Color in Film

After our conversation about the importance of color in film, I was interested in researching more about it. Color and the art direction of a film needs to be carefully chosen to make sense with the script. The color palette can convey meaning, evoke emotion, and add symbolism to a film. Basically, color can make or break a film.

I've found that specific movie genres have specific color palettes. Horror movies heavily use the color blue. Apocalyptic movies are gray and faded. Disturbing movies use green a lot.

Out of curiosity, I looked up the meanings of different colors, and this is what I found:

1. RED – anger, passion, rage, desire, excitement, energy, speed, strength, power, heat, love, aggression, danger, fire, blood, war, violence

2. PINK – love, innocence, healthy, happy, content, romantic, charming, playfulness, soft, delicate, feminine

3. YELLOW – wisdom, knowledge, relaxation, joy, happiness, optimism, idealism, imagination, hope, sunshine, summer, dishonesty, cowardice, betrayal, jealousy, covetousness, deceit, illness, hazard

4. ORANGE – humor, energy, balance, warmth, enthusiasm, vibrant, expansive, flamboyant

5. GREEN – healing, soothing, perseverance, tenacity, self-awareness, proud, unchanging nature, environment, healthy, good luck, renewal, youth, vigour, spring, generosity, fertility, jealousy, inexperience, envy

6. BLUE – faith, spirituality, contentment, loyalty, fulfillment peace, tranquility, calm, stability, harmony, unity, trust, truth, confidence, conservatism, security, cleanliness, order, sky, water, cold, technology, depression

7. PURPLE/VIOLET – erotic, royalty, nobility, spirituality, ceremony, mysterious, transformation, wisdom, enlightenment, cruelty, arrogance, mourning, power, sensitive, intimacy

8. BROWN – materialistic, sensation, earth, home, outdoors, reliability, comfort, endurance, stability, simplicity

9. BLACK – No, power, sexuality, sophistication, formality, elegance, wealth, mystery, fear, anonymity, unhappiness, depth, style, evil, sadness, remorse, anger

10. WHITE – Yes, protection, love, reverence, purity, simplicity, cleanliness, peace, humility, precision, innocence, youth, birth, winter, snow, good, sterility, marriage (Western cultures), death (Eastern cultures), cold, clinical, sterile

11. SILVER – riches, glamorous, distinguished, earthy, natural, sleek, elegant, high-tech

12. GOLD – precious, riches, extravagance. warm, wealth, prosperity, grandeur

It's important to know that different cultures have conflicting meanings for colors. For instance, black symbolizes death and mourning in Western cultures, but in Eastern cultures that's what white symbolizes.

With this newfound information, I looked up some films that I know use color in stunning and smart ways.

Some films that portray a good use of color are Oz the Great and Powerful, Memento, (500) Days of Summer, and The Matrix.

Oz the Great and Powerful uses color to tell part of the story. The first portion of the movie is in black and white (just like The Wizard of Oz). Once Oz travels to the magical land also called Oz, it slowly turns into color. And not just color, but an extremely vivid, blows-your-mind color. Just like in The Wizard of Oz, the black and white symbolizes the boring reality in which the characters live, while the bright colors symbolize the thrilling fantasy of the beautiful Oz.

The Production Designer, Robert Stromberg, talks about the use of color and says, "This was a tribute from black-and-white to Technicolor. In 1939, Wizard of Oz used this amazing three-strip Technicolor. People's eyes were blown out because they'd never seen color like it, so we played with that concept of going (from black-and-white) to really vivid color to jar the senses."

In Memento, some scenes are black and white while others are in color. The black and white scenes go chronologically and the color scenes start at the end and go backwards. Differentiating the scenes using color makes it easier to understand - especially the second time around, once you really understand what is happening. It sounds confusing, but you should really watch it if you haven't.

(500) Days of Summer goes against the norm and uses blue to symbolize love and happiness. The protagonist's love interest, Summer, played by Zooey Deschanel, was either always wearing blue or surrounded by the color blue. In the dance sequence after he spends the night with Summer, the color blue is used so much that it's almost obnoxious - but obnoxious in the best way possible. Zooey Deschanel talks about her character and the color blue:

"They wanted me to stand out in the movie. To have a colour that was only used once. It was used in the dance sequence, because everyone reminds him of Summer. But no- one else was allowed to wear blue. If I wasn't wearing a lot of blue, there would be a big blue thing, like I'd be right next to tons of blue wallpaper or a big blue poster. There would be something giant and blue somewhere in the shot! It was a cool cinematic thing. It was Marc's idea."

The Matrix uses greens and blues. A green tint saturates the picture when in the Matrix, and in the real world, a blue tint is used. The green color palette is used to represent the green text code of the Matrix code. The green color also gives it a slightly uneasy feeling. Differing colors not only symbolically show the opposing worlds, but also make the movie clearer to the audience.

In the Matrix

In the real world

I could go on and on with more examples of movies that have a great use of color. If you want to read more about it, here's a pretty cool article: http://www.fullsailblog.com/5-innovative-uses-of-color-in-film/

Color Palette in Hell on Wheels

              Hell on Wheels and particularly the pilot episode of the first season is a strong example of how the use of color palette can enhance the quality of your footage. As the show opens on some of the scenes from the first episode for any trained eye the color palette is evident, for the common viewer this may be a subtle effect on the subconscious (or anyone's subconscious for that matter).  It is no coincidence that these colors showed up on the screen and is rather a design scheme. The make up of the scenes below are essential to establish the overall essence/feeling of what the show is aiming to convey. As the show is set during the civil war these opening scenes are additionally establishing the class of these soldiers compared to the everyday soldier who might be constructing the transcontinental railroad in the mid to late 1800's. Additionally the depth of field shown in this screen shot below is a magnificent example that brings dimension into the establishing shots of not only the episode but the TV series as a whole.

             The main character is a former confederate soldier who journeys to the West in search of work with the construction of the transcontinental railroad. While also seeking vengeance against the Union soldiers which killed his wife and son he is to be depicted completely different then the elite running the war behind the scenes.  The beige colors integrated with the black coats on these characters significantly set apart the individual from the background ultimately highlighting the prominent class and their power in the war as opposed to the common man of those times. A small detail which I believe adds to this scene is the bright liquids in the glasses. This contrast with an exceptionally neutral color palette calls attention to the subject at the table adding to the impact of the interaction taking place on screen. Although color may be the last thing on your mind when getting caught up in the many other duties associated when producing a TV show, film, documentary etc... it is not something to dismiss. The color palette can be any range of colors and often defines the feeling of your film, unlike that of framing your shot correctly, lighting or incorporating props that will aid you in telling the story, color selection is a theme (maybe not true for all movies but usually). Lastly as I attended the lighting demo a few weeks ago I remember the presenter mentioning how to make the actors believe their actually in the environment they are depicting. Similar to his example of pouring liquor around the bar set (to recreate the feel of actually being in a bar environment) color palette can be just as sensitive of a selection with actors if not more crucial in the process. Overall the set design and color palette doesn't only benefit the audience when trying to tell the story but it also puts your cast in an environment that is essentially a catalyst for their actions and in turn may lead to better acting (especially in the case of a student productions). Just some food for thought as we endure the intricate process of creating our own films.

Adobe Kuler & pCAM Film + Digital Calculator Cinematic Applications

       This week for my post I have found a neat free application called Adobe Kuler which allows the individual to use their iPhone to capture color combinations and ultimately allow you to create a color series from the data. As I am currently working as the art director for my small production team on our short student film this nifty application can make choosing locations and set design color palates more organized and precise.

Here is some screen shots of what the application looks like and some of it capabilities...
                                 
                             

     The second application I'd like to mention in this post is an iTunes application called pCAM Film + Digital Calculator. This application is $29.99 and was developed by a Camera Assistant who understand the time sensitive calculations done on the set. This would be a great application during production to get the exact shots you have planned prior to the shoot, additionally the app has features such as gauging depth of field, relative size, field of view, focal length match and many more.

Here is some of the iPhone screen shots of this app...