Color sets the tone and mood of a film before any of the actors have even uttered a word. Directors Lilly and Lana Wachowski used a green tint in The Matrix (1999) to create a mood palette that was suggestive of the early monochrome computer monitors. Yellow was used in Kill Bill (2003) to depict Uma Thurman’s character’s madness and instability.
Romantic comedies use pastel shades like beige, pink and lilac. Sci-fi and cyborg films use shades of blue, grey, and green. Teal and orange seem to be the trend in Hollywood nowadays, especially in movie adaptations of graphic novels and comic books.
To highlight the significance of color in films, UK-based designer Gaby Smith has come up with an interesting project called Cinema Palettes, that features color palettes derived from memorable scenes of famous movies. So far, Gaby has compiled more than 250 palettes, some of which might even give you color ideas for your next design project. Check them out below.
1. Aladdin (1992)
2. Alice Through the Looking Glass (2016)
3. American Beauty (1999)
4. American Psycho (2000)
5. Annie Hall (1977)
6. Birdman (2014)
7. Corpse Bride (2005)
8. Deadpool (2016)
9. Django Unchained (2012)
10. Edward Scissorhands (1990)
11. Forrest Gump (1994)
12. Frozen (2013)
13. Gone Girl (2014)
14. Grease (1978)
15. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 (2011)
16. Inception (2010)
17. Inglourious Basterds (2009)
18. Jaws (1975)
19. Jurassic Park (1993)
20. Kill Bill (2003)
21. Kung Fu Panda (2008)
22. Life of Pi (2012)
23. Lost in Translation (2003)
24. Mad Max: Fury Road (2015)
25. Moonrise Kingdom (2012)
26. Nightcrawler (2014)
27. Peter Pan (1953)
28. Pulp Fiction (1994)
29. Reservoir Dogs (1992)
30. Romeo + Juliet (1996)
31. Spirited Away (2001)
32. Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
33. Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015)
34. Suicide Squad (2016)
35. Taxi Driver (1976)
36. The Avengers (2012)
37. The Dark Knight (2008)
38. The Godfather (1972)
39. The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2 (2015)
40. The Lion King (1994)
41. The Martian (2015)
42. The Revenant (2015)
43. The Royal Tenenbaums (2001)
44. The Shining (1980)
45. The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
46. The Theory of Everything (2014)
47. The Truman Show (1998)
48. The Wolf of Wall Street (2013)
49. Titanic (1997)
50. Top Gun (1986)
Which one’s your favourite? Share this post with a movie buff/designer/artist and voice your views in the comments below.
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