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Koyaanasquatsi (1982)

Directed by Godfrey Reggio · Cinematography by Ron Fricke

86 min65 frames

DocumentaryMusic

Life out of balance

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Stills, screencaps & shots from Koyaanasquatsi

16 of 65 frames — the full set is searchable by lighting, lens, shot size, color and mood with a free account.

Koyaanasquatsi (1982) movie still: establishing — Tall stone and glass skyscrapers create a narrow canyon in a dense urban environment. A solitary…Koyaanasquatsi (1982) movie still: establishing — A tall multi-story brick residential building features numerous broken window panes. The structure…Koyaanasquatsi (1982) movie still: medium — A group of older tourists stands outdoors near large industrial transformers at a facility. The…Koyaanasquatsi (1982) movie still: establishing — A vast, unpaved lot filled with hundreds of identical small passenger cars in rows. The vehicles…Koyaanasquatsi (1982) movie still: establishing — A vast red sandstone canyon stretches across the horizon under a bright blue sky. Numerous white…Koyaanasquatsi (1982) movie still: establishing — A tall modern skyscraper with a glass curtain wall dominates the frame. White clouds and blue sky…Koyaanasquatsi (1982) movie still: establishing — Three modern skyscraper facades stand vertically, showing grid patterns of glass and steel. Sunset…Koyaanasquatsi (1982) movie still: establishing — An aerial overhead view shows a professional baseball stadium with bright artificial lights. The…Koyaanasquatsi (1982) movie still: closeup — An arcade game monitor shows the reflection of a teenager wearing a yellow cap. The screen displays a…Koyaanasquatsi (1982) movie still: establishing — An aerial view captures a sprawling concrete highway interchange with multiple curving overpasses.…Koyaanasquatsi (1982) movie still: establishing — A sprawling urban landscape is dominated by a distant cluster of high-rise office buildings.…Koyaanasquatsi (1982) movie still: wide — A person walks against a plain, off-white textured wall background. The subject moves from left to right…Koyaanasquatsi (1982) movie still: establishing — A reservoir surrounded by arid, brown, shrub-covered hills sits under a clear sky. The surface of…Koyaanasquatsi (1982) movie still: medium — Two people sit in the front seats of a dark moving car at night. Long exposure light trails from city…Koyaanasquatsi (1982) movie still: medium — Ancient petroglyphs of stylized human figures are painted on a textured canyon rock wall. A large…Koyaanasquatsi (1982) movie still: medium — Six women in matching orange uniforms stand in a row on a busy street. Brightly glowing neon signs for a…
Koyaanasquatsi (1982) — © IRE Productions, Santa Fe Institute for Regional Education

Koyaanasquatsi — official trailer

What is Koyaanasquatsi about?

Takes us to locations all around the US and shows us the heavy toll that modern technology is having on humans and the earth. The visual tone poem contains neither dialogue nor a vocalized narration: its tone is set by the juxtaposition of images and the exceptional music by Philip Glass.

Koyaanisqatsi is a 1982 American non-narrative documentary film directed and produced by Godfrey Reggio, featuring music by Philip Glass and cinematography by Ron Fricke. Described as an "essay in images and sound on the state of American civilization", the film comprises a montage of stock footage, slow motion, and time-lapse visuals of natural and urban environments across the United States. Following its premieres at the Telluride and New York Film Festivals in 1982, it began a limited theatrical release the next year. Produced on a budget of $2.5 million, the film grossed $3.2 million at the box office, and was one of the highest-grossing documentaries of the 1980s.

Second paragraph from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Where can you watch Koyaanasquatsi?

US availability for Koyaanasquatsi (1982). Data by JustWatch, listings on TMDB. Availability changes — check the provider for current listings.

Who stars in Koyaanasquatsi?

Who made Koyaanasquatsi?

What does the cinematography of Koyaanasquatsi look like?

Sampled across 65 frames, the coverage of Koyaanasquatsi leans on establishing shots (57% of the sample) and wide compositions (20%). Cinematographer Ron Fricke keeps 75% of it in naturalistic light. Vintage glass shapes the frame. Deep focus keeps foreground and background readable at once in 83% of the frames.

What is the color palette of Koyaanasquatsi?

The dominant colors across the sampled frames of Koyaanasquatsi (1982) are #2f2e2b, #53524d, #050d0a, #cfcfcd, #72716d, #503631 — measured from the per-frame color data FrameThrower extracts for every film.

  • #2f2e2b
  • #53524d
  • #050d0a
  • #cfcfcd
  • #72716d
  • #503631

See the full Koyaanasquatsi colour palette — every hex with its share, plus warmth, saturation and luminance.

Koyaanasquatsi ranks in

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Techniques in this film

More films by Godfrey Reggio

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