Inspiration
Colors in Cinema
// A CURATED PROJECT BY W2 FILMS
The Inspiration
W2 Films celebrates RGB (red, green, blue), the three additive colors in video as the core of its brand expression. We embarked on a project to see how these colors are celebrated in film and gathered a collection of still frames from several movies that have made these colors a prevailing aesthetic in one of their scenes. The result is a stunning, visually uniform expression of mood and tone.
How Color Works in Video
The RGB color model is an additive color model in which the red, green and blue primary colors of light are added together in various ways to reproduce a broad array of colors. The main purpose of the RGB color model is for the sensing, representation, and display of images in digital and electronic displays. So, everything we see in video is made up of these three colors - where the full presence of all three colors produces white and the full absence of all three produces black.
Colors in Film
Film, before it’s converted to digital, is a continuous tone of color and range. The camera sees colors as our eye does. The frame is filled with colors created as light reflects off the surfaces of objects. A director will use color purposefully (for example, red to convey passion and rage, or blue to convey stability and harmony) with a combination of production design (the physical surfaces, objects, props, etc.) and lighting design. Or they will discover it naturally or by accident and enhance it in post with color grading techniques. Either way, it works to deepen the viewing experience and convey something beyond what was scripted.
Below are frames from various movies that are awash with R, G, or B. These are unretouched and whether it’s subtle or overt, it has us appreciating the beauty of color.
