we view them with our eyes. I use this information to console myself when I don’t like how I look in pictures- it’s probably the type of lens.

This wide angle lens also helps heaven to look really empty:

Aziraphale (and his surroundings) are squished thinner to show the rest of the surroundings which makes heaven seem so much more vast.

Typically you may hear that placing the camera at a low angle makes the characters in the shot seem more powerful, but I wouldn’t necessarily say this is true for either of the two wide shots here. Instead, it just feels uncomfortable, as if the audience is watching from a little too far back, and from a weird perspective.

To summarise, heaven may look clean and smiley, but the wide lens and low angle makes the characters seem warped and off-putting, even if the audience can’t put their finger on it.

Hell, on the other hand, immediately looks hostile.

The flies, the low saturation (~absence of bold colours), the cold greenish tint of lighting. Gross.

In this instance, however, a closer lens is used. I presume something like a 50mm? This is a lot closer to what our eyes see naturally and a more typical lens to use for these types of shots, so we (the audience) are more accustomed to this sort of visual language.

The camera is virtually at eye-height from the start of the scene as well. It’s just a lot more comfortable to look at, even if the costumes/set depicted are a lot more slimy.

I just found it really interesting how both heaven and hell have a comfortable aspect, and an uncomfortable aspect. It sort of drives home the themes about greyness- it would be almost hypocritical to introduce heaven with relatively comfortable colours, set, and cinematographical language, and to introduce hell with gross colours, set, and cinematographical language.

They don’t stick to this throughout the whole season, possibly for good reason possibly not (ie I haven’t made up a reason for it yet) but I thought the attention to detail in this introduction was really cool!

[suffering-and-happy-about-it]

knowing the demons can barely read and Hell is still portrayed like a bureaucratic hierarchy is so funny to me. as a bitch with dysorthography, i fucking feel that on an existential level.

[cobalt-sugar-punch]

I'd like to know what happens to the bodies of demons and angels when they're at their head offices. is there some metaphysical dock where your body sits in a stasis.

[actual-changeling]

while bun posting i noticed this cursed puppet (???????) in the background i'm-

what IS that? and why is it there????

[medusas-rockin-tits]

Man sometimes I think about the demons and Hell and how they’re kinda allegorically a group of neglected kids living in a run down house and having to look after each other

Their clothes don’t fit right, they’re always grimy, the lights don’t always work, everything leaks (and they don’t know how to fix it), there’s no technology, they don’t know how to write, etc

Like it’s not exactly 1:1 but it’s very symbolic of a very very dysfunctional household, in a very different way from Heaven

[vangoghschair]

I love the detail that heaven empty and hell is packed.

[shoomlah]

I have a feeling that beneath the little halo on your noble head There lies a thought or two the devil might be interested to know You're like the finish of a novel that I'll finally have to take to bed You fascinate me so

You Fascinate Me So, Blossom Dearie

[nipuni]

the snake of eden 🥰

[samwwise]

happy 1 year anniversary to all who still live right here (july 28, 2023)

[theonevoice]

The War Ahead - Bleeding Heart

So it begins...

(I will never draw another wing ever again > immediately proceeds to plan another feathered piece)

[c1g-f1end]

the signs they have in hell in good omens r so silly

[randomfandomss]

[technically-human]

I delivered

[clakearts]

on the other side of the war

~~

please don’t repost!

(shop prints here!)

[arlospace]

15. Promotion

He took the job entirely of spite. But the teeth were definitely an added bonus.