Area of Investigation

The use of colour in movies

The amount of impact some colour grading or coloured lights whilst filming can incredibly impact
how the production looks. This can easily be done by making your camera warmer or just shooting at
the right time of day for a more orange warm colour or a quick mess with some settings can make it
more green, blue, pink or red. When used correctly the right colours can really amplify the effect in
movies, every movie you will watch would have taken colours into consideration.

A lot of people think that the first coloured movie is The Wizard of Oz from 1939 because of how it
revolutionized the use of colour even today and how iconic some of the main features of the film
were such strong colours like the yellow brick road or the emerald city which are both very intense
vibrant colours as well as the scenery around it being very vibrant too apart from the dangerous
places on the way. One of the first movies to use and be successful with some colour was A Visit to
The Seaside from 1908 directed by George Albert Smith of Brighton which was shot in Kinemacolor.

I have linked below footage of A Visit to The Seaside to show how the Kinemacolour looks.As you can
see with the method used there is only colours that are obviously red and green and then some
colours that are either darker or look like they are slightly mixed, in todays standards that would be
terrible but for how long ago this was done it is incredibly impressive and can still show a high
number of details. The colours are nice and vibrant like on the umbrella it is a very nice bright red
and can see patterns on the dresses and other umbrellas.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/akRm4EsXcgk?feature=oembed

This process uses a red and green filter alternating in front of the projector to be able to capture
colour. With them deciding to film it in this way they have proven that the use of colour in movies
could be a successful integration into media.

Colour can convey a lot of emotions and themes for an example if it was to be a colder blue this can
show it’s a sad or depressing and mysterious atmosphere very easily and can help push what is trying
to be shown through the camera work and the acting. A movie that does this a lot is the batman
movies because of the dull depressing atmosphere of Gotham filled with crime. As well as the city
being shown through that there is also that side of batman that can be represented by that which is
from his dark past of losing parents and now trying to make sure that Gotham is a safe place so that
he can get his revenge as well as making sure nothing like that happens to anyone else. His
personality is dull and gloomy because of this constant guilt and stress of trying to make sure what
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he has been through isn’t for nothing and is worth his time and efforts.

They use blue mostly but then also have a lot of contrast colours like then using orange in some
scenes with the blue.

When they use blue in movies, they tend to match it with dark above head or side on lighting so its
silhouettes or harsh shadows to help push the mysterious.

Another movie that uses a lot of blues and some dark lighting is A Corpse Bride but because of this
being animated they have pretty much no limits on lighting and colours. I’m using this just as another
example but one that I won’t be able to recreate because I can’t animate a whole short film by
myself but I can use aspects of it to inspire certain uses of colours and lighting and this can mean I
can have some pretty complex ideas that could work out really well transitioned into a live action
movie.

A lot of the time these will be colour graded to have it more to their desired colour, but they will
actually use lights on set either in the shot or not that give them the colour they want and this will
either be a light with a colour filter over it to give them a blue hue or a lamppost in the background
emitting an orange glow.

Depending on the genre the uses of colour will vary a lot from cold blue colours that I have just
looked into being mostly with eerie mysterious unknown movies using that to convey that or then for
a comedy a lot warmer colours like oranges and yellows that show its got a fun light hearted feel to it
and romances depending on how its used can be either purples or reds to show affection and
love.these types of colours can really be spotted in Lala land and if you pay attention deep enough
you figure out that the colours actually reflect each of the main characters with one being yellow for
optimistic and exciting and then red for passionate and proactive and then when together having an
indigo colour when getting along

Sometimes they will use colours very different to the main colour scheme to show a huge change in
attitude or situation like if in a romance it’s a lot of love related colours the whole time and nice
vibrant colours and soft lighting and then something bad could happen it will suddenly be dull cold
colours with harsh lighting to show the switch up in the movie. This can really work well with also
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just giving the scene an new fresh look to it that hasn’t been seen in the movie before attracting the
people watching the movie into it and then wanting to find out what caused it and how is it going to
be resolved , this is a very easy way to drag in some kind of drama and confusion into productions by
suddenly switching up the ongoing theme

As well as loads of colour you can use an absence of colour to your advantage if you are wanting to
express maybe someone is drained you could have it very dull and have no colours at all or location
being not fully established and trying to not give any hints away of what you want the vibe to be you
can leave the person guessing by having them try work out of themselves what it would be,

If doing a horror movie, you could use this to build a lot of suspense and worry by always keeping
them guessing what could be coming up by either letting their imagination do all of the work and let
them try spook themselves out or you could try conceal something in the dark but have just a few
details visible to instantly put fear straight into the scene.

A movie that can leave a lot of people guessing for the whole movie is The Blair Witch Project this
movie is about 3 students trying to work out the mysteries of the Blair witch incidents in the woods.
The whole movie you are expecting something to be happening that is scary so you are checking all
the grounds trying to see if you can spot anything that would help make it make sense but with it
being pretty dull and not best quality because it’s a “found footage “ type of horror movie it makes
this harder because you can only see it from the cameras perspective instead of the camera then
cutting out and showing something looking at them that they aren’t aware of, by doing this it helps
build up the suspense of the actual scary bits so much better than just having scary obvious things
popping out all the time and really helps to keep everyone on the edge of their seats. The camera
footage really helps you feel like you have just found a random camera and are experiencing a
horrifying experience through the eyes of someone else and you don’t want to keep watching
because of how spooky and unknown this unfiltered footage is but you just can’t help but keep going
to find out what does happen.

The uses of colour can go so many ways from the lack of colour wanting people to either no know
what to think just yet or to try keep something hidden away on purpose for the whole time leaving
little drops of hints to try either lead them towards or away from the main point to using very vibrant
colours to push an idea of a perfect world where it could be covering up a whole load of flaws to try
tick them into wanting to be there to simply using colours to express feelings and atmosphere in
characters and worlds ranging from depressive dull to exciting and beautiful either done right there
on set with coloured lights and matching or opposite clothes or done in post after filming amplifying
the colours required.