How to Use Colors in Filmmaking

https://www.filmmakersacademy.com/colors-in-filmmaking/

Explain what each of the primary colors means on screen when you use them.  How do they affect the mood and tone of your projects?

    The primary colors are red, green and blue (RGB) for additive color. Red is an intense color that often means something related to passion or extreme emotion, like love or rage. Green is has a variety of meaning on screen: nature, renewal, jealousy, money, decay, or restfulness as it combines the positivity of yellow and the calmness of blue. That being said, I have also seen green used to create discomfort with a sickly shade. Blue is a more mellow color that is associated with calmness and stability, but also with sadness. These colors can affect the mood and tone of my projects as I could use them to amplify the emotions of scenes or the overall story. It can be a visual representation of a character's emotion or help elicit emotions in the audience.

Using Color to Tell a Story in Film

How are color palettes used in film?  Why is each important?

    Color palettes are used in film in order to create a visually pleasing image by creating contrast/separation, express different emotions through the psychological associations of colors, and as a representation of a theme/idea. Each of these are important because they deepen the visual storytelling of the film. Using color to create contrast makes a greater feeling of depth in the image and also makes it more aesthetically pleasing. For instance, you can color the subject differently from the background to separate it and create depth. Color can be really effective at expressing ideas and emotions as every color has connotations and psychological effects on the audience. For example, you can use warm or cool colors to amplify the temperature of the setting or you can use specific colors to help elicit different emotions like red for love or anger. One strong way to use color in film is by using it to represent ideas and themes. This especially impacts the storytelling as it visually shows different motifs that connect to important concepts. This idea was also mentioned in a previous blog with associative uses of color.

Color in Storytelling Pt. 2

What does this video essay say about the purpose of color?  What does the narrator have to say about associative and transitional in storytelling? What is one way you could use color going forward in your filmmaking considering what you've learned this week?

    This video essay says that the purpose of color is... The narrator says that associative uses in storytelling is when single, consistent, colors in a story are used as associations. This essentially means that the film establishes a connection between that color and a specific idea or subject. This can be done with recurring hues for a color scheme, or the repetition of the specific color(s), which creates connections to the idea/subject just by being present. As for transitional uses in storytelling, he says that they are when these associative colors change. Transitions of colors are used to show a shift in a variety of thing, be that within a character, location, time, etc. These two ways of using color can also be combined to effectively tell a story by using those associations and adding a layer of transition to show the progression of the story. Considering what I've learned this week, one way that I could use color going forward in my own films is by being much more intentional about color schemes and pallets, using the ideas from color theory in order to create deeper meanings behind the colors of my film. With these new concepts in mind, I can try and plan out more of the story that can be told in color, namely character arcs.

Color in Storytelling Pt. 1

What are three things that you've learned in this video essay?  How do these relate to what you've learned so far this week about color in filmmaking?

    Three things that I've learned in this video are that different colors cause different reactions, they can be used to symbolize internal parts of a character, and to create separations. Every color has different connotations and elicit different emotional responses in audiences. For instance, a color like blue can make a scene feel more serene and peaceful as opposed to a color like red, which can put audiences on edge. There are colors which can amplify different emotions and push the audience into feeling a certain way when viewing a scene. Another thing that I learned from this video is that colors can be used to symbolize an aspect of a character internally. The example used in the video was Greed (1924), which uses more and more yellow to represent the character's greed until eventually the film is fully tinted yellow by the end. The third thing that I learned about was that color can differentiate parts of the story, either to show the difference in location, time, etc. For example, Intolerance used it to differentiate location and time, whereas a film like The Matrix used it to separate reality from the matrix. These relate to what I've learned so far this week about color filmmaking as it reinforces a lot of what I learned in previous blog entries. Color is key for emotions, story telling through symbolism and metaphor, and showing a separation between two things.

Color Theory for Video

https://www.videomaker.com/article/f06/17674-color-theory-for-video

What are complementary colors?  What are tertiary colors?  What is the difference between primary and tertiary colors? How can colors be assigned meaning in a film?

    Complementary colors are sets of colors that, when combined, can be used to make a gray. When mixing these colors, they are brought closer to grey, making the majority color appear more desaturated when mixed. These pairs of color are visually appealling and contrast one another, some important pairs include red and green, blue and orange, and yellow and purple. Tertiary colors are the in-betweens of adjacent primary and secondary colors such as red-orange, orange-yellow, yellow-green, green-blue, and blue-purple. The difference between primary and tertiary colors are that primary colors are used to create other colors and tertiary colors are the in-betweens, the product of primary and secondary colors combined. Colors can be assigned meaning in a film by representing a theme, following or subverting its connotations, and subtly adding to the story. You establish an association to a specific theme or idea by connecting that concept with the color(s). Every color and combination has a set of connotations that can amplify different feelings and reveal ideas. For instance, the color white is often associated with cleanliness and/or purity, which can be used to amplify those traits in something or create a contrast by making it oppose the true nature of the thing. Additionally, you can potentially use the relationships of colors or the established symbolism to tell the story, such as using complimentary colors to show a pair, or have characters wear more colors that tie them together.

Color in Digital Filmmaking

What are three ways that the video mentions color can enhance filmmaking? What is color sub-sampling?  What are the drawbacks or benefits of 8-bit color?  What are the drawbacks or benefits of 10-bit color?

    Three ways that color can enhance filmmaking are to differentiate settings, underline thematic concepts, and to create feelings and emotions. The first example which the video uses is The Matrix, as the film differentiates the Matrix from reality through green hue vs. natural colors. The second one is American Beauty, which heavily leans into a red, white, and blue color scheme to underline a primary theme relating to the facade of Lester's family. The last example was Améle, that follows an earthy color scheme that gives the film a warm feeling and makes blue tones contrast further. Color sub-sampling is the compression process in which the color resolution is reduced while the luminance resolution remains the same. The drawbacks of 8-bit color are that they can "break" when heavily color graded as there's not that much color data available. The benefits of it are that it generally works for many situations and requires less storage. The drawbacks of 10-bit color are the increasingly higher storage requirements for all the color data. The benefits of it are the improved flexibility and capabilities in color correcting and color grading.

The History and Science of Color Film Pt. 2

What led to technicolor taking over color filmmaking?  What films really drove the adoption of the process? How did Eastman's color affect the development of color filmmaking?  What were some of its pros?  What were some of its cons?

    Technicolor took over color filmmaking because of the major advancements which they developed, including the initial two strip process, then the subsequent three strip process which brought it back, and the monopack, which allowed it to be used in conventional cameras. The films that were the led the movement towards adopting this process were Disney's Oscar winning shorts Flowers and Trees and Three Little Pigs, Warner Bro's The Adventures of Robin Hood, and The Wizard of Oz. Eastmancolor affected the development of color filmmaking as it broke Technicolor's monopoly as it was an easier alternative and audiences were getting tired of the technicolor look. Some of its pros are that it was relatively cheap, required no special lab nor equipment to develop, and worked in conventional cameras. Some of its cons are that it was less stable, potentially fading in only five years if not stored properly, and that it was inherently less technologically advanced than technicolor.