By: Keaton Marcus

INTRO:

To begin this two-part series, I am starting with what we call "primary colors." What are primary colors? How do they shift the mood of a movie? What does this group include? These are the questions that I will answer in this visual essay, how each singular color can affect the audience's emotions and change the entire feeling of a scene just by switching from red to green. When setting the stage with color in a particular frame, it is essential not to forget the three main aspects of this filmmaking concept. The Hue, saturation, and brightness of an image can change the mood of a shot immensely. Depending on the color and the intensity of one, audiences will have various reactions. It could be the difference between a bright red versus a calming red, and the same goes for the other two primary colors. Neon and mellow lighting are far from the same thing, even if they are of the same color.

COLOR #1: RED

Red, quite an alarming color, strikes the audience as passionate and dangerous, but it depends on whether it's in a negative or alluring fashion. There is nuance to every color. Even though red is stereotypically related to evil and violence, let us get into examples that may change readers' perceptions of such a widely misunderstood color. Primarily, this color represents anger, passion, rage, desire, excitement, energy, speed, strength, power, heat, love, aggression, danger, fire, blood, war, and violence in general. Looking back at the list of elicited feelings that audiences will commonly get while staring at a palette drenched with red, it isn't all in a depraved manner. Let's take a look at Spike Jonze's Her. In this movie, Theodore, Joaquin Phoenix's character, commonly wears mostly red clothing to stand out from the bleak, muted environment around him. It signifies his desire for love or any genuine connection with another person despite the mellow and dull surroundings that cloud his quest for purpose. Secondly, we have Stanley Kubrick. His films consistently use this color, but many would argue it's most iconically used in The Shining when a massive wave of blood pours out of an opening elevator. Danny, who has foreshadowing visions of the Overlook, has a dream about this imagery, and clearly, Kubrick wants to warn audiences about incoming danger, violence, and death. To cap this paragraph off with one more example, we can take Sam Mendes' American Beauty or Wong Kar-wai's In the Mood for Love, two very different films about very different approaches to lust for love. However, in many shots, both evoke the aching yearning for affection under intensely opposite circumstances.

COLOR #2: BLUE

Almost playing in direct contrast to red, blue is cerebral, calm, soothing, a color of rationality and wistfulness. Purple may be downright perfect for depicting fantasy, but if blue is used by the filmmaker properly, it can be otherworldly to the point of magical. This color can mainly represent peace, calm, isolation, passivity, celebreality, melancholy, or an overarching feeling of coldness. Depending on whether the director wants to use this color positively or negatively, I would umbrella every use under the evocation of relaxation. It immerses audiences and traps the character in their world of ethereality, an often gorgeously enchanting experience that perplexes viewers, but not necessarily in a wrong way. Our first example would have to be Nicolas Winding Refn's Only God Forgives. For starters, say what you want about his ability to create coherent stories, but Refn is one of the few masters of color. He creates art through visual storytelling, and in the shot of Ryan Gosling's Julian, as he transcends the boundaries of reality, audiences almost become him. We feel his confusion, but it isn't fearful; it is bound with curiosity or the need to discover. Secondly, Terrence Malick's The Tree of Life, a poetic, thematic, and visually artistic achievement, uses blue to such a level of perfection that it's difficult not to admire. Particularly in the breathtaking dolly zoom of Jessica Chastain's character walking in this peaceful, uncommonly bright environment that more or less comes as a representation of grace, Malick and Emmanuel Lubezki nail both purpose and metaphor to create the perfect frame. Thirdly, because how could I not mention this masterwork, Barry Jenkins' Moonlight is an example to admire for sure. In the final shot primarily, when Chiron glances back directly at the camera, he's found tranquillity within his very being. No more chaos, inner toil, or conflict, just serenity. Order. Calm.

COLOR #3: YELLOW:

Very contrarian to the other two colors I have analyzed previously, yellow is bereft of any mystery, uncertainty, or threat of any kind. It's pure, complete clarity in one's happiness, a grand sense of contentment with nothing in particular. I can best describe it as an overwhelming feeling of joy. In terms of a list of actual evocations this can emit, directors commonly use yellow for wisdom, knowledge, relaxation, joy, happiness, optimism, idealism, imagination, hope, sunshine, summer, and many more wholly positive feelings that will never fail to cheer up one's audience. In terms of examples, Wes Anderson's short film Hotel Chevalier conveys a sense of perfection and happiness despite Natalie Portman's struggle to discover it. In the symmetrical shot of her sitting on the bed, everything is yellow. Her clothing, wallpaper, the lamps beside her, part of her actual bed are all made to elicit this feeling, and it makes for a gorgeous shot. In Quentin Tarantino's Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, we see Brad Pitt's character relaxing on a golf cart, and almost everything surrounding him, and what he's wearing is bright yellow. It automatically gives audiences sheer euphoria, a sharp shock of optimism, idealism, and just cool overall. Pitt oozes relaxation, and this scene accentuates that. To wrap everything up with a completely contrasting perspective on yellow, we have Denis Villeneuve's Enemy. This film, filled with gratuitous sex, betrayal, and chaos, is tinted entirely with a murky, dirty yellow that makes audiences feel disgusted with what they are witnessing. This darker tone of a habitually joyous color provides an overwhelming sense of dread, depravity, and degradation. As it plunges audiences into a cruel world where everything is made for viewers to despise and look down upon, Villeneuve provides a unique and memorable take on the color.