A major aspect of "Bad Times at the El Royale" was its visualization of each character's morality and if their actions were justified. One of its main cues to this was the presence of the California-Nevada border dividing the hotel. In one of the opening scenes, Darlene Sweet takes her time walking across the state line and only crosses it with the help of Father Daniel Flynn, never actually stepping on the line itself. However, characters such as cult leader Billy Lee, calmly walk in between the line without a second thought. To further illustrate this idea, cinematographer Seamus McGarvey used color to give each character a "photographic signature". With this process, he assigned Billy to the color red for the significance of "impending doom, blood, and death", black and white to Daniel to tell his distinctions between the truth and deception, and bright colors to Darlene for her character's hopefulness and purity. In an interview, Goddard said that he placed the story in 1969 due to the circumstances and tensions during the decade, including the Cold War and the Tate–LaBianca murders, while drawing inspiration on morality from the techniques used by the Coen brothers.