Just by watching a single frame of ‘The Grand Budapest Hotel’ you can tell that it’s a Wes Anderson movie. This is because of its symmetrical compositions, saturated color pallet and typically 70’s styling.
Every film has its own way of telling its story. The color palette helps the director to enhance the emotional aspect of the film and helps viewers to respond to it. The role of a color palette starts from the visual interpretation of the script that makes the film look real to taking on a subtle character of its own. The mood or the feeling created by the color palette stays with the viewer even after the film has ended.
Choosing the color palette for the film begins from the pre-production stage with the production designer, director and the art department and then the minds of cinematographer and the colorist takes place. These minds decide on how the set are going to be, the costume design, lights, how the film will read its colors, the effect and overall feeling of the film.
Let’s look close at the color pallet of the film ‘Her’
A lonely man who develops a romantic relationship with an operating system, this story is about love and loneliness. Costume designer Casey Storm, art director Geoff McFetridge and production designer K.K. laid down their idea of how to best represent the film. You will notice throughout the film, that there was minimal blue, no keyboards, high waisted pants and the attention given to the color detail especially the color red.
The envelop matches the color of the chair, the wall and the windows.
The film has also used the art of color blocking and creating color blocking in the scenes.
Other color palettes which are worth taking a look at are:
Film: The Great Gatsby (2013)
Cinematographer: Simon Duggan
Film: Skyfall (2012)
Cinematographer: Roger Deakins
Film: Star Trek Into Darkness (2012)
Cinematography: Daniel Mindel
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