Portfolio Project - Color

 Why Color?

When constructing any film or piece color is majorly important because it connects all aspects of the much-needed representation of the film. While we already spoke about representation color helps in a way to develop character and help to give meaning to many of their actions. the filmmaker is a visual artist. To be a great visual artist you need mastery of the color palette. Many of the greatest Directors, Cinematographers, and Production Designers have extensive backgrounds as visual artists themselves. There are many ways to use color in film. production design.

Color can be written as an entire character in your script. I'm talking about taking each one of your scenes in the storyboard and assigning a color to it—even if you don't end up using it. A subtle way to make a scene resonate emotionally, there may be no better way than choosing a color associated with the emotion you are trying to evoke. Color in the film is about more than aesthetics. The use of color can evoke a mood or set the tone for a film. There are three main components of color, they include hue, saturation, and brightness.

Hue – the color itself. The combination or degree to which a color is of the primary colors red, blue and yellow. Secondary colors include green, orange, and purple which are created by the mixing of primary colors.

Saturation – the intensity or purity of the color or the amount of grey that is mixed into the color.

Brightness or Value – how dark or light a color is. A color’s luminance.

Case Study - Midsommar (Ari Aster)

    Midsommar's use of color is very different to the typical sense of representing especially with the color yellow. Throughout the film, there is a motif of the color yellow. The tubes Dani’s sister uses to pump carbon monoxide into the lungs of her and her parents are yellow. The entrance to the Harga village is yellow. The triangular building where Christian burns is yellow. Yellow is a happy, bright color, but in Midsommar it represents death. The use of not only hue but also the saturation of color with intense yellows highlights these same themes to a higher degree. 

The whole experience in Halsingland is taking place in the bright, and very yellow, sunlight, so the theme of death lingers in the background. Perhaps a bit of a stretch but how I felt the representation of yellow was symbolized. 

Midsommar is a vibrant break-up movie set in the land of the midnight sun — bright daylight, striking yellows and greens, nature and captivating whites blasting at you everywhere you look. This is a stark contrast to what audiences might be expecting when they think of the horror genre, but the film ultimately still succeeds in its mission to creep us out. With a deeper understanding of how this is done, combined with knowledge of the movie’s different variables good color choices make sure this uneasy desaturated technicolor metaphor of heartbreak lands in front of the right audience at the right time.