A collection of video essays exploring ways colour is used in visual storytelling.
Use of Colour
The Cinema Cartography looks at the use of colour across the work of different filmmakers:
Colour Palette
wolfcrow asks, “Why are Films Shot in Two Colors?”:
StudioBinder expands on the colour swatches approach to studying cinematic images:
In Depth Cine outlines the elements in a film’s colour palette (production design & costume, lighting, and grade), and how cinematographers can use colour either for specific moods, or more intuitively:
Filmmakers & Colour
Cinematographer Lawrence Sher (Joker, The Hangover, Garden State) offers a dynamic explainer on Colour in Film, which is somehow both a masterclass and an intro for beginners:
Archer Green examines director Damien Chazelle‘s use of colour in La La Land (2016) – with a brief look at the history of colour in film along the way:
Lancelloti examines the use of colour to characterise worlds, individuals, and story beats in Dune: Part Two (2024):
Fandor looks at the use of various colour palettes across the work of a single director, Sofia Coppola:
Jorge Luengo Ruiz‘s supercut showcases one colour throughout the body of work of a single director, Pédro Almodóvar:
StudioBinder‘s stunning, comprehensive examination of Stanely Kubrick‘s use of colour is part of their series on mise en scene:
More Inspiration
Inspiration can be found in the replies to this tweet from TIFF:
Follow Color Palette Cinema on Instagram for daily inspiration – and check out our hand-picked highlights over here:
Further Viewing
Flip through Filmmakers Academy‘s series of carousels on the types, uses, power, and psychology of colour in film:
New to colour? Here’s an intro to colour theory:
And then apply your discoveries to your own work – Learn Exposure & Colour from Your Faves in your editing software of choice: