Week Seven|Color

When I first read about monochromatic color, that is, the use of very little color, not surprisingly, a movie many might know came to mind: Schindler's List, a Spielberg film. This movie, done almost entirely in black and white, depicts the atrocities of the Holocaust. What struck me about this movie was the famous little girl in the red coat.

She first appears among the mayhem and destruction in a ghetto, her bright red coat catching Schindler's eye as he watches from a distance. That coat is one of the few moments Spielberg allows color in the film.

For most, red can mean passion, but in this case, I disagree with that assessment. For me, this red is meant to be eye catching--something that it does very well; it allows the viewer to connect to the innocent little girl who just sort of wanders through the mayhem.

Because it is a primary color, it makes me associate innocence with the girl. In the movie, she (and her red coat) is a symbol for innocence. Primary colors often are used in design to symbolize childhood (such as the Smile Train logo Prof. Taylor showed us) or give a child-like feel.

For bold use of color, I found a commercial that everyone who reads this has probably seen at least once.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ijH3cRJ1BY

This commercial for the new Dell laptops uses a variety of bright colors--red, pink, blue, yellow, and green. With this variety of colors, comes a variety of types. The complementary colors red and green are used, as well as all three primary colors (which seem to "pop" when put next to each other).

For me, this commercial is really fun in terms of color use (and really annoying if you hear that song, over, and over, and over). The colors are all very bright ( especially against the white "factory") and make you feel happy (in conjunction with the song). Its meant to be a very upbeat commercial.

As noted in the article, yellows and reds are nearly impossible to ignore, and just catch your eye from the beginning. Blue, however, doesn't give off the "calm" feel. I think that because it is a lighter shade, it gives off a light and "airy" kind of feel. The bubblegum pink used in the commercial also adds to the "fun" feel of the ad (as well as complementing the candy theme--the lollipop song and the "wrapped" laptop at the end). Overall, the colors used definitely give the ad a positive energy.