Why is color grading essential for a film?
At Feel Productions we believe that colors enhance the sensual experience of visual communication. Colors can be used effectively to adjust the mood, atmosphere and emotion of the film.
Why are colors so important?
Colors can guide the viewer’s eyes to what is important in an image. It can be used to tell the story or change the mood entirely. Similarly, if used in a wrong way, it can make the viewer irritated. In short, color can make or break an image.
How do we work around colors?
In order to understand colors we need to understand the different parameters used by artists.
Saturation and Value
Saturation is the intensity or purity of color. One of the biggest culprits for ugly color work is a messed up saturation. Brightness or darkness of the color is Value. A combination of saturation and value opens up a whole plethora of shades. In the CG world, saturation is one of the biggest offenders. People often tend to use highly saturated colors hoping image looks better and grab attention, but it is far from the truth. Using high saturation everywhere gives your eyes nowhere to rest which is very important in an image.
So, to de-saturate the scene is also important. In cartoons, they use high saturated colors and bright colors work in your favour because you are looking at something fake, something surreal with unrealistic qualities. Look at all paintings, Jesus is often seen wearing red, to make him look powerful.
Color harmonies
Color harmonies are pleasing combinations on an image. Some colors just look better together than others.
Six popular color harmonies that are based on concrete ideas –
- Monochromatic
It involves only 1 color. Entire image uses one color and best used when having a single subject or to show extreme atmospheric effect. It forces the viewer to focus the details of the image. It gives very striking atmospheric effect as the variations are created adjusting its hue, saturation and value.
- Analogous
Colors that are adjacent to each other on the color wheel are called analogous. They are easy on the eyes, peaceful and depict a comfortable mood. They are seen mostly in nature and are related. For instance, blue sky and green trees.
- Triadic
These are equidistant from each other on the color wheel. These are best for cartoons and for surreal scenes.
- Complimentary
Colors that are opposite on the color wheel are called complimentary colors. These colors are naturally pleasing to the eyes. Use one color predominantly rather than using them in equal proportions. Cool and warm colors can be used to affect the mood of the film. For instance, red or orange makes us feel inviting and pleasant. Whereas blue makes one feel cold. Red n green are very complimentary scheme
- Split complimentary
Use opposite colors and instead of using two colors, we can use three and the whole image becomes more colourful. For instance, blue, orange and green.
- Tetratic (double complimentary)
This is the complimentary colors, just using two pair of them. For instance use one color set for background and one set for foreground or use weaker color mostly and splash the brighter ones here and there.
Take a look at some of our work here:
You will now agree that colors have a language of their own and only a professional can handle colors sensitively. At Feel Productions we thrive to cater to the beautiful world of imagery and only the best DI technicians/ colorist are hired for a job that demands nothing but the best.
Feel free to get in touch with Feel Productions and we’ll be happy to discuss your needs further.
+971 4 430 9008
info@feelproductions.tv
