Multiplicity of Meanings Attached to the Use of Colour in Cinema - Literature review Example

Multipli of meanings attached to the use of colour in cinema Introduction Colour is considereda visual perceptual property of humans which is derived from the spectrum of light as it interacts with the eye with the aid of sensitivities of the light receptor (Fairservice, 2001). Colour is known to have been with humans from the very beginning of ages. However, not the same can be said of the cinema industry, especially when it comes to motion pictures. This is because motion pictures had been in the system for long before the use of colour in cinema was discovered (Saemee & Buranakulpairoj, 2012). Since then, Shih-Fu and Sundaram (2008) argued that the use of colour in cinema has become a preferred and more acceptable part of the viewing audience as against the use of monochrome. In line with the acceptability that has been attached to the use colour in cinema, several theories and concepts have been developed about what different forms of colour represents and how these can best be used to send the right meanings to the viewing audience. This literature review therefore attempts to answer the critical question of how best the multiplicity of colour can be managed in cinema to send the right meaning to audience. History of colour films in Britain Street (2012) noted that the history of colour in motion picture in Britain can be traced as far back as 1899 when Edward Raymond Turner patented a colour additive system in England. However, it was not until 1902 that the additive colour system was tested. This shows that the very first cases of colour in motion pictures in Britain started in the form of additive colour when colour was externally created by mixing the light of two or more different colours (Katz, 1991). The first additive colour system by Turner was regarded by many as complex and so a more simplified version was created by George Albert Smith, which saw commercial success in 1909 (Bordwell & Kristin, 2004). In the study by Street (2012) however, her emphasis was on how the concept of colour in motion pictures was embraced in its early forms in Britain. This is because according to her, the idea of black-and-white films had been with the people for long and was considered superior and natural in state than the earliest forms of colour films. However, with time, film makers and the audience saw colour films as a way of developing the unique British aesthetic (Jamilla, 2008). It is not surprising that by 1930, there had been several innovators and inventors who had produced films that demonstrated remarkable experimentation and quality through the use of colour (Street, 2012). Multiplicity of meanings assigned to colours in cinema As colour films have become a part of the larger society today, several theories and conventions have been developed which focus on best the symbolic meanings that colour convey when used in cinema. Coates (2010) found that colour bears different cultural meanings which makes it possible to assign different range of critical approaches to filmic colour. What this means to filmmakers is that colour must not be incorporated for the mere fact that it is now the order of the day but that the use of colour in cinema must be done in such a way that bears the most acceptable and appropriate symbolic meanings that are known to carry in theory. By implication, a work of cinema that employs the use of colour may be critiqued based on the ability of the work to use the multiplicity of colour to carry meaning to the audience in a way that is universally acceptable (Christianson, 1996). Whiles using the works of theorists such as Sergei Eisenstein and Stanley Cavell, Coates (2010) explained that colour is said to carry a universal meaning in cinema when it is used in such a way that is in line with principles and elements of design. Some of these principles and elements include the use of colour to conform to theories about intensity of colour, combination of colour, tints, shades, and the like (Vacche and Price, 2006). There is however those who have argued that when reference is made to the meaning of colour in cinema, it is important to differentiate the symbolism of colour from the theoretically accepted principles and elements of colour such as the ones that Coates makes reference to. This means that the symbolism of colour is one other way that the multiplicity of meaning of colour can be explained (Rahayu, 2011). Once the meaning of colour in cinema is specifically linked to the symbolism of colour, it becomes possible to have a cultural perspective of colour in cinema. This is because Redwine (2009) noted that different cultures assign different concepts and symbols to colours. In the table below, various colours and the symbols or concepts they stand for in Western and Eastern cultures are given. Colour Eastern Symbolic Meaning Western Symbolic Meaning White Children, marriage, mourning, peace, purity Reverence, purity, birth, innocence, marriage, cold Green Eternity, family, harmony, peace, posterity Nature, environment, healthy, fertility, jealousy Red Happiness Excitement, energy, passion, love, war, violence Gary Helpful Blue Wealth Peace, cold, calm, truth, water Gold Strength, wealth, evil Evil Purple Wealth Royalty, nobility, wisdom, mourning, temperance Pink Marriage Love, romance, caring, calm, tenderness Adopted from Incredible Art (2012) From the review in this section, it can be stated that the meanings assigned to colour in cinema is said to be multiplex because it could either be seen from the point of theoretical application of colour, where a universal meaning is assigned to the use of colours. There is also another perspective which looks at the symbolism of colour where the meaning of colour is seen from a cultural perspective. Critical approaches to filmic colour Based on the two broad meanings assigned to colour in cinema which are from the universal and cultural perspectives, there are different critical approaches that have been used by theorists and directors to define best practices in the industry. In the work of Coates (2010), some of these approaches were referred to as critical approaches to filmic colour. The idea behind the critical approaches to filmic colour is to ensure that there are guidelines and acceptable standards to practice that can be used universally. According to Street, Watkins and Brown (2013), one of the commonest ways in which filmic colour has been approached to achieve best outcomes is through colour management with cinema. Based on this, North (2008) explained colour management to be the process of using core concepts involved in colour science to achieve more predictable and consistent colour. By implication, filmic colour is said to be achieved when directors and other professional involved in cinema work are able to control the outcome of colour in a way that best achieves the goals they want to achieve with colour. It was for this reason that Street (2012) emphasised that when used in the industrial setting of cinema, colour should be controlled by the director rather than the other way round where colour controls the outcome of work. As part of colour management there are several critical approach that may be used as best practice to achieve filmic colour. One of these is profiling and calibration as has been used very extensively in films such as The Wizard of Oz, Red Desert and The Double Life of Véronique (Coates, 2010). In some of these works, calibration was performed to achieve the best outcome with filmic colour by attaching an external measurement device to the front of the display so that the device can read the sequence of colours generated by the calibration software (Red Digital Cinema, 2014). Profiling and calibration may be performed either automatically or under the control of professionals. Coates (2010) however argued that in cases where calibration is specifically controlled, it is possible to achieve the most preferred outcomes with colour. This way, the meaning that the director seeks to create becomes visibly created. The Red Digital Cinema (2014) again admonished that for best outcomes to be achieved with colour management, it is important to use the concept of cinema colour pipeline where colour is taken through four major stages known as develop, grade, master, and project. Figure 1: Cinema Colour Pipeline Source: Red Digital Cinema, 2014 As depicted in the figure above, at the developing stage, there is an interpretation of the image code values into visible colours. The grading stage advances on the first by applying creative colour grading through the use of such techniques as gamut and calibrated display. The stage where there is encoding of the final colour graded imagery is referred to as the mastering stage. This is because at this stage there is a single distribution master that utilises the device independent XYZ colour (Red Digital Cinema, 2014). Further management of colour takes place at the projection stage as there is the conversion of the colours from the master into a device-specific colour space (Red Digital Cinema, 2014). Summary of the review The literature review has helped in stressing the point that the need to achieve meaning based on the multiplicity of colour in cinema is a process rather than an event. This is because creating meaning of colour in cinema happens as the result of series of events which are put together to achieve a common goal. Part of the events requires directors and moviemakers to understand the history behind the use of colour in cinema. Once this is done, they will know where they are heading with their profession by using colour in cinema. It is also important to distinguish between the meaning of colour in cinema from a theoretical perspective and from a cultural perspective. Once this is done, moviemakers can be assured of using colour to achieving the right purpose. Finally, the review has stressed that actual achievement of the meaning of colour in the work of cinema becomes realised when there is effective colour management through the use of critical approaches to colour filmic colour. References Bordwell, D. & Kristin T. (2004). Film Art an Introduction, 7th Edition, New York: McGraw-Hill. Christianson, D. B. (1996). ‘Declarative Camera Control for Automatic Cinematography’, PhD thesis, University of Washington, accessed 16 December 2014 from Google Scholar. Coates P. (2010). Cinema and Colour: The Saturated Image, London: BFI. Fairservice, D. (2001). Film Editing: History, Theory and Practice: Looking at the Invisible. Manchester: Manchester University Press Jamilla, N. (2008) Sword Fighting in the Star Wars Universe: Historical Origins, Style and Philosophy. North Carolina: McFarland Katz, S. D. (1991). Film Directing Shot by Shot: Visualizing from concept to screen. California: Michael Wiese Productions North D. (2008). ‘Where am I going to see colours like that Bliss, Desire and Paintbox’, Studies in French Cinema Vol. 1 n. 2, pp 70-9 Rahayu, F. N. (2011). ‘Quality of Experience for Digital Cinema Presentation’, PhD thesis, University of Technique-Natural Science Norway, accessed 17 December 2014 from Google Scholar. Redwine, S. (2009). ‘The five C’s of Cinematography by Joseph V.Mascelli’, Christian Video Magazine, Issue 22, November 2009, accessed 9 April Saemee H. & Buranakulpairoj K. (2012). ‘A Study on Dogme 95 in the Korean Films´, Bachelor thesis, Hongik University, accessed 14 December 2014 from Google Scholar. Shih-Fu C. & Sundaram H. (2008). ‘Determining Computable Scenes in Films and their Structures using Audio-Visual Memory Models’, PhD thesis, Columbia University, accessed 15 December 2014 from Google Scholar. Street S. (2012). Colour Films in Britain: The Negotiation of Innovation 1900-1955, London: Routledge. Street S., Watkins L. and Brown S. (2013). Color and the Moving Image: History, Theory, Aesthetics, London: Routledge 2013 Vacche, A.D. and Price, B. (2006) Color: The Film Reader, Abingdon: Routledge. Red Digital Cinema (2014). Color management with cinema. [Online] available at http://www.red.com/learn/red-101/cinema-color-management [17 December 2014] Incredible Art (2012). Color Symbolism and Culture. [Online] available at http://www.incredibleart.org/lessons/middle/color2.htm [17 December 2014] Read More