Color Storytelling

After doing some research on color storytelling in films, I am in awe of the complexity of understanding in the simple use of colors. The use of color to evoke different emotions, draw attention, and signify change is completely mind blowing. What is more earth shattering to me is the fact that I have never noticed the significance of color use in movies before. This is because film makers use color so well that it blends into the film without being obvious while also having its effect on the viewers. Of course, there are some exceptions to this such as “Sin City” where the film makers create scenes with obvious use of color.

From hand tinting films to digitally altering the pixels the use of color in videos has come a long way since it was first used in 1895 for the film “Anabella’s Serpent Dance” or the first natural color film in 1909 “A Visit to the Seaside”.

As a student learning to create digital videos I am now thinking more deeply about my use of color and how it will affect my videos. Will I keep my same color pallet creating a brand that lets the audience know that I created the video? Or will my color pallet change with each film to highlight what I want the audience to notice or feel? Knowing now how much of an impact color has on the video, I will be giving it more thought when creating characters or backgrounds in scenes throughout each video and I will be more carefully editing my videos to use color to my advantage.