Colors in Film

     Since mise-en-scene is going to be extremely important in my short film, especially the colors, I feel that it's important that to do research how colors work in film to help convey specific tones and meanings. 

Different Presentations of Color

    Color is more than just its hue. According to a 2020 article by Josephine Holmstrom, "How Movies Use Color to Create Emotion", colors are described by three aspects, hue, saturation and value. A color's hue is what what would be seen on a rainbow or color wheel. Blue, red, and yellow, for example, are what we'd use to describe the hue of a color. Saturation is how intense the color is, for example pastel blue and neon blue are two different saturations of the same hue. The more saturated the color, the more intense it is, and the purer form of the color it is. The final aspect of colors is its value, or how dark it is. An example of this would be the difference between dark blue and light blue. A high-value color is a color that is lighter or has had white added to it, while the opposite is true for low-value colors. It seems to be noted that in films with less saturated color palettes, more pastels, typically take on a more light hearted tone, while more intense saturations and darker shades take on a more serious and intense tone.

How Each Color Works in Film

    Colors can help create a specific tone or feeling that a filmmaker wants to portray, and each color can be used to portray different emotions depending on the filmmaker's vision. Red, for example, can be used to highlight aggression and anger, as well as love and passion. Purple is often used to depict mystery, delusion, and even death. 

    Green can be used to depict abundance and nature, but it is also often used to depict envy and even evil like in many Disney films. 

Outer Banks (2020)

    Orange can represent vibrance, enthusiasm, and warmth.

Titanic (1997)

    Blue can depict cold, depression, peace, and loyalty, while yellow can often signify insecurity, obsession, and illness. 

    Pink is used to depict femininity, sweetness, and charming. However, in some cases like Dolores Umbridge in Harry Potter and the Order of the Pheonix(2007), the great amounts of pinks used for the costuming of the character is used to starkly contrast her actually cruel and cold hearted personality. This technique can be used with all colors, and in this case, the contrast makes the character appear all the more sinister.

    Color can also be used to draw attention to important aspects in a film. For example, in Steven Spielberg's 1995 film Schindler's List, there is a little girl in a red coat, the only thing that is saturated throughout the film. This not only draws the viewers attention, but is also representative of the imminent danger that awaits her. 

    These are just some of the ways that color can be used in film. In my next post, I will discuss how I plan to use these colors in my short film.

References

Deruvo, J. (2019, Sep 19). Creating Emotion with Color in Cinematography. nofilmschool. https://nofilmschool.com/creating-emotion-color-cinematography

Holmstrom, J. (2020, May 28). How Movies Use Color to Create Emotion. Medium. https://medium.com/vionlabs-tech-blog/how-movies-use-color-to-create-emotion-36226e31067d