Color Consciousness

Natalie M. Kalmus

Color constitutes another step in the steady advancement of the motion picture toward realism, the same principles of color, tone, and composition applying to the motion picture as to the art of painting. In order fully to appreciate the color picture, a “color consciousness” must be adopted, the lack of which is tantamount in a degree to color blindness. — Monotony is the enemy of interest, a fact that argues for the color picture; but a superabundance of color is unnatural. Psychologically, colors fall into the “warm” and “cool” groups, and each color and shade has its psychological implications: red—danger, blood, life, heat; green—nature, outdoors, freedom, freshness; etc. To build up personalities and to harmonize emotions and situations, these principles must apply, even to the extent of “color juxtaposition,” or the psychological relation of the various colors to each other. For example, of two adjacent or contiguous colors, each tends to “throw” the other toward its complement, considerably affecting the emphasis or import of the color.

Print ISSN
Published
1935-08
Content type
Original Research
DOI
10.5594/J05386