The rhetorical tool used by Oliver Stone which best supports what he believes his argument to be is his use of cinematography. Most of the notable uses of lighting, film types, and unusual shots supports the idea that he is not condoning what Mickey and Mallory do, but there are still a few instances in which the use of these elements betrays his purpose.

Using many different types of film is one thing that supports Stone's claim that this movie is about the media. Stone uses five to ten different types of film and camera, ranging from the typical color style to black and white to home movie-style to even cartoons. While it does not act as an overt argument, it gives the movie a "montage" feel that helps one imagine that this story of Mickey and Mallory is pieced together from many sources. If Stone wanted to claim that this portrayal of Mickey and Mallory is a "media portrayal" of them, this would certainly be a way to do it. Problem is, the average moviegoer would likely just see this technique as a "style thing," a way to make the movie look cooler.

Near the film's climax, as Mickey is being interviewed by Wayne Gale and Mallory is being confronted by Scagnetti in her cell, there is curious alternation of lighting color. The lights vary between blue, white, and red in each different shot, sometimes fading from one color to the next in the same shot. There is no clear correspondence between these colors and any particular emotion that the character is feeling. I think there are two explanations for this choice. First, since Stone feels his film is representative of American culture, perhaps the use of these colors for him is the equivalent of playing the National Anthem and putting up an American flag behind them, satirically suggesting that what they say is important and representative of the American spirit. My other idea is that the purpose of the changing light is to highlight the killers' instability, using the changing lights as a visual manifestation of their craziness. In either event, this also supports Stone's argument because in the first instance, he is using it to comment on the society, and in the second, to show that Mickey and Mallory are crazy and not to be respected and worshipped. But once again, this is something that the casual viewer will not notice or interpret this way.

One of the most-noticed elements of the film's cinematography is the use of the color green and green light. It appears to serve two purposes. First, the color is used to foreshadow murders. The lights are green, or, in cases where this is not possible, the color green is placed into several shots (like in the opening scene in the diner - the key lime pie that Mickey eats is bright green, as is the light on the front of the jukebox Mallory is working), before many of the murders occur. This is not influential much in supporting or not supporting Stone's overall argument, but it is through the connection it makes to shots included frequently throughout the film, a few frames at a time of demon-like beings, which are also often lit with green light. This could be seen as making a connection between the demons in these brief shots and the actions of Mickey and Mallory when the lights are green or there is green around. This use of green, therefore, seems to support what Stone is saying, though it is still problematic in that it might be seen as making an excuse for the actions of the killers. The same goes for the "demon faces" used on occasion, when a character's face is sort of "swirled" and distorted for a few seconds, an effect similar to one that is used in the movie Devil's Advocate to indicate that a person is a demon. This happens in Natural Born Killers to Mickey one time and to Wayne Gale another.

One of the most unusual things Stone does with his cinematography in this film is to project words onto Mickey and Mallory. There is one instance of this that is not in the body of the movie but instead during the closing credits, in which the word "love" is projected onto Mickey and Mallory as they imbrace after killing the rednecks in the diner. This is certainly harmful, as it adds to the story being viewed as a romance. But more helpful to Stone's case are the words projected onto Mickey and Mallory when they meet the Indian in his hut. In the first shot, the words on Mickey read "demon." In the next, the words "too much tv" are spread across both of them. In the last, the words "she crazy" appear on Mallory.

These are instructions on how to view the characters. However, these would have been much more helpful to Stone had these views of the characters been supported more strongly through their portrayal in the rest of the movie. It is difficult to see Mallory as crazy and Mickey as a demon when, through most of the movie, they are portrayed as characters in a romance rather than murderers.

A frequent lighting technique used by Stone when he is lighting the murderers is harmful to his argument, as well, for this same reason that it allows the viewer to forget too often that they are coldblooded, insane murderers. What Stone does is light Mickey and Mallory from above with bright white light, which gives them an "angelic" glow as the light frames their head and shoulders. To light them in this way sends a contradictory message about the characters.

Despite the dangers of passing off what Mickey and Mallory do as the work of demons and distracting the viewer from the evil of what they do, it is in this area of filmmaking that Stone is at his strongest. But it goes downhill from here.