Martin René Andersen A/V Production Individual reflection 30th

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COMPLEMENTARY HUES IN FILM

A CLOSER LOOK INTO THE BLUE/ORANGE COLOUR SCHEME

The blue/orange colour scheme is the most common complementary colour scheme seen in films (Block, 2008, p.

155). This colour scheme is one of those things when you first realize it, you start seeing it everywhere. The

blue/orange colours are to be seen in a big variety of feature films – and not just from the present. What exactly is it,

why is it popular, and how do movies actually use it?

HOW DOES IT LOOK LIKE?

So what exactly is the blue/orange colour scheme? The answer is simple, it is a colour

scheme based upon the two hues: blue and orange. Following a colour scheme doesn’t

mean that everything has to be those two colours, but rather be the main colours or

important elements of the frame.

An example of the two colours can be seen in Figure 1, however – in a film, you would

most likely not see two solid colours of blue and orange, but rather see the hues being

used. This means that it does not have to be the exact same colour, as the brightness

and saturation may change – as long as the hue stays around the same.

An example upon how a frame from a movie based upon this colour scheme, where a frame is almost only consisting

of blue and orange can be seen in Figure 2. Here orange is the main colour, whilst blue being the secondary – seeing

as only part of the jacket and the eyes are blue – but rest fits into the orange theme. If taking notice, even the skin,

lips and teeth have an unnatural orange tint, which has been made to make it fit better into this colour scheme.

Figure 2 – A still frame from the movie The Lovely Bones (Jackson, 2009)

Figure 1 - Example showing how the

blue and orange could look like

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WHY IS IT POPULAR?

We know that all complementary colours go well together, but why is it that blue and orange sticks out from the

bunch, and is seen so often? I do sadly not have the answer – But I do however have my own thoughts and reflections

upon why exactly these 2 colours are so special.

Blue and orange are as different as day and night or winter and summer. Blue is a

cold colour and orange is a warm colour. They can even be argued to be the

coolest and warmest colour when using the colour wheel (example in Figure 3).

We already know they are opposites – but because of the way we can relate to

blue being the water, sky, night, darkness and orange being the sun, light, fire,

warmth and such it seems natural that we will perceive these as being exact

opposites, but than for an example – green and pink.

While green and pink are still complementary colours we cannot relate this to

anything we’ve actually seen in the nature, and thought as being opposites – or at

least I can’t.

We love watching the sunrise and dawn, and especially this scenery represent our blue and orange hues, upon where

the sun emits the orange light, and the sky (and in some cases water) provides the blue colour.

Because of the way these colours can represent themselves so strongly in the nature, it is also easier to have certain

scenes in a movie to be able to have the colours – as an example, the sunrise or sunset. For an example upon this, we

can take a look at the frame from Titanic represented in Figure 4, where the orange colours are from the sunset.

Figure 4 - A still frame from the movie Titanic (Cameron, 1997)

Figure 3 – The colour wheel, the cold

colours to the left, and the warm to the

right.

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WAYS TO ACHIEVE THE COLOURS

After having taken a look at how the sunset could help achieve the colours, I want to show some other ways

filmmakers have been achieving the colours in both production and post-production.

Location / Nature is where I would also categorize dusk, dawn,

sunrise and sunset, but there is also other ways to find the

colour scheme in the nature. In Figure 5 you can find an

example from the movie The Searchers, upon where a

combination of location and costume is used to get the colour

combination. This movie is also a proof that the colour scheme

is not a new thing to use within movies.

Props and costume can if used the right way fully control the colour scheme, in Figure 6 you can see a good example

upon how they have used props in order to add to the colour scheme. If we ignore all props in the scene, and only

look at the actors and location we still have a sense of the blue / orange colour scheme – but if we take a closer look

at every prop in this scene they are either; orange, blue, white or glass. Even the newspaper and magazine are only

having pictures with blue and orange, as well as the bottles in the shelf (partially hidden by the glass table).

Figure 6 - A still frame from the movie Kick-ass (Vaughn, 2010)

Figure 5 - A still frame from the movie The Searchers (Ford, 1956)

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Enhancing the orange and blue colours can as seen in Figure 2, ensure getting the colour scheme to become more

visible, and hereby a stronger effect. This would also work in a scene with other colours, so you would simply enhance

the colours you want to be noticed.

Decreasing the other colours, and hereby working the other way around works as well. This effect can be more

useful, if you are aiming for a darker mood, as it can be hard to achieve darkness when brightening up a colour such as

orange. Figure 7 shows an example upon this, where all but blue and orange has been turned down in saturation –

this also gives the whole scene a more greyish look, that together with the orange leaves on the trees enhances the

feel of it being a beautiful day in autumn.

Figure 7 - A still frame from the movie Knowing (Proyas, 2009)

Special effects can easily be used to create either blue or orange colours to fit into the colour scheme. However, you

usually see filmmakers do it with orange because of explosions and fire. A good example upon using fire to work as

the orange colour can be seen in Figure 8 where both the motorcycle and head is in flames.

Figure 8 - A still frame from the movie Ghost Rider (Johnson, 2007)

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OTHER USES

Before ending this paper, I want to give a little example upon how you can use the colours for more than just making

things look better, set the mood or empathize certain elements. In Figure 9 a different approach is created using the

two colours; here it is done to create a division in the centre of the frame, separating the two sides to probably

enhance something story-wise.

Figure 9- A still frame from the movie Hobo with a Shotgun (Eisener, 2011)

And finally another separation as seen in Figure 10 – but this time not within the same frame, but rather as in two

parts of the movie, separating the deserted junkyard with the futuristic clean city in the WALL-E universe.

Figure 10 - two still frames from the movie WALL-E (Stanton, 2008)

.

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All in all, the blue and orange combination is an eye pleaser, contrast and mean of expression, it is however so

popular, that once you start realizing it, you will start seeing it everywhere. In case you as a film maker, would want to

create something you feel is outside of the box – perhaps a not so traditional combination such as pink and green.

None the less, the possibilities within only 2 colours are almost endless, and the ways you can tell a story, can become

interesting once thinking outside the box.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

Block, B. (2008). The Visual Story, Second edition. Oxford: Elsevier Inc.

Cameron, J. (Director). (1997). Titanic [Motion Picture].

Eisener, J. (Director). (2011). Hobo with a Shotgun [Motion Picture].

Ford, J. (Director). (1956). The Searchers [Motion Picture].

Jackson, P. (Director). (2009). The Lovely Bones [Motion Picture].

Johnson, M. S. (Director). (2007). Ghost Rider [Motion Picture].

Proyas, A. (Director). (2009). Knowing [Motion Picture].

Stanton, A. (Director). (2008). WALL-E [Motion Picture].

Vaughn, M. (Director). (2010). Kick-Ass [Motion Picture].

All the frames from motion pictures was found on cinemasquid’s screenshot database:

http://www.cinemasquid.com/blu-ray/movies/screenshots