Beating the Creative Blues: Why Colourists Matter
It is said that the colour that all humans notice and pay the most attention to is green.
Today, green is prescribed as a form of meditation, defines the corners and walls of our home with house plants, and invites us to go outside in order that we can “touch grass”. It’s the colour of nature, calming us and bringing us closer to our roots. However, it is also the colour of mould, snot, and algae… all things that we as humans actively avoid.
Red, as another example, is a far more aggressive colour. It’s associated with danger or heat. It makes us feel angry. But it is also lustful and seductive. Blue is the ocean and the sky, but it is also sadness. Black is a void, or is it strangely comforting? Pink is happy and bright - or is it oppressive? Brown is dirty and muddy, or is sweet like chocolate.
Colour is fascinating, and something that is often disregarded and only thought about at the end of the project once everything is done.
Manimal Post colourists Denzil and Ryan talked LBB’s Casey Martin through why colour is so important, and how integrating it at an early stage can positively define an entire project.
Denzil Heeger, Manimal Post
Colour is one of the most vital parts of the filmmaking process, as it has the power to manipulate the emotional response or perception of the audience.
We have all heard that red is the colour of passion, blue can evoke sadness, purple prestige, and green melancholy.
Colour is a key consideration at every stage of the process, from branding to art department, and ultimately as a colourist you have the opportunity to tie it all together, enhance and establish the overall mood and tone. Most brands have distinct or identifying brand colours that need to be incorporated consistently throughout an ad. It's a balance between making them present and recognisable, but not so overt as to draw the viewer’s attention away from the scene or subject.
Brand colours are carefully chosen to convey the essence and visual identity of a brand, so we need to make sure these colours are consistent in our work to accurately reflect how the brand presents itself to the audience.
Apple does a great job of using colour really effectively, even when utilising a wide range of hues. They manage to evoke a vibrant, happy tone that always stands out in their ads and on their products. Audiences have an adept understanding of colours, not only in relation to brands but also in their personal lives.
We know what a sunset looks and feels like, same with a cold rainy day, a fun night out or an intimate evening indoors. Grading is about amplifying and enriching the emotions of a scene and the environment it portrays, while simultaneously evoking memories that are familiar with audiences. Keeping the colours and skin tones looking natural makes the scene believable and relatable.
I recently graded a spot for Budget Car Rentals where a couple comes across a Yeti in the woods. We wanted our woods to feel cold and dark to give the scene an air of mystery and adventure, and to give it a kind of Canadian vibe. This meant reducing saturation and enhancing blues and greens throughout the image while making sure our hikers looked normal, if not a little cold. Vibrant colours are somewhat the rage at the moment as we vie for the attention of viewers in more and more saturated markets, and these projects are always a lot of fun to work on as well.
Ryan Brett, Manimal Post
Colour in advertising, although not usually talked about after a campaign launch, is generally a very important point of discussion in the treatment phase of the job. And if well-considered, it’s an important tool in brand effectiveness and recognition. The obvious technique is to incorporate brand colours into props and costume design, and although it seems like an in-your-face technique, when combined with a complementary palette it can really help integrate those brand colours into a relatable real-world scenario. It’s our job as colourists in advertising to bring cohesion to the scene and subtly enhance the brand colours without overtly exaggerating them to the point of appearing unrealistic.
In terms of overall tone, advertising is generally geared around “living the dream” or upgrading to something new. It’s very hard to sell a holiday or lifestyle change with cool colours and washed out skin tone. We have been fed healthy skin tones and warmth our whole lives, and this sits comfortably with human ideals. Cool tones are generally geared toward uncomfortable scenarios and negativity.
Often references are drawn from the film industry and music videos, with directors leaning into the established mood of a film and mimicking the palette to create a similar feeling in a commercial.
This works well as a strategy for mirroring popular culture in advertising. Given the amount of creative freedom in music videos, they too are a great place to draw inspiration, though often brand guidelines and conservatism can stifle bold directions in colour.
I’ve found that colour trends are occasionally linked to technological advances. For instance, the shift from film to digital in the early 2000s created a trend of washed-out colours purely because people didn’t understand how to utilise LUTS correctly in editorial. More recently, strong pops of vibrant mixed lighting has been born from the advances of on-set full-spectrum LED lighting.
In a recent Sportsbet “Cleopatra” commercial I graded, I drew inspiration from the processing techniques used in technicolour films in order to build a digital technique and aesthetic that reflected technicolour processing in the past. The saturated skin tones and deep blacks help set the scene while creating a sense of nostalgia.
Grading Jessica Mauboy’s “Selfish” music video, I was assigned the task of creating an infrared look by transforming the green colour tones to pink, while ensuring skin tones remained soft and natural. By implementing this colour shift, the overall visual aesthetic of the film was elevated, resulting in a dreamy pastel look.
