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 This book’s subtitle is The Power of Color in Visual Storytellling, but it’s also something of a tribute to the power of a good title. I would defy anyone to spot this in a bookshop and not have their curiosity aroused.
Publisher: Focal Press
ISBN: 0-240-80688-3
Published date: Current
Country of origin: US
Subject area: Colour in Film Design
price: £24.99
Personally, I’ve know all about the importance of colour in movies and what they can convey, the first time I clapped eyes on the virulent green features Wicked Witch of the West in The Wizard of Oz. This was a keep well-away colour and what it conveyed was sheer terror. Of course I was only six. But I have never forgotten the power of green in that scene.
So for me the acid test of Patti Bellantoni’s book has to be, is Margaret Hamilton’s complexion change in Oz covered? Of course it is. And my childish reaction to it was entirely expected because this is an aversion green, pre-programmed in our genes to provoke a knee jerk reaction. I wouldn’t argue with that for a minute.
I did wonder though, if colour in movies might have a little of the tongue-in-cheek about it; something of the flavour of “the horror movie rules” outlined so amusingly in Scream. I didn’t ponder this for long, because while still on the subject of green, Bellantoni asks immediately why, if green is the colour of aversion, are we not afraid of the Emerald City? Of course emerald green doesn’t have the same reptilian aversion qualities as Margaret Hamilton’s make up, but never the less, why are we not afraid of emerald? This is the point at which I stopped browsing and began to examine colour seriously, as the author did.
In this book we are really watching movies through designer’s eyes and what a refreshing examination it makes. Bellantoni teaches colour and visual storytelling in LA, so she has her eye right on the Hollywood ball as it were. In fact she teaches the ball players what she knows. From the artistic point of view she has an enormous canvas to work on and as any artist can tell you, the colour palette is broader and far deeper than the frame binding the canvas.
So it is with movies. Colours convey meaning. Sometimes with subtlety, sometimes in-your-face, but they do have an effect on the human psyche. That’s what began this author’s lifelong research into colour, as she asked her Tuesday art students to bring red next week.
Some wore it, some brought red objects, some brought red light bulbs, changing the colour temperature of the art room immediately. People were affected, doing things that were not expected of them. Best friends argued, others in class buddied up with people they had been unable to stand, until now. The following week they went blue. Bellantoni is still exploring the effect colour has on people.
There’s a full exploration of the colour palette in this book and it is done movie by movie from examples we were all affected by, but maybe never realised at the time, because colour can be so subtle.
Each colour has a generic label. Yellow is the contrary colour, blue is detached, while orange is both sweet and sour. Green has a split personality and purple is out of this world. There’s much more to it than that of course, because within each colour pallet there is a range of emotions and feelings dictated by shade, luminence and texture. So reds can be lusty or defiant, angry or romantic, depending on how they are used.
Anyone with creative input into filmmaking will find this book a very useful guide in creating moods and emotions for an audience, pitched at subliminal level or full on in-your-face.
This book makes movie-going a very colourful experience. Movies you have seen dozens of times come up bright and stunning as a new digital makeover print once Patti Bellantoni has cast her eye over them. This is the movie equivalent of having colour and its effect explained by Monet, it is that fresh and original. It is certainly a good investment for anyone in film and not just the art department. Anyone who works on a film set in any capacity will have their money’s worth out of this movie colour guide for years to come.
I do wish though, that Americans could learn to spell colour properly. Although, having said that, even my spellchecker has problems with that one.
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