The Psychology of Colour

Colour affects more than just the way things look – it also changes the way we perceive objects by affecting our mood and emotions. Colour can make the people's sense of time confusedly. When people looking at red, they will feel the time is longer than the actual time, however, when they are looking at blue, they will fell the time is shorter. Colour can also make the people feel different weight, for example, compare the same weight of a white box with a yellow box, which one feels more heavy? The answer is the yellow one. In addition, compared with a yellow box and a blue box, the blue one looks more heavy. If there is a black box, it must looks the heavest one.

 

• Red is invigorating and may evoke either warmth or anger
• Orange is energizing and inspires creativity
• Yellow has been shown to stimulate the mind
• Green is soothing and calming
• Blue is calming and spiritual
• Indigo is soothing and promotes introspection
• Violet is uplifting and spiritual
• Pink is warm and soothing
• White is uplifting but stark
• Black is grounding and introspective
• Silver and grey are calming

 

Why colour can affect people’s feeling?

 

Some scientists think that colour comes from the nature world. The skys are blue, the blook is red, the sun is golden etc. When people see the innate colour of through the environment, they will associated it with these natural objects feeling experience, this is the most primitive influence. It is also the main reason that people from different regions, different countries can caue the same feeling of some colours.

 

Reference:
Very interesting color psychology, 2011. [online] Available at: http://www.u148.net/article/30064.html [Accessed 25 December 2012]
The Psychology of Color, 2011. [online] Available at: http://segmation.wordpress.com/2011/06/05/the-psychology-of-color-2/ [Accessed 25 December 2012]

 

Animation: Les contes de la nuit (2011)

"Les contes de la nuit" is a French animation film, it uses gorgeous colour images shows a beautiful and profound story, although those black silhouette just using the computer to make a plane image, but they represent characters is stereo, attractive, character and wise.

 

The French animation director Michel Ocelot, try to use 3D technology to make two dimensional movies, it is really a very special ways to work out the final visual images. The unique pictures present a different temperament visual feeling that is very different with the Hollywood commercial animation. It looks like the film put the Chinese shadow play into a kaleidoscope.

 

This film used a colourful and dazzled background and a lot of pure colour. In contrast, the characters just to use a single bleck outline profile. This seems to be that it can highlight the character's personality and shows the character's figures more clear. This film use such a strong contrast to make the protagonist not hide under the background, it also makes the story more clear.

Color Correction and Color Grading

Colour correction and colour grading is critical when you shoot a film. It can enhance the atmosphere that you want for your images.

People’s eyes are automatic machine, it can change the colour correction and colour grading by itself, no matter it is cool light or warm light, in doors or out doors. White is always white, black is always black. However, camera cannot do it like the human’s eyes. White can be blueish white and yellowish white through the environment. So we need to set that point, in order to get images which we want.

 

In the process of filming, the quality of the sun is going to change through out of the day. In order to make the final images look like happens at the same time, so we need colour grading, otherwise it looks very strange.

 

Another function is to use colour grading to create an atmosphere, to make it looks more real. For example, if you want to make your story that happened in a warm summer, you need set the warm colour, so that the audience can have the sun feel. However, if that happened at cold raining day, you need to set cool light, to let the audience feel cold and wet.
 

Reference:

David Anderson, 2011. Color Correction and Color Grading in Post Production [online] Available at: http://www.agencypost.com/color-correction-and-color-grading-in-post-production [Accessed 22 December 2012]

 

Film "Love Letter"

 

Today I watched the film "love letter again. It was directed by a Japanese director Iwai Shunji. This film tells us about a sad love story.

 

 

 

 

 

This film use a large number of high-light cinematography to make this film looks like a dream. This is also match the theme of the script of the film-the sad story looks like a bad dream. The scene of this film used many white things, for example, white snow, white curtain and white student uniforms, and these white things can express the dream in the student hood. The white visual images of this film also bring a few sad feelings to the audience.

 

 

Use different material to create colour atmosphere -- light

In contemporary society's film. the fantasy colours are often used in the film scene. It can not only increase the film beyond the realistic atmosphere,but also can be  create a new space in the same plane. sometimes, it can bring the future science and technology feeling to audience.

Spot and white colour have often been used to express reverie effect. Such as in dreams or unclear consciousness.

Line of light can also mean velocity and the passage of time.

 

The meaning of colour

Colour as the main thing of visual elements in the film and television, it is a kind of important ways to express stories.Many movies use colour to make different kinds of psychological effect. Some movies in a tone throughout, some movies are in a specific scene to use a specific colour. In a word, there are various ways use colour to lead the audience’s emotion through visual images in films.

As Patti Bellantoni mentioned, Red, it means powerful, lusty and defiant. Yellow means the promise and the warning, however, when it brightness and warmth, it is often associated with happiness. We can feel powerless pinafores and scary through blue, as well as it is the coldest colour in the spectrum. Green is a strange colour, we can see many types of green in our world, however, when it not in a natural state, it can have very negative associations. So in many films, green was often used to describe evil witch. (If it's purple, someone's gonna die : 2005)

Reference: Patti Bellantoni (2005). If it's purple, someone's gonna die. Burlington, MA, USA ; Oxford, UK : Elsevier/Focal Press 1st American pbk.

 

Use Colour To Express Character's Mood

Yesterday I watched a film "A Single Man", which Owen recommended to me. The movie tells a story about a middle-aged English professor George can not extricate themselves immersed in the shadow of death by car accident with his partner Jim who lived 16 years with him. And George decided to commit suicide. This film record the whole day's activities of him.

 

I think this is an art film, the colour in this film is so beautiful. The director use a very hide and deep way to express the character of protagonist. At begining of this film, the colour is grey and bule, it's the best way use this colour to express George's mood is very sad and he miss Jim very much. Audience can feel the distressed from mixed bule and grey.

 

And then, when George meet someone who want to make him happy the colour has been changed. The images become more colourful and vivid. The background changed to warm orange. We can feel the snug from these warm colour. It seems that our mood have been changed to happy through the warm colour.

 

I think the change of colour can make the director to express character's personality and mood. It can support the script to discribe a delicate story.

 

Here the official trailer for  " A Single Man", you can see how the colour changes.

 

Screen Writing Task

On Jools's screen writing class, he gave us a task to write a place.
Evoke that place through writing it
1. evoke it through sounds, smells, size
2. evoke that same place through character
3. evoke thae same place through two characters

Here is my writing:

 

1. An old building in shool. The floor and stairs are made of wood. You can feel the smell of wood mingled with the dust. The space is very quite and dark. Some gypsum portrait and the painter's paraphernalia piled up in the waste of the classroom. It was full of dust, and not many people go into this building.

 

2. A student need to get some sculpture at the second floor of this building. So she went into the building. She push the door slightly, walked slowly to the stairs side. This place is quite dark, she feel a little bit scare about this place. She climbs stairs carefully and she can heard the stair groan from the old wood.

 

3.When she arrived at the second floor, some doves beside windows are fly away. She is so scared. She want to get out of this building. But when she go back to the stairs, it disappears. She run away want to find other ways to get out. So she tried every ways, but it seems that she always at the same place. It make her crazy. She started to cry. At that moment, one dove appears beside her and started to peck her hand and head.

 

I think this is a very interesting and useful way to create a place, we can add elements and characters of this place, so that we can enrich story and character's emotions.

 

Painting With Pixels (O' Brother, Where Art Thou)

 

Last week Jools recommended me one documentary film - Painting With Pixels (O' Brother, Where Art Thou). I watched both of them-the film O' Brother, Where Art Thou and the documentary film.

 

 

And I got some useful information from this documentary film.It talks about the film makers use some digital equipment to change the final look of this film. Change colour is very useful when they are making film, and they can balance the colour to make audiences feel that was happen in a few minutes (even though they shooted it for a few days, the weather and light was changed during the days). It is very useful for film maker to use difital tools to change the color in films, it can save time and money. And it also can bring high level visual images to audience. It can creat atmospheres though colours. Such as this film-O' Brother, Where Art Thou. One part of this film needed to creat a very dry westen place, however it was shooed at summer time, the green grass and trees at everywhere. So they use the digital tools to chang the green colour to yellow, to make that place match the script. And the final visual images bring audiences to that dry place.

Storyboard

Today I watched <Amelie> again, it is one of my favourite movies.

Every time I see this film, it can always bring me the new feelings.

I watched this film at least five times, but every time I can see the details in the film which is totally different. 

I love many parts in this film.

And today I drawed a storyboarding of my favourite part.

In order to see this part of plot better.

 

 

A Project About Christmas

In the reading week, our group was going to make a project about Christmas, it is a telephone interactive device which connected with the telephone button and the TV screen. When someone pick up the phone and press some telephone buttons, it will show some videos about different people give best wishes for Christmas. As MA film practices students, our task is to find different people in Nottingham and put on a lovely Christmas hat with them and shooting them for best wishes for Christmas.

 

At first, I thought it must be very difficult to shoot. Because most of people in China are not willing to stand in front of the camera to say some words. Some of the people are very shy, some people just don't know what the purpose of this video, even can't imagine put on a stupid Christmas hat. It seems that everybody have some fear defenses in front of film equipment. So I’m a little worried about the shooting, whether can we find people to shoot? But far beyond I expected, most of people who around our school are very kind, they were very happy to put on Christmas cap to shoot, both in school students, teachers, management personnel, and even roadside sellers, the workers are willing to do this thing. How lovely they are! Shooting was going really very well, and we just use a morning to finish that.

 

 

Simeon Farrar’s lecture

Today I went to a London designer Simeon Farrar’s lecture. It is the best lecture which I attended during these days. I was attracted by his beautiful work very much. He uses his images to paint on the T-shirts, caps, scarves, walls etc. His work is amazing that he can use very simple ways to create massive things. All the handmade T-shirts which are made by him are different. And he can use colourful things very well to create many rainbow stuffs, colourful walls.

 

During the lecture, I was thinking. Why he can think of so many different ways to create things? How can these ideas come out? Maybe we need to observe the things which are very small around us carefully and to get the inspiration about that. Maybe when we get an idea, we need to try many different ways to express it. But I think the most important things it that We need to keep a young and active heart in our lives.

 

 

 

 

Draw a picture

I've been a long time not painting.
Last night, I pick up the pen again to draw something.
Just let me recall the memory of painting.
Test wether I can draw.

Directing homework

MALac
Fade in from black: white text on black background:
Courage is the belief that there is
something more important than personal safety
Fade to black
Int.Day.Room
HE is sweating. Hard.
SHE stands impassive. Unconcerned.
HE rubs his wrist and we see HE is chained to the chair.
SHE
(Bright. Breezy)
Are you sure you wouldn’t like a drink?
(smiles)
Never too late to change your mind.
HE
(Afraid)
I swear, I swear. Please. Stop. Please?
SHE
(placing a briefcase in front of the chair)
Shush. Be quite quiet. It will no longer be necessary to
lie.
HE
I swear…
HER
Shush, shush.
(popping open the case)
I have here a malac. God it’s beautiful.
Could you hold him please?
MAN steps out of the shadows and forces HE’s hand
horizontal.
HE
Don’t. Don’t. I swear.

SHE
(pleased)
MALacs. Now no more shall we part on this path of truth we
find ourselves on.
Playing with the MALac in the case, its metallic sheen
plays on SHE’s face.
SHE
Pain, enlightening truth. This is what MALac brings.
Shall we continue?
SHE removes the MALac and shutting the case she steps
forward.
HE screams.
THE END
 

The script tells a story about a man and a woman. They are talking about something in a room. The woman has a magic thing- the malac, and it looks very powerful that can recognize which one is the truth. The man is being chained to the chair looks so scared, and he is begging for the woman all the time. However, the woman seems do not believe him. At last she uses the malac to punish him.

From the script I think maybe the man knows something that the woman want to know, but he cannot say that. From beginning of the text to see, “Courage is the belief that there is something more important than personal safety”. Maybe the man is protecting something that he cannot say to the woman, and he think that is more important than his personal life.





Blue

Today, I saw the movie <Blue> that my teacher recommended to me. The director is Derek Jarman.
At first I saw blue image on my screen, but I can't believe it's all blue!!! It continuted to the end of the film, and it last 97 minutes!! Nothing changed, nothing happend except that blue colour, even he didn't chang it to light blue or dark blue.

I thought what happend to this director? Why he made this kind of movie? So I started to search on the internet to find the answer.

This is the last movie through his life and he cannot see anything at that time. After I know about these things I started to see this movie again. I heard the voice

 

                                               " You say to the boy open your eyes
　　                               　　  When he opens his eyes and sees the light
　　　　                                 You make him cry out. Saying
　　　　                                 O Blue come forth
　　　　                                 O Blue arise
　　　　                                 O Blue ascend
　　　　                                 O Blue come in "

 

Suddenly the voice sounds very soft. At that moment, it seems like I'm listening a beautiful poem. I can feel he want to see everything, he want to love, he want to live in this world and a little bit sadness in his mind. Maybe this is why he choose blue for this movie.
　　　　

Are there fundamental differences in the media that make it impossible for a film to portray the same story as a book?

Nowadays, many book-to-movie adaptations have been made films on the screen. Some of them are very good, but there also have some films which adapted by a book are not good. A good story is very important to both film and book. However, there are some differences between them.

At first, story books often use some adjectives to describe something, which can give some spaces to the reader to imagine the protagonist and the scene in the story. The script that adapted by a book often use some verbs to describe the story, that can be more easy to make some pictures in the film. So, the pictures that adapted by the book are more specifically.

And then, a book can write a long story and it also can focus on many details in different chapters. However, a film is limited to describe every detail in a story, it can only pick up the main parts to portray, which are very important to the story.

 

This is my opinion about the differences between scripts and books. Do you have some other difference?

Game City experience

I was always been attracted by colourful things.
Everytime I saw it, my mood will become wonderful.
Last week, I went to the Game City. I was attracted by the display boards, it is made of blackboard. I have never saw this in China. People can draw or write anything on the blackboards through colored chalk.


After I saw all the games, I sarted to make a paper reindeer in one of the exhibition area. I cannot believe I used more than two hours to make a hand work, but I was really very enjoy it.

At first I don't know what to draw and I just use colour pens casually painting on the white paper. I have no idea in my mind. And then I add red flower, colourful spot, and different colourful annual rings. I have no plan in my head just follow my hear. I believe every colour can make different thins, so I don't worry about it.

 Here is the final one. Do you like it?