Colour

I’ve always been intrigued by what makes people tick, what makes people do what they do and feel what they feel. Although I never dared to dive into the rabbit hole of going into psychology or sociology this interest has influenced my career path. My research into colour theory may have been the trigger too.

Origins of My Fascination With Colour

After trying to think of a topic for my dissertation to complete my Visual Effects degree I decided I would investigate the power of colour. Specifically how colour in films can make people feel and whether it is more powerful than the content of a shot in swaying an audience’s emotions.

While looking at the research gathered by experts such as Patti Bellantoni, I also conducted my own research. To determine the effect of colour on emotions I created a set of questionnaires. The first questionnaire tested the reactions of an audience to colourless shots and the second tested them again with colour.

You can read the research part of my report along with my findings here.

Continued Interest in Colour Theory

After finishing my degree and moving down to London to pursue a career as a video editor, I discovered and explored the role of a colourist. The opportunity was presented to me when I was given full ownership of the post-production for a project, a flower delivery TVC. This was my chance to expand my skillset and bring this advert to life with colour.

Since this project, I have been able to work on a few more projects from charity narrative videos to restaurant promos. See my reel below for a snippet of my work.

Colour reel coming soon

 

While correcting and grading footage, I have worked with footage that varies in terms of content and quality. Below you can see my thought process with a few different shots. All images are courtesy of Bold Content Video Productions.Colour Breakdown Mindlab

This project was a product video created for Minelab. The idea of this grade was to get straight to the point just like the video. I wanted to show the true nature of the product so consumers could really see themselves using it.
Colour Breakdown Young Minds

This mental health charity video for Young Minds used a vivid colour grade. This grade helped the audience to feel detached in the way the subject did and enabled audiences to empathise with them further. Colour Breakdown P.F.Changs

Colour Breakdown P.F.ChangsThese two dessert shots were taken from P.F.Changs promotional dessert bar video. They were graded vibrantly to create that mouth-watering effect. Making all the whites as pure as possible made the food look even more heavenly. The vibrancy of the colours encouraged more attention and desire.

Colour Breakdown P.F.Changs

While this Bloomon advert was my first grade, it is still one of my favourites. The grade here is subtle and delicate just like the featured flowers.

When starting a grade there are two questions I ask myself. First of all, who is this video intended for? Even more importantly, how do I want them to feel? Personally, I feel like you must be able to answer and understand these questions for a successful grade.

Although I haven’t worked with colour directly recently I always bare it in mind when working on new projects.

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