The Art of Colour in Films

A brief history : The art of visual story telling constitutes the primary goal of motion pictures. Being the youngest art form in the world (just over a 100 years old), films have definitely grown from the silent and black and white actuality films by the Lumiere Brothers to colourful and immersive films of the present. The use of colour in films was efficiently introduced by the Technicolor Company in the year 1922, after the decline of the monochrome tinting as it interfered with the optical audio sync. Technicolor used two separate positive prints and cemented them together to form a final positive. But this had it's drawbacks as you can only produce two colours and play with their intensities. After the decline of the two strip process, Technicolor introduced the three strip process where they played around with different hues of the primary colours to produce desired colours. This process was used intensively for decades. The most famous example would be The Wizard of Oz that created sensations during that era.

Dorothy entering Technicolor (The Wizard of Oz, 1939) :

As per numerous studies, it has been proven that colour does affect the viewers' emotions. After the introduction of colours in films, it has played an important role in giving cinema a new dimension. It is indeed a tool in the filmmakers' utility belt. I am not here to talk about colour correction or grading. I am going to talk about the production design. The colour of props, costumes, walls, light etc. The director's choice of assigning a particular colour to a particular emotion is what makes the film emotionally appealing. Incorporated with beautiful visuals and sound design, the overall colour scheme of the scene makes it appealing to the viewers' eyes.

Even though, colour psychology is real, each colour depicts more than just one meaning. Many colours depict contradicting and polar opposite meanings when used in the right context. For example, the colour Red signifies love and also means a sign of danger in some contexts. Every colour has a positive and a negative component to it. So, in this blog post, I am going to narrow down the basic emotional outputs that colours give in films.

Here's a quick run down.

• RED : Love, Passion, Beauty, Desire, Anger, Rage, Energy, Excitement, Blood, Aggression, Danger, War, Violence, Strength.

Beauty (American Beauty, 1999)

Love and Passion (HER, 2013)

Blood and Violence (The Shining, 1980)

• BLUE : Cold, Isolation, Lifelessness, Faith, Loyalty, Unity, Trust, Truth, Sky, Cleanliness, Water, Depression, Technology, Calm, Harmony, Confidence, Security, Peace.

Isolation from reality, sanity and attachments. (Blade Runner 2049, 2017)

Faithfulness and Loyalty (Midnight Special, 2016)

Cold and devoid of happiness (Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, 2004)

• GREEN : Nature, Environment. Healing, Soothing, Pride, Healthy, Fertility,Jealousy,Envy,Youth, Vigour, Toxic, Evil.

Nature and Environment (Gravity, 2013)

Toxic and Vigour (The Matrix,1999)

Evil (Maleficent, 2014)

• YELLOW : Wisdom, Knowledge, Joy, Happiness, Hope, Summer, Sunshine, Betrayal, Deceit, Illness, Hazard, Cowardice, Judgement, Assertiveness.

Summer, Joy and Hope (Moonrise Kingdom, 2012)

Judgement and Assertiveness (Birdman, 2014)

• ORANGE : Humor, Warmth, Energy, Vibrant, Toxic, Expansive, Post-apocalyptic, Barren, Endless.

Post apocalyptic, Barren and Endless (Blade Runner 2049, 2017)

Toxicity and Energy (Whiplash, 2014)

Humor (Garfield, 2004)

• PINK : Love, Innocence, Romantic, Soft, Happy, Feminine, Charming, Delicate.

Love, Innocence and Childlike romance (The Grand Budapest Hotel, 2014)

Feminine (Spring Breakers. 2012)

• PURPLE : Erotic, Royalty,Nobility, Mysterious, Spirituality, Cruelty, Arrogance, Intimacy, Sensitive, Power, Wisdom.

Mysterious and Rare (Guardians of the Galaxy, 2014)

Erotic and extravagant (Lost River, 2014)

Colour in films is a world in itself. Viewers connect to the vision of the director and get emotionally driven through the narrative, due to the subliminal effects of the colours in the frame. Colours give a sense of depth and meaning to the film and helps direct the eyes of the viewers towards what is important. Which colour do you prefer in your colour palettes? Comment down below.

-Siddharth Padhee

Everything-Film

09-06-2020

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Fun Fact : "The oranges signified death in The Godfather" is a false statement. It was co-incidental and the production had no idea about it. Because the set of the film was mostly dark and had no vibrant colours, Gordon Willis asked to add oranges to make the scenes pop.