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.
Highlighting the significance of color in films, Twitter account @CinemaPalettes shares color palettes derived from memorable scenes from famous movies. So far they’ve compiled more than 250 palettes, and yes, they also take requests. Some of these might even give you color ideas for your next design project. Check them out below.
Aladdin (1992) dir. Ron Clements, John Musker
Alice Through the Looking Glass (2016) dir. James Bobin
American Beauty (1999) dir. Sam Mendes
American Psycho (2000) dir. Mary Harron
Annie Hall (1977) dir. Woody Allen
Birdman (2014) dir. Alejandro González Iñárritu
Corpse Bride (2005) dir. Tim Burton, Mike Johnson
Deadpool (2016) dir. Tim Miller
Django Unchained (2012) dir. Quentin Tarantino
Edward Scissorhands (1990) dir. Tim Burton
Forrest Gump (1994) dir. Robert Zemeckis
Frozen (2013) dir. Chris Buck, Jennifer Lee
Gone Girl (2014) dir. David Fincher
Grease (1978) dir. Randal Kleiser
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 (2011) dir. David Yates
Inception (2010) dir. Christopher Nolan
Inglourious Basterds (2009) dir. Quentin Tarantino
Jaws (1975) dir. Steven Spielberg
Jurassic Park (1993) dir. Steven Spielberg
Kill Bill (2003) dir. Quentin Tarantino
Kung Fu Panda (2008) dir. Mark Osborne, John Stevenson
Life of Pi (2012) dir. Ang Lee
Lost in Translation (2003) dir. Sofia Coppola
Mad Max: Fury Road (2015) dir. George Miller
Moonrise Kingdom (2012) dir. Wes Anderson
Nightcrawler (2014) dir. Dan Gilroy
Peter Pan (1953) dir. Clyde Geronimi, Wilfred Jackson, Hamilton Luske
Pulp Fiction (1994) dir. Quentin Tarantino
Reservoir Dogs (1992) dir. Quentin Tarantino
Romeo + Juliet (1996) dir. Baz Luhrmann
Spirited Away (2001) dir. Hayao Miyazaki
Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back (1980) dir. Irvin Kershner
Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015) dir. J.J. Abrams
Suicide Squad (2016) dir. David Ayer
Taxi Driver (1976) dir. Martin Scorsese
The Avengers (2012) dir. Joss Whedon
The Dark Knight (2008) dir. Christopher Nolan
The Godfather (1972) dir. Francis Ford Coppola
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2 (2015) dir. Francis Lawrence
The Lion King (1994) dir. Roger Allers, Rob Minkoff
The Martian (2015) dir. Ridley Scott
The Revenant (2015) dir. Alejandro González Iñárritu
The Royal Tenenbaums (2001) dir. Wes Anderson
The Shining (1980) dir. Stanley Kubrick
The Silence of the Lambs (1991) dir. Jonathan Demme
The Theory of Everything (2014) dir. James Marsh
The Truman Show (1998) dir. Peter Weir
The Wolf of Wall Street (2013) dir. Martin Scorsese
Titanic (1997) dir. James Cameron
Top Gun (1986) dir. Tony Scott
Color Palettes From Famous Movies Show How Colors Set The Mood Of A Film: 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 […]
