Color In Film

2137 Words9 Pages
How many ways can a person describe color? If someone were to ask you that, what you would say? How can you describe what turquoise or maroon feels like? There are many ways you can answer this. Colors can change the way people visually perceive an the environments that surround them. After harnessing the power of sound in our film, film editors then find ways to apply colors on film. Innovators like Thomas Edison and George Mellie would painstakingly paint on film to give them color and to make them all the more wondrous. Color has been used to set the mood the atmosphere, to bring life to a the world around the character's, but those are just a few uses that colors can be used. The use of colors in films has been a powerful technique used…show more content…
Each color creates a reaction from the audience to red being the color of warmth, love, or violence. Choosing the right color goes back to the color theory. Color theory provides guidance for certain color combinations on the color wheel and can help filmmakers decide on the best color scheme for certain scenes. There are two kinds of combinations a filmmaker can use, balance or discord. Balance is when the colors are in harmony with each other. Once the color scheme is used correctly, it will result in a balanced image. When a single hue of the color is used, that is called monochromatic. Complementary colors are colors opposite to each other. Combining one warm color and one cool color together will create a vibrant effect. Analogous are colors that neighbor each other. Since they are neighboring colors, they will create tones that are alike. The least used scheme is the triadic colors. Triadic colors are when the colors are evenly spaced across. A discord is the opposite of color harmony, in which the colors conflict with each other. The best examples of this technique are used in Wes Anderson’s movies. Take “Moonrise Kingdom” for example, the use of greens, browns, and yellows mean that the colors don’t contrast with one another, so it’s pleasing to look at. He used an analogous color scheme because it’s calming and suits the film’s nostalgic tone. However, when the…show more content…
Color is a tool used by filmmakers to set the tone of the film, but it can also be used to tell help the film devople plot. The used of color can be categorized into two sections: associative and transitional. Associative is when a the primary hue of the color uses a recurring scheme or the repetition of specific colors throughout the film. It means that the audience will associate that color to a certain subject or an idea. For example, if one character is associated with the color purple and we will see purple in the future, we will know that, in some way, that scene is a reference to that character. “We Need to Talk About Kevin” is a movie that has violent themes, but hardly any violence. However, the constant appearance of the color red reminds the audience that violence is the undertone of the entire story. In this movie, red is associated with blood, but that does not mean all colors have to follow the social constraints. For instance, in the “The Godfather”, the color orange is associated with death. This is to show that the repetition of a single color and scheme can show some kind of inter-relation to an idea. If certain colors are recurring throughout the story, try to find the subject it’s related to, that is associated. If that is the purpose of consistent colors, then a change in color shows the transition. If a subject is associated with that color, and when that color changes, it signifies a change in them. A transition can
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