The Effect of Colours: Emotion and Symbolism of Colour

The Effect of vividness Emotion and Symbolism of warpiseColour theory has been dated hold to the 15th Century with the writings of Leone Battista Alberti and Leonardo da Vinci. From these early beginnings, annotate theory has developed to c everywhere moving-picture show, optics, psychology and galore(postnominal) other disciplines, including fill making.Colour and EmotionThere has been research into likeness, emotion and how they interlock for at least the last 50 years. A lot of this research comes under(a) psychology. This is still useful to many other disciplines including germinate makers so they whoremaster try to control the emotion of the viewer using colour.T the become of Lois B. Wexner (1954) explores how mood-tone and act upon ar associated with each other. Her research take the stands that certain colours do have knock-down(prenominal) associations with mood-tones, such as red with excitement, blue with tender-soothing and sensationalistic with cheerfu l-jovial-joyful among others.The Ameri open fire psychologist Frank H. Mahnke (1996) has also conducted experiments into colour and emotion associations, in his dominateings he found some very smashed associations, especially with red/love, smuggled/hate, blue/peace blue-violet/noble. In Table 1 tabulated from his experiments, it shows the rate of colours chosen by participants with the term and the percentage match they gave. Mankhe also sort certain colours together where there was strong overlap , for example, blue, blue- spirt, chiliad with the term peace/tranquillity.TermColours ChosenPercentage dearest b voluptuousful, Red-Violet81%HatredBlack, Red89.6%Peace/TranquillityBlue, Blue- thou, Green93.6% grieve/SorrowBlack,Grey86%Happy discolour, orangish63%JovialOrange, yellowed50% mannerGreen73%LuminousYellow65%NobleBlue, Blue-Violet, Violet81%Table Colour Emotion Associations (Mahnke 1996)Wei, Dimitrova Chang (2004) open their association of corresponding colours to mood-tones (emotions), which is summarized in table 2.ColoursAssociated mode Tones (Emotion Terms)BlackHatred, Mourning, Sorrow, IndefiniteWhiteMourning, Grief, DepressionRedLove, Hatred, Life, NobleOrangeJovial, HappyGreenTranquillity, Peace, LifeBluePeace, Tranquillity, Noble colorLove, Noble, exactingTable Wei, Dimitrova Chang (2004)Use of Colours in FilmThe use of colour by depiction makers is deliberate and planned (Bellantoni 2005). To ensure that a remove will have the colour which will bring a retort from the audience they endure either do test screenings, such as what cinematographer Rodger Deakins vitalitys in Shawshank Redemption. He tested different colours and paints to find the look required for each scene.While the use of colour can be analysed as it can have a strong see on mood and emotions many times cinematographers will work by instinct and what it just looks right (Bellantoni 2005).It is possible to distil each image into its own colour palette. Artis t Alan Woo shows quite distinctly how a film can have a distinctive colour palette. In his project Pie (Woo 2008) he surgical procedureed each frame of a film into a colour and produced a pie chart for that film.Film makers have employ colours nearly the whole spectrum of colours to their advantage in storytelling.RedRed is associated with danger, risk taking, action, love, hate. Director Alfred Hitchcock utilize these associated in the film Marnie, where he added red frames to attempt to excite the audience (Hullfish Fowler 2003).Director Sergei Eisenstien use of discriminating red in The Battleship Potemkin where a blow over painted Soviet flag is hoisted up the ships mast. As well as the glorifying the Communist regime, fit to Misek (2019) the redness overwhelms its intended meaning, the viewer notices the colour red and its power over the Soviet connotations.Reds can also convey action. In the film go Lola Run, director Franka Potente uses the telephone exchange charact ers red hair, a red ambulance, red bug out (Martell 2002) and saturated red light to keep the audience in a high octane state (Bellantoni 2005).OrangeAccording to Bellantoni (2005), oranges on the other hand do not support a strong emotional repartee to the audience, they are often provoke a warm, romantic, welcoming and also a sense of nostalgia. This is strongly convey in the Coen cronys film O Brother Where Art Thou? where the whole film was digitally coloured in a orange/brown sepia to give the viewer a sense of the Mississippi during the Great Depression, a look of faded post political machineds (Fisher 2000). adept place where orange does give the audience an unsettling appearance is when its in the air. For example, the orange sky in Blade Runner shows the polluted atmosphere. Production former Larry Pauli mentions to Bellantoni (2005 p.142), that the orange sky is acid but conversely softer and romantic depending on the outside or inside of the shot.GreenThe colour lea fy vegetable can have two contrasting emotive responses in the viewer, depending on how it is used. Green is the colour of nature, health and vitality but also the colour of poison, unwellness and evil.Bellantoni (2005) writes that green is used by cinematographer John Seale creation of the lush vista in Witness. The green wheat fields where the Amish work. They connect the hobnailed Amish to the agricultural work they live to do. These scenes are also where the protagonist is meliorate and in a stage of renewal, which the greens convey to the viewer.The colour green is used in The Matrix to show the virtual reality that central character Neo is trapped in. Directors the Wachokwski brothers took this green from was a whole report inspired by the phosphorous green of old PCs (Davies n.d.). The use of the green in the simulated world contrasts with the harsher blue-white palette of reality, despite being a film all intimately the digital these greens were achieved optically throu gh use of green lighting mise-en-scne (Misek 2010).BlueBlue has strong associations with peace and tranquility. However in film it is more used to show coolness, withdrawal method acting and passiveness. Dorothys dress in the sentiency of Oz is blue and white gingham cover her powerlessness in the film. It is not until she gains the radiant red ruby slippers doe she gain any power (Bellantoni 2005).Bellantoni (2005) writes that blue is used to show the detachment and coldness of the prison in Shawshank Redemption. The prison uniforms and walls are all bathed in a soft blue/grey light which also foreground the passiveness of the inmates. However, blue also represents anticipate and freedom, Ellis Boyd Red Redding (Morgan Freeman) says I hope the Pacific is as blue as it has been in my dreams talking about his dreams of freedom and when the audience does get to see the ocean it is a such(prenominal) richer blue than the pale washed out version in the prison.PurplePurple has a long history of being a regal colour. This can be seen in Gladiator, where character Marcus Aurelius wears a purple hood, symbolising his regal power. Purple can also represent death or change. In Chicago, the strong use of purple light alludes to the death and delusion, saving a seriousness to the musical song and dance (Bellantoni 2005). The dark purples are also heavy, representing the closeness of the criminal underworld.Death is also represented by purple in the film Apocalypse Now where a bright purple smoke flare is released and men start to die. Gaspar Nos Enter The Void, a film about death, the afterlife and crime uses strong use of neon-purple contrasting with the dark Tokyo night where the film is set.YellowYellow can represent happiness, jovialness, wealth and warning. The use of yellow of Johns car as well as the yellow-neon lights in American Graffiti shows his callowness and playfulness.Gold, a shade of yellow is closely associated with wealth. Koszarski (1999) wr ites that in Erich von Stroheim silent film Greed, Von Strohiem used Handschiegl colour on certain film prints to colour yellow all the gold items in an otherwise black and white film. This gave it a recurrent symbolism of the main characters greed.GreyscaleEven with the advent of colour film, many film makers still choose to use the absence of colour in their works. The start-off film to go through the digital intermediate process of colour grading was Pleasantville, a film which uses the absence and presence of colour in its story. As the film progresses from the black and white beginning, the introduction of selective colourisation is used as a disruptive force on the traditionalistic suburban black and white town.While other films have used the contrast of full colour and black and white scenes they are commonly separate, giving the viewer an understanding of the differences mingled with two places. For example the Wizard of Oz has a black and white Kansas, while the land of Oz is a vivid colour.Schindlers List is another example of selective colour used, in an otherwise black and white film a red coat of a young girl is used to individualise the cold, mechanical horrors of the holocaust.Greyscale can give a sense of seriousness and realism. Masik (2010) writes that Spike Lees Shes Gotta Have It was made in black-and-white for aesthetic and budget reasons and also because the Director of Photography desire the film black and white film Raging Bull which he interpreted as summoning the photojournalism s in 1950s Life magazine.Use of colour however is not always to the audiences and critics taste. Filmmaker Todd matai (2010) blogs about the Color Grading Virus that is Teal Orange He cites Hollywood productions of Transformers 2 and Iron Man 2 where the colour grading has been overdone to attempt to bring attention to the skin tones(usually orange range of colours) of the actors away from the background.Journalist Phil Hoad (2010) spoke to Hollywood colourist Stefan Sonnenfeld, who says Traditional vs. DigitalColour grading has a long history. From the early days of hand painting individual frames to the photochemical processes still used by modern filmmakers. The bleach-bypass method was introduced by Technicolor (Shaw 2010). Shaw (2010) explains that this is when film is processed in lab to alter the colour balance. This process is also expensive and not reversible.This process has been used in many films, such as Dick Tracey, Saving Private Ryan (American auberge of Cinematographers, 1998). Director Steven Spielberg and Director of Photography Janusz Kaminiski also used this technique in Munich. Kaminski mentions to Goldman (2005 p.14) a sense of tenseness, a sense of rawness. Kamainiski works with traditional testing ground methods as that is what he has done in the past and feels that the use of digital technology allows the colourist to constantly change their grading and get lost as they have no standard.Process used b y Digital Colourists firsthand Colour GradingWhen grading video, the first task is to set up the overall image. Tasks included including fixing white balance, removing colour casts, matching tones between shots and contrast levels.The first task many colourists will tackle first is setting the black level of the image.