Other color schemes include discordant, associative, and transitional color sets. This balance can come with the use of complementary, analogous, triadic and tetradic color palettes. Some film color palettes will stick with one reoccurring color ( monochromatic) to offer a primary theme throughout the film, however it is important to create a deeper meaning with each scene, so a diverse set of colors is best. During the pre-production process, a movie maker should create a mood board. Picking a color palette is not randomly done, a film’s color palette should be carefully picked based on the mood or tone for each scene. They include red-orange, yellow-orange, yellow-green, blue-green, blue-purple, and red-purple. On the RYB color wheel, there are six colors. Tertiary Colors – colors made by combining a secondary color and primary color together. On the RYB color wheel, the secondary colors are purple, orange and green. Secondary Colors – the colors that are a result of the mixing of primary colors. These primary colors are red, green and blue. Another set of primary colors include the RGB colors which become white light when added together. Primary Colors – a set of primary colors is RYB, or the colors that can’t be mixed by any other color. Warm colors run from red to yellow and cooler colors run from blue to green and purple. Different color temperatures evoke different emotions. The warmth or coolness of color is also known as the color’s temperature. The color wheel is also divided into warm and cool colors. The color wheel allows the viewer to discern the different color combinations, complementary, monochromatic, analogous, triadic, and tetradic. What is the Color Wheel?Ī color wheel is a circular swatch of color hues that shows the relationship between primary, secondary and tertiary colors.

Saturation – the intensity or purity of the color or the amount of grey that is mixed into the color.īrightness or Value – how dark or light a color is. Secondary colors include green, orange and purple which are created by the mixing of primary colors. The combination or degree to which a color is of the primary colors red, blue and yellow. There are three main components of color, they include hue, saturation and brightness. The use of color can evoke a mood or set the tone for a film. What is Color Theory in Film?Ĭolor in film is about more than aesthetics.

Color is powerful, especially in the creation of films.

Color helps tell a story, define a character or create a reaction by the audience. A movie maker will start by picking an overall color palette based on the emotion or mood they want to set. There are set schemes to color theory and film. Different colors elicit different emotions and many film makers understand this. Do you watch movies and break them down into their elements? Intrigued why some films elicit strong emotions? The use of color to create an emotion or set the mood is color theory.

Color emotion guide wheel