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cinematography is all about light

light is a complex thing

it can be shaped

it can come in different qualities

different strengths

and importantly

it can take the form of different colors

so let's examine this idea of color

by going through an introduction to color theory

look at how filmmakers

can create a specific color palette for their footage

and check out some examples of how color has been used

to aid the telling of different stories

color theory is a set of guidelines for color mixing

and the visual effects that using different colors

has on an audience

there are many different approaches to color theory

ranging from ideas all the way back in Aristotle's time

up to more contemporary studies on color

such as those by Isaac Newton

but let's take a look at some basic ideas

and see how they can be applied to film

when different spectrums of light

hit objects with different physical properties

it produces a color

which we put into category

and ascribing name to

primary colors are a group of colors that can be mixed

to form a range of other colors in film

these are often

but not always

used sparingly in a frame

an important part of color theory

in the visual art space is knowing complementary colors

when two of these colors are combined

they make white

gray or black

when the spectrum of colors are placed on a color wheel

complementary colors always take up positions

opposite each other

when two complementary colors

are placed next to each other

they create the strongest contrast for those two colors

and are generally viewed as visually pleasing

cinematographers

often combine complementary colors for effect

and to create increased contrast

and separation between two planes in an image

for example

placing a character lit with an orange tungsten light

against a bluish teal background

creates a greater feeling of separation and depth

and if both the character

and the background wear similar shades of orange

when it comes to the psychology of using color

cinematographers generally fall into two camps

or somewhere in the middle

some cinematographers

such as Vittorius Doraro

think that certain colors carry an innate

specific psychological meaning

just changing the color temperature in one single light

is changing completely the emotion

that you have in your mind

I didn't know at that time

the meaning of the color blue

the means freedom

other filmmakers rely more on instinct

and what feels best when lighting

or creating a color palette for a film

the psychology of color can change

depending on the context

and the background of the audience

as well as being a means of representing

and expressing different emotions

deliberate and repeated uses of color

can be used by filmmakers

as a motif to represent themes or ideas

another important part of color theory is warm

and cool colors

the Kelvin scale

is a way of measuring the warmth of light

with lower Kelvin values being warmer

and higher Kelvin values being cooler

warm and cool colors

can have different psychological effects on an audience

and can be used to represent different physical

atmospheric conditions

using warmer colors

can be used to emphasize the feeling of physical

heat in a story

while inversely

cooler colors

can be used to make the setting of the story

feel cold or damp

now that we have a basic

framework of color theory to work with

let's look at the different ways that filmmakers

can make a color palette for a movie

color palettes in film can be created using three

production design

and costume lighting

and in the color grade the set

and the clothing that the characters are dressed in

is always the starting point

for creating a color palette

in pre production

directors will usually

meet with the production designer

and come up with a plan for the look of the set

they might give the art director

a limit to certain colors they need to work with

or decide on specific tones for key props

the art team will then go in and dress the set

by doing things

such as painting the walls a different color

and bringing in pieces of furniture curtains

and household items that conform to that palette

since characters are usually the focus of scenes

and we often view them up close

choosing a color for their costume will also

have a significant impact on the overall palette

this may be a bold

primary color that makes them stand out in the frame

or something more neutral

that makes them blend into the set

with a set to work with

the next step in creating a movie's color palette

is with lighting

traditionally

film lighting is based around the color

temperature of a light

which as we mentioned

could be warm

such as 30 200 Kelvin tungsten light

or cool such as a 50 600 Kelvin HMI

on top of this

cinematographers can also choose to introduce a tint

to get to other colors

this can be done the old school way

by placing different colored gels in front of lights

or the modern way

by changing the hue or tint of LEDs

DPS can either flood the entire image

with monochromatic colored light or

as is more common

light different pockets of the image

with different color temperatures or hues

in the same way that we create contrast

by having different areas of light

and shadow in an image

we can create contrast by having different areas

of colored light

once the color from the set

and the lighting has now been baked into the footage

we move into post production

where it's possible to fine tune this color

in the grade

an image contains

different levels of red

green and blue light

a colorist often with a guidance of the director

or cinematographer

uses grading software like Baselight or Davinci Resolve

to manipulate the levels of red

green and blue in an image

they can change the RGB of specific values of light

like introducing blue into the shadows

or adding magenta to the highlights

they can also create power windows to change the RGB

values in a specific area of the frame

or key certain colors

so that they can be individually adjusted

there are other significant

adjustments that they can make to color

such as determining the saturation

or the overall intensity

of the color that the image has

it's a show about teenagers

why not making a show for the teenagers

that looks like how they imagine themselves

so it's not based on

like reality

but mostly like

how they percept reality

and I think colors come into that pretty obviously

when coming up with a concept for the lighting

in euphoria

instead of assigning very specific

psychological ideas to color

Marcel Rev used color more generally

as a way to elevate scenes from reality

he wanted to put the audience in the emotionally

exaggerated minds of some of the characters

and elevate the level of emotions

that were happening on screen

in the same way that the often

reckless actions of the characters continuously

ratcheted up the level of tension in the story

so too did they

exaggerated

brash colored lighting

to increase the potency of the visuals

he often played with a limited palette

of complementary colors

he avoided using a wide palette of colors

as it would become too visually scattered

and decreased the potency of the colors that he did use

along with his cafe

he picked out gels

mainly light amber gels

which are used with tungsten lights

and cyan 30 or cyan 60 gels

which used with daylight HMIS

they also used LED sky panels

which they could quickly dial specific color tints into

that light that shadows

that color bouncing on the screen

are rubbing on us

we don't see that only with the eyes

we see with the entire body

because light is energies

I'm sending some vibration to you

to the camera

to the field

unconsciously

when photographing Apocalypse Now

Vittorius Doraro was very deliberate

about his use of color

he wanted the colors to be so strong and saturated

that the world on film almost became surrealistic

he wasn't happy with Kodak's 52 47

100 tungsten film stock at the time

so he got the film laboratory to flash the negative

to get the level of contrast and saturation

which he was happy with

in the jungle scenes

he didn't want to portray the location naturally

he sometimes used filters

to add a monochromatic palette

which was more aggressive

to increase the tension

I can use artificial color

in conflict with the color of nature

I was using the

the symbolic

way that the American Army was using

to indicating to the helicopter

they were using primary

complementary color

I was using those kind of smoke color

in order to create in this kind of comfort

he also described

how the most important color in the film was black

particularly in the silhouetted scenes with Kurtz

he felt black represented the unconscious

and was most appropriate

for scenes where the audience was trying to discover

the true meaning of Kurtz

with small slivers of light or truth

emerging from the depths of the unconscious

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