When Should You Be Cool and When Hot in Filmmaking — Colors in Movies

Being a technical expert is a must for filmmakers who expect the best result from each frame. The same goes for lighting, color, and temperature. So before anyone started to learn about how color and temperature works on filmmaking one should be aware of the concept. As we know different light source emit different shades and the subject appear in a different way in the camera.

Hot and cold

From the time of our childhood we have been taught fire is hot and ice is cold. Hence red and orange are warm colors and blue and cyan are cool colors. But in the basis of temperature, its the opposite. Every light source has different temperate and according to the temperature, color varies. For example, if we look at the stars, red colored stars are cooler than blue stars. And when we light up a matchstick or a lighter, the inner blue part is hotter than the outer yellow/orange part. So cooler light source represents red, orange or yellow shades and the warmer light source represents blue or cyan.

Property of white light

This is nothing more than a creation of our own mind. There is no such color as white in the spectrum. Isaac Newton in late 17th century demonstrated using a prism that white light is just a mixture of VIBGYOR colors. Then Plank’s law explained the proportion of different colors combined to temperature leads to the variations in the color of light.

Kelvin

To measure temperature Kelvin, Fahrenheit and Celsius are used. Basically, the light temperature is measured by Kelvin scale. A different light source has different Kelvin hence they emit different colors. Above 5000K are cool colors (blue) and colors around 2700–3000K are warm colors (different shades of yellow, orange and red.) Cool colors are actually warm and warm colors are actually cold.

White balance

To get a frame or image with natural colors, adjusting the color temperature and removing color cast, white balance is used in the camera. In DSLR cameras the preset white balance is helpful in setting up the temperature according to its lighting. When we place a plain white paper in front of a camera it gives a cast of the color of the light which is available but if we set white balance according to the temperature of the light then the color cast would be avoided easily and the camera gets natural color of the white paper. If this process is done before shooting them we could gain proper natural setup.

Creativity of white balance in filmmaking

Even though white balance is changed according to the temperature of light, in filmmaking white balance could also be set according to the mood. Let’s say a movie set up is all about misery and foul mood then tungsten balance is applicable as the blue will make the mood dull. In such setup, an example movie is Fargo (1996). The more warm tones are there in a film, the more lively and more heated scenes are found as the daylight or shade balance is used. The movie Do the Right Thing (1989) is a great example of the movies shot in warm tones. And when it comes to movies which have genres of horror or paranormal then they are found in the tones of green. So the custom white balance is used to bring the effect of horror like in the movie Visions (2015).

White balance may help a filmmaker convey his message in the better way yet there are chances of applying white balance go wrong. But there is no harm in experimenting as they will enlighten us with something new and better.

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