The Essence of Color Palettes
One of my favorite things I've learned over the years in multi-media is color palettes. It may seem, so simple, but based on the message or vibe you want to translate, it can make your film or any form of media go so much further than the basis of the story.
For example, if you want a dark and moody story-line delivered, you may want to focus on the blues and grays:
or if you want a comedy or light-hearted driven story-line, you might go for a more vibrant and contrasting palette or even a warmer color palette like oranges, reds, and yellows:
A lot of film and television references are played into this blog. Films like Her, The Fifth Element, Revenant, Vikings, The Lion King, Alice in Wonderland, Mute, The Shape of Water, Blade Runner, Game of Thrones, and Edward Scissorhands are just a few examples that come to mind. So, for some more film studying for those filmmakers, next time you find a preferable film to study, see if you can pin point a color palette and evaluate if it matches the message or story-line being portrayed in the film or television show.
Also a handy tool I have discovered over the years to create and practice your color palette skills is the site, https://coolors.co. Also, it's FREE to register and create collections for your future films.
11 thoughts on "The Essence of Color Palettes"
ospreyshire says:
That was certainly fascinating and I've been noticing various color palettes in what I've watched and reviewed. Thanks for the insight.
Also, thanks for following my main blog. What made you interested in checking it out?
H.M. Gautsch says:
I too am a poet and like to find new poets to discover and read as well.
That's cool. Poets unite, right? Haha! Did you also read my comment about that film review you did?
Yes I did. I'm just kind of curious about the racist comment since the lions do technically represent Africans/African Americans…
Well, Disney has yet to make an animated movie in Africa where there are actual black characters in it. They're 0 and 2 in that regard when you count Tarzan.
I'm mainly basing this off the original movie, but the hyenas talked in stereotypical black and Latino accents and played up thuggish imagery. No just because you have James Earl Jones as Mufasa doesn't make it right to incorporate those racist implications. It's the equivalent of some racist who's caught in their bigotry and they say "I have black friends!" as a weak and fallacious defense. Not only that, but the elephant graveyard situation is actually genocide. When you look at actual atrocities such as the Congolese Genocide or Namibian Genocide (especially the Shark Island Concentration Camp which one could argue is the real life elephant graveyard against Africans by the Germans), or even what happened to several Native American tribes, it becomes quite shocking in hindsight. Having more black actors in the remake isn't a remedy.
Very valuable input. Thanks for sharing. The original fucked up by the casting to make it that much more stereotypical as well. You want to represent Africa, but cast white people? Lol.. Facts. And yes, let's have an animation that's not "The Princess Frog" to bring royalty to life in Africa. I totally agree.
No problem. I didn't expect this conversation to happen here compared to that TLK remake post, but hey, it's alright. I'm glad you were able to see where I was coming from. Disney is so selective when it comes to positively representing nonwhite cultures (saying nothing about their racist past). They did a good job with Polynesian ethnic groups with Lilo & Stitch and Moana, so I'll give them that, but they still need to work on black characters who are dynamic. It's no wonder I'm mainly into indie movies and international cinema. I discovered Nigerian animation last year which was a trip in itself. There's an animated pilot for a series called Malika: Warrior Queen which takes place in an alternate medieval West Africa which was really fascinating and I want to read the comic book it's based on.
Yeah, I've had severe issues with TLK the past few years. After finding out I was part Congolese through a DNA test last year (context: I'm black/white mixed), a few weeks later, I found out from a Kenyan YouTuber I follow that Disney had a trademark for the phrase "Hakuna Matata" which is stealing from 5 countries where Swahili has official language status. Keep in mind, the Democratic Republic of Congo is one of them even though more people know Lingala, so I was insulted by Disney disrespecting multiple African cultures. It annoyed me how much Disney fans have defended the trademark, the Mbube/Lion Sleeps Tonight issue, and the entire Kimba controversy.
It's all good. It was all very informative conversation for myself, and congrats for being able to identify yourself through Ancestry to discover yourself a bit more. I understand it's limited for various African Americans who have no roots due to the sinister history of slavery.
I've also done ancestry, but obviously 100% white. 🤣🤣 …But I highly recommend it for those trying to find themselves, so to speak. I am very aware how beneficial it is for an individual who doesn't seem to have an identifiable awareness with a broken past, so it helps with a lot of interpersonal developments and history.
Thanks. I'm glad you were able to learn a few things and to have a meaningful conversation. It really is the case for African Americans given the obvious painful history here. It was something I've wanted to do since I was in my early teens when I saw this PBS documentary where they got famous black celebrities to take DNA tests like Oprah Winfrey, Whoopi Goldberg (yes, I know the irony of mentioning her in this conversation), and Chris Tucker. The last one found out he was Angolan and they went to Angola on the show!
Haha! That's okay. It really is fascinating learning about one's heritage. I've been learning a lot about the Congo area and other ethnic groups I got in my result. The DRC has some amazing cultures, music, and some advancements in civilization most people don't realize, but there's also a tragic side when Leopold colonized it. It was one way where I can connect with my unknown history and to learn about all the things going on as I try to find myself.
Seriously… a meaningful intellectual conversation goes a lot farther than a dumbass trolling session… 🤣🤣🤷🏻‍♀️🤷🏻‍♀️
Thank you for having this awesome conversation with me today.
It truly is. Hahaha! I certainly want to come at this issue as something civil instead of trolling people. Not going to lie, I've had people freak out at me by talking about the implications of the hyenas or even mentioning Kimba even though I'm not insulting them or talking aggressively.
You're welcome, H. M.
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