Reading

Chapter 7 "Color" from The Art of Watching Films.

Some things to consider in light of this reading:

1) Think of films you have seen where color has specifically attracted your attention. Why was the use of color note worthy? Did it conform to any of the descriptions in the chapter, such as ironic or expressionistic use of color? Did color affect mood or give clues about plot or character movement?

2) Consider your experience of watching black and white films. The visual aesthetics and impact of these films depend on careful attention to values (light, dark, shadow, highlights) rather than colors. What black and white films have you seen that are especially successful or memorable in this regard?

3) Pages 230-231 discuss the concept of "warm" versus "cool" colors. Can you think of any examples of this in your own life (your surroundings, artistic choices, films or TV viewed, favorite artworks) where the temperature of color has affected you?

4) Color harmony (described on pages 232-233) functions as a collaboration among the director, cinematographer, production designer, costume and other designers. What are the different properties and issues these different departments might consider regarding how color is used?

5) On page 237, the statements of two critics about the same scene show the interpretive subjectivity of color in cinema. Is it possible to create a truly objective use of color? Why or why not?


Please be prepared to discuss these questions and the reading on Monday.

Bibliography of books and articles

This is a partial biography of books and articles that may prove useful for this course. Please let me know if you would like copies or links for any of these. I also have copies of most of the chapters in Derek Jarman's Chroma, and the articles in the Color: A Film Reader anthology (I will list these titles this week).

History of Color Technology

“Cinecolor” by John Belton

“Technicolor Revival” by Richard W. Haines

“Demonstrating three-colour Technicolor: Early three-colour aesthetics and design” by Scott Higgins

“Colorful Metaphors: The Attraction of Color in Early Silent Cinema” by Tom Gunning http://www.muspe.unibo.it/period/fotogen/num01/numero1d.htm

Harnessing the Technicolor Rainbow (excerpt) by Scott Higgins http://www.utexas.edu/utpress/excerpts/exhighar.html

General Color and Cinema

Color: The Film Reader edited by Angela Dalle Vacche and Brian Price (anthology with many interesting articles)

Derek Jarman’s Chroma

The Art of Watching Films by Joseph M. Boggs and Dennis W. Petrie

General Color and Arts

Chromophobia by David Batchelor

A Natural History of the Palette by Victoria Finlay

Color and Culture: Practice and Meaning from Antiquity to Abstraction by John Gage

Colors: The Story of Dyes and Pigments by Guineau Delamare

Bright Earth: Art and the Invention of Color by Philip Ball

The Anthropology of Turquoise: Reflections on Desert, Sea, Stone, and Sky by Ellen Meloy

Welcome to Kino Chroma!

This is a public blog created for the use of students in the Emerson College course Color in Cinema Narrative and Design. It is also open for participation from anyone who finds their way here who has an avid interest in color and cinema.

In this blog, we will post articles and other items of interest, found online or through other media sources. This blog will serve as a discussion board for reading assignments posted here, and any other topics pertinent to the course.

Students will be graded in part on their participation in discussions and postings on this blog, so don't be shy, and let your voice and ideas be heard and seen. There is a distinct visual emphasis in this course, so any and all media and art-related material pertaining to color theory, color analysis, color aesthetics and color design are pertinent, whether concerning cinema or other modes of visual art, including the fine arts, television, digital media, photography, advertising, publishing and ephemera.