THE CHEESINESS OF NOLLYWOOD: Telling a story with Color

Colors have psychologically and physically effect on us even though we might not pay it so much attention. When we see a picture, the colors within in draw our attention and our appreciation of some views are based on how appealing the colors are to us.
Since storytelling is an art, color plays an important role in visually portraying situations without words been uttered at all. I believe that the ability of filmmakers to control, manipulate and use color makes movies more beautiful to watch.
In the average Nigerian movie, this is usually a total miss as many are more focused on the acting than the emotions they can create by using visual elements to complement the story.
A movie can be watched without sound and be understood to an extent but the level of understanding that would be derived is dependent on the use of visual elements such as color to compliment the story with our without sound.
Color of films are basically two from my discussion standpoint, the color of the entire set (visual elements within each scene) and the color and mood added during post production in form of color grading. The latter is used to create a form of cohesive look for the film in most cases while the former is a deliberate effort made from pre production to ensure that the eventual look the director desires is achieved.
Usually Film directors work closely with a director of photography, production designer, art director and costume designers to create a color palette that fits the story of the film. The editor (Colorist) also makes sure that the grading enhances the mood created and his work must toss the final image in the direction that the pre production team as agreed on.
Sadly in most Nigerian movies I have seen, this is missing. Many seem to color grade, add effects and use costumes but they most times fail to gratify the entire work by the use of a cohesive color scheme.
For someone who casually watches a movie, they might not notice this effect but attention is paid to each part of the production to achieve this; from the color and lighting of the set, to the costumes that would be worn and eventually the editor and colorist work to make sure that these are obvious in the final cut.
One Nigerian Movie that made good use of color is FIFTY and below are some of the shots in the movie and how they used color to enhance the storytelling experience.











In these movie, these colors have a deeper meaning and are not just part of the scene by chance. Here is what each color means throughout the movie:
1. RED - anger, passion, rage, desire, excitement, energy, strength, power, love and aggression.
2. YELLOW - imagination, knowledge, betrayal and jealousy
3. GREEN – tenacity, self-awareness, environment and health
4. BLUE - fulfillment, peace, tranquility, calm, stability, harmony, unity, conservatism, order, sky.
5. PURPLE/VIOLET - mysterious, arrogance, mourning, power and sensitive
6. BROWN - materialistic, sensation, earth, home, comfort, endurance, stability and simplicity
7. BLACK - Power, unhappiness, depth, sadness and anger
8. WHITE - purity, simplicity, cleanliness, peace and cold (feeling)
These are some of the colors that were used to express parts of the story without massive words or acting to convey them. The deliberateness of the use of color makes this movie a good watch as they effectively augmented other words and actions seen on screen.
There are other Nollywood filmmakers that I would say are deliberate at using colors to enhance storytelling too but they are just too few when the number of films produced per year is considered.
I hope the “new Nollywood” would be able to effectively employ the use of color to tell stories even without words.
