Colour Theory
Cinematography and Visual Language

• Sir Isaac Newton was one of the first
scientists to investigate colourtheory. Around
1671-72 he discovered the origin of
colourwhen he shone a beam of light through
an angular prism and split it into the
spectrum - the various colors of the rainbow.
• This simple experiment demonstrates that
colourcomes from light - in fact, that colouris
light.

• Scientists investigate the properties of
colourtheory whereas artists explore its
visual effects. Colourin art can be used in
many different ways.
• Some artists are fascinated by the effects of
light; some are interested in the symbolic
meaning of color; and some use color to
express their emotions.

Colour Wheel
• The colour wheel is a useful device to help us
explain the relationships between Primary,
Secondary and Tertiary colours.

Colour Wheel

PRIMARY COLOURS
Red, Yellow and Blue are the primary colours.
These are the three basic coloursthat are
used to mix all hues.

PRIMARY COLOURS

SECONDARY COLOURS
• Orange, Green and Purple are the secondary
colours. They are achieved by mixing two
primary colourstogether.

SECONDARY COLOURS

TERTIARY COLOURS
• Tertiary coloursare more subtle hues which
are achieved by mixing a primary and a
secondary colourthat are adjacent on the
color wheel.

TERTIARY COLOURS

COMPLEMENTARY COLOURS
• Opposite coloursare diagonally opposite one
another on the colourwheel. Opposite
colourscreate the maximum contrast with
one another. You can work out the opposite
color to any primary colourby taking the
other two primaries and mixing them
together. The result will be its opposite or
‘complementary’ colour.

COMPLEMENTARY COLOURS

ANALOGOUS COLOURS
• Analogous colours sit next to one another on
the colour wheel. These colours are in
harmony with one another.

ANALOGOUS COLOURS

ADDITIVE and SUBTRACTIVE COLOUR
• Additive Colourinvolves the mixing of colored
light. The colourson a television screen are a
good example of this. Additive primary colors
are red, green and blue.
• Subtractive Colourinvolves the mixing of
colouredpaints, pigments, inks and dyes. The
traditional subtractive primary coloursare
red, yellow and blue.

ADDITIVE and SUBTRACTIVE COLOUR

THE SPECTRUM
• The spectrum is the colours of the rainbow
arranged in their natural order: Red - Orange
- Yellow - Green - Blue - Indigo - Violet. The
mnemonic for this is ROY G BIV.

THE SPECTRUM

HUES
• Hue refers to the pure spectral colours of the
rainbow. Hue is the term that encompasses all
the names we give to specific colours such as
red, blue, yellow, and so on. Hue is the name
of a distinct colour of the spectrum ( ROY –G –
BIV)

Value
• The range of colours from light to dark in an
image.
•

Contrast
• The distribution of dark, medium, and light
tones in an image.

Contrast Ratio
• An image’s contrast ratio is the difference
between the darkest and the lightest tonal
values within that image.

Chroma
• The C component of the LCH
(luminance/chroma/hue) colour model.
Chroma is similar to saturate, and sometimes
is referred to as colourfulness. It describes the
purity of a specific hue at a specific lightness.
• No chroma would be grey, low-chroma pastel,
high chroma, a vivid pure hue.

Saturation
• The purity of a colour, independent of its hue
and brightness and a lack of grey pollution.
The more gray a colour contains, the lower its
saturation is. Colours of the highest saturation
have no contamination from other hues.

Kelvin
• A unit of absolute temperature. An object at
zero Kelvin has no energy.
•

Colour Temperature
• The measurement of the colour of light
radiated by an object known as a black body
while it is being heated. Colour temperature is
measured and expressed in a unit called
Kelvin. As this black body increases in Kelvin,
its colour goes from warm (red) to cool (blue)

Colour Temperature
• Natural day light is not the white light our
eyes perceive it to be.
• Our eyes automatically white-balance
everything we see.
• Film reads light much differently than the eye,
it interprets the colour of daylight as a bluish
hue.

Colour Temperature
• 1700k – the light from a match
• 1850k – candle flame
• 2800-3300k – incandescent light bulb
• 3400k studio lamps
• 5000-5400k – Direct sunlight at noon
• 6000-7500k – overcast daylight
• 7000-8000k – 0utside in the shade on a sunny
day

Colour Correction Filters
• Cinematographers enhance and manipulate
film stocks using various filters and coloured
gels.
• CTO – Colour Temperature Orange
• (Converts Daylight into Tungsten)
• CTB – Colour Temperature Blue
• (Converts Tungsten light into Daylight)
• CTB comes in Quarter, Half, and Full Blue

Hot and Cold

Warm and Cool

Light and Dark