Possible Meanings: Ethereal, otherworldly, spirituality, power, mysterious, transformation Moonrise Kingdom, American Empirical Pictures, 2012 While there is an element of joy and innocence in the scene, the color here may be more to communicate a bygone era, as though the entire film is a memory of youth.įigure 5. Wes Anderson is known for his strong use of color as a visual language, which is captured well in this scene. In this scene from Wes Anderson’s Moonrise Kingdom (2012), the characters are in search of a missing boy who ran away with his girlfriend. Possible Meanings: Joy, dishonesty, illness, cowardice, betrayal, fear Blade Runner 2049, Alcon Entertainment, 2017 Perhaps the color palette here hints at the underlying theme of the movie, which is that things are never quite what they seem, and nothing can be taken at face value.įigure 4. Interestingly, the colors are almost used ironically here as this warm, vibrant color is used to represent a dead wasteland. In this scene from Denis Villeneuve’s Blade Runner 2049 (2017), the protagonist has tracked down another character to the ruins of Las Vegas, which has been destroyed in this future dystopia. Possible Meanings: Warmth, energy, humor, enthusiasm, balance, vibrance First, it’s simply communicating that the water is very, very cold. Their chances of survival are grim.Īnyone who knows the work of director James Cameron knows he loves to use blue, but the color may be communicating two important messages here. In this classic scene from James Cameron’s Titanic (1997), the characters have survived the sinking ship and are now stranded in the ice-cold water. Possible Meanings: Melancholy, stability, wisdom, health, security, cleanliness This helps us to empathize with the character, despite his monstrous behavior. He has been reborn into something powerful and unstoppable. Despite the horror of the situation from the audience point of view, from the character’s point of view, this is the most positive moment of his life. The green cast here might suggest healing, growth, and health. After a lifetime of being bullied and stepped on, he is celebrating his newfound power and liberation. In this example from Todd Phillips’s Joker (2019), the title character has just murdered several people. Possible Meanings: Nature, healing, greed, rebirth, fertility, sickness 2001: A Space Odyssey, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, 1968 The intense monochrome red helps us feel the overwhelming sense of danger and horror the character must be feeling as he attempts to shut down this powerful machine.įigure 1. The machine previously attempted to kill him and succeeded in killing his crewmate. In this scene from Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), the character has entered the mainframe of an intelligent computer system to shut it down. Possible Meanings: Passion, love, lust, danger, intensity, horror Now, let’s take a look at some meanings often associate with different colors. The important thing as a filmmaker is to figure out what you want that color to mean in your story, then use it consistently as part of your visual language. The list here generally corresponds to western culture, but you will notice that even within a culture, colors sometimes have opposite meanings (e.g., green can mean both health and sickness). For example, the color red symbolizes lust or danger in the US but signifies happiness and luck in China. The meaning of color is often subjective to the viewer depending on culture and previous experiences. Here we will break down the meaning of different colors, so you can know how to apply them in your own work.īut remember, these are not hard and fast rules. Now that we know what color is, we can start to explore what colors mean to us emotionally and psychologically. If you haven’t read the first article, Color Basics, we recommend checking that out first. This is the second article in our Color in Film series.
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