Movie LUTs

Have you noticed that many films have precisely 2 dominant colors in most scenes? This choice is not accidental but carefully planned during production design, filming and color grading, where colors are selected for their impact on mood and their ability to create contrast or harmony within a scene. By focusing on one dominant color and a secondary color for contrast, filmmakers create a cohesive visual style that enhances the narrative. This approach allows color to be used to its full cinematic potential, helping to define the world of the characters and guide the audience’s emotional response.

Realism (Before Sunrise) - style of filmmaking that aims to represent life as it is, focusing on authenticity, everyday experiences, and the ordinary aspects of life. The goal of realism is to create a believable world that the audience can relate to, often by emphasizing naturalistic performances, realistic dialogue, and settings that feel lived-in and true to life. Therefore the colors are more natural, similar to how we see them in everyday life. Heightened Realism (La La Land) - retains elements of realism but amplifies certain aspects of the filmmaking process to create a world that feels slightly more stylized or exaggerated than everyday life. While it still aims to evoke genuine emotions and situations, heightened realism might use more dramatic lighting, music, or dialogue to emphasize the emotional or thematic content of a story. This is why the colors are more exaggerated and used as a storytelling tool.

Damien Chazelle explains why Whiplash is so yellow

Scary but colorful movies

How movies/shows use the 60:30:10 color rule. (Part 6)60% - Dominating Color - sets the mood of a scene.30% - Complimentary Color - Supports the dominating color.10 %- Highlight Color - Aspect of the scene that needs to be highlighted.#AmazonMGMStudios #AmazonPartner

High-key - created through well-lit shots designed to focus on brightness and white tones while reducing contrast, dark tones, and shadows. With high-key lighting, you’re seeing everything—you’re not guiding the audience to a point of view for the most part. It’s more about what the script is saying and what the actors are saying.Low-key - emphasizes contrast, shadows, and dark tones. Some filmmakers like to tell stories better with low-key lighting, because it’s more about control. You’re guiding the viewer into a point of view more, as opposed to a broad, open light.

What makes a movie colorful - explained by Damien Chazelle - “Common misconception is that you want the movie to be really colorful, so you just throw a ton of color on the screen. You wind up having a shot that doesn’t feel colorful. In contrast, if you say: this shot is going to be blue and red, this shot is going to be yellow and green. Vibrancy of colors rests entirely in counterpoint of those colors. The less colors you’re counterpointing and the stronger the choices you’re makinng in each of those colors that you’re counterpointing the more you feel it.”

How movies use the 60:30:10 color rule. (Part 5)

If these movies were directed by Wes Anderson

If movies/shows switched colors

Second color makes all the difference

If movies swapped colors

Happy anniversary!

How movies use the 60:30:10 color rule. (Part 4)

How movies use the 60:30:10 color rule. (Part 3)

Can you guess a movie scene just from colors?

La La Land costume designer (Mary Zophres) explains the colors of Mia’s costumes.

60:30:10 color rule in Amélie movie

Average color of every frame from a movie

How movies use the 60:30:10 color rule. (Part 2)