Using Colour To Tell A Story In Film

How Colour Shapes Film

Colour can shape a film’s visual style and help communicate emotion, atmosphere and theme. Filmmakers may draw on established colour theory, but the effect of a colour also depends on its context and the audience. Some filmmakers use symbolic meanings, while others rely on instinct.

Colour Concepts

• Primary colours can draw attention when used sparingly—for example, a red detail against a green landscape.
• Complementary colours, which sit opposite each other on the colour wheel, create strong contrast. An orange-lit character against a cool teal background, for instance, can appear distinct from their surroundings.
• Warm and cool colours can suggest both physical conditions and mood. Warmer tones may convey heat, while cooler ones can make a setting feel cold or damp. Light colour temperature is measured in Kelvin.
• Repeated colour choices can become motifs that represent ideas or themes. Their associations are not universal and can change with context.

Building a Film’s Colour Palette

Production Design and Costume

Directors and production designers often establish a palette during pre-production. The art team carries it through details such as wall colours, furniture, curtains and props. Costumes can make characters stand out from—or blend into—their surroundings.

Lighting

Cinematographers can use warm tungsten or cooler HMI light sources, add colour with gels, or adjust the hues of LED lights. Lighting different areas of a frame in different colours creates contrast, much like the use of light and shadow.

Colour Grading

In post-production, a colourist—often working with the director or cinematographer—adjusts the image’s red, green and blue values. Tools such as power windows and colour keys can target specific areas or hues, and saturation can also be adjusted.

Examples Discussed

Euphoria

Cinematographer Marcell Rév used bold, limited palettes of complementary colours to heighten the characters’ emotions and make the show feel removed from ordinary reality. Rév and his gaffer used amber and cyan gels, along with LED Skypanels. Keeping the palette restrained helped preserve the impact of the colours.

Apocalypse Now

Vittorio Storaro pursued highly saturated, surreal colour, including by having the negative flashed to achieve the contrast and saturation he wanted. He used filters and artificial colour to heighten tension and create conflict with the natural jungle setting.

Storaro also described black as a key colour in the Kurtz scenes: it represented the unconscious, with small areas of light suggesting truth emerging from it.

Further Viewing

The video recommends exploring films through the sponsored streaming service MUBI and mentions Atlantics, directed by Mati Diop.

Creators and Contributors

The video names Vittorio Storaro, Marcell Rév and Mati Diop. It also thanks its patrons and viewers, without naming them.