Color Theory in Horror Movies | Film Analysis

How does color theory apply to horror movies?
Works Discussed:
► The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920)
► O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000)
► The Matrix (1999)
► Children of Men (2006)
► Vertigo (1958)
► Rush (2013)
► The Wolf of Wall Street (2013)
► The Phantom of the Opera (1925)
► The Tingler (1959)
► Sin City (2005)
► The Sixth Sense (1999)
► Blindness (2008)
► The Evil Dead (1981)
► A Nightmare on Elm Street (2010)
► The Sick Child, 1885 by Edvard Munch
► The Machinist (2004)
► The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
► It Stains the Sands Red (2016)
► The Hills Have Eyes (1977)
► The Hills Have Eyes Part II (1984)
► The Hills Have Eyes (2006)
► The Hills Have Eyes II (2007)
► Crimson Peak (2015)
► The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman (1952)
► mother! (2017)
► It Follows (2014)
► Don't Look Now (1973)
► The Shining (1980)
► Suspiria (1977)
► The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974)
► The Exorcist (1973)
► The Ring (2002)
► Saw (2004)
► The Neon Demon (2016)
Sources:
► How to Use Color in Film 50+ Examples of Movie Color Palettes by Studio Binder (free copy here:
www.studiobind...)
► HORROR MOVIE AESTHETICS: How color, time, space and sound elicit fear in an audience. Thesis by Xiangyi Fu (link opens a PDF: pdfs.semantics...)
► slides.com/oliv...
► www.premiumbea...
► www.filminquir...
► www.theyoungfo...
► www.excelsior....
► • How filmmakers manipul...
► • Colour Theory: How Doe...
► • COLOR THEORY for Filmm...
► • Color Theory in Film -...
► • The Meaning of Red in ...
► • The Psychology Behind ...
► theasiadialogu...
► www.colormatte...
► www.chicagotri...
► www.gutenberg....
► char.txa.cornel...
► learn.leighcotn...
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Images
All stock images come from the following:
pixabay.com/
www.pexels.com/
maxpixel.freegr...
commons.wikime...
www.publicdoma...
All films stills are property of their respective copyright holders and are being used under fair use for comentative and educational purposes.
All stock footage was created by me unless otherwise specified.
---------------------------------------­­--
Music
There's Probably No Time by Chris Zabriskie is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license (creativecommon...)
Source: chriszabriskie....
Artist: chriszabriskie....

[@toastedjambread]

Midsommar's usage of color was interesting too. The whole location was vibrant and nearly every scene was in literal broad day light, yet the very fact that it was vibrant made it even more unsettling.

[@xChikyx]

This is exactly what I needed for a psychological study I'm planning to do regarding color theory in novels and written media.

[@twariik8550]

Just make sure it won’t be plagiarism ;)

[@TheBaconStrip]

I'm a newbie here. I must say that I'm glad I found your channel because I learned more in the last 17:25 than I have all day. Absolutely excellent research!!!!

[@BloodGutsandSocialCommentary]

Thank you, glad you enjoyed and learned from it

[@fuzzimsmcfuzzface8926]

Tommyknockers is a good example of green being used to symbolize sickness or infection. The sickly green light you'd see in nightscenes, especially near the ship itsself. Nice video! Sorry I wasn't here for the premiere! 😉💖

[@BloodGutsandSocialCommentary]

Just now realizing I never saw the movie. Gotta fix that now. Thanks a lot Fuzzims!

[@fuzzimsmcfuzzface8926]

@@BloodGutsandSocialCommentary 😆

[@KennethJamesYT]

You are a GENIUS. I never thought or paid attention of this!

[@AnthroFiend]

This is absolutely fantastic work! I'm glad you mentioned silent movies like Caligari that color coded scenes. The better versions of Nosferatu and Phantom of the Opera do this too, either to say something about the time or place (lots of day-for-night footage in Nosferatu, so they'd put a blue filter on the night scenes,) or to say something about what was happening (when a torture room is being heated up in Phantom, they use a red filter.)

[@adelaideoressiewest966]

7:44 I think 2009's Trick 'R Treat fits the Orange/Teal color palette! I can't remember if the complimentary color is teal specifically or more of a ghostly pale blue but it definitely heavily featured Orange, with fire and pumpkins and the lighting in most of the sketches (Especially the Flashback story, The Red Riding Hood story, and the final story with the Old Man

[@adelaideoressiewest966]

Which is super interesting to me because Trick 'R Treat was a straight to dvd movie that didn't have a theater release until a 2022 event

[@lucasmcinnis5045]

I was waiting for Crimson Peak to be mentioned for it's spectacular use of color in Edith's costumes. The closer she grows to her husband, the more greens she wears, and whenever she's shown taking things into her own hands and sneaking around she's dressed in brighter and brighter yellows, which contrast her earlier earthy yellow color pallette. Her final outfit is white, which she wears as everything she has is ripped away from her and she becomes a direct player in the events of the story and it's conclusion

[@Cainmak]

I'm working on a horror comic book and this video gave me a lot of inspiration. Thanks!

[@mintbrownieangelfish-6114]

Wow it has been 6 minutes and I've already learned a ton. Thank you!

[@BloodGutsandSocialCommentary]

No, thank you for watching.

[@ambersioux]

i was stuck at a church camp for three days with no wifi and this was the only video i thought to download, thank you for providing me with entertainment so that i wouldn't be bored out of my mind during the camp

[@melaniecosdon94]

Wes Craven chose red and green for Freddy Krueger’s sweater because it’s the most uncomfortable and difficult for the eye to observe together

[@shelbyg3816]

I really love this. I do have a suggestion though. The background was moving too fast for me.

[@kentcampbell122]

this video makes a great crash course in using color theory in film in any genre, great work!

[@evilgeniusentertainment]

Great video! Just discovered your channel, which is awesome. I've been making movies (mostly horror) and commercials professionally for over 25 years now, but still learning from great analysts like you. From a practical standpoint, most indie horror movies have so little resources that color scheme never even enters the thought process. Just getting it in the can is hard enough. Even the bigger budget horror movies seem to ignore it most of the time, other then perhaps costuming. I'm prepping for my 6th feature (THE DEVIL SCREAMS AT MIDNIGHT) and you've given me a lot to think a bout - so thanks! Keep up the great work.... liked/subbed

[@d4mdcykey]

Very well researched and highly instructive video. I've seen a few YT channels tackle this subject and this is one of the better I have watched. Impressive work, and now subscribed.

[@BloodGutsandSocialCommentary]

Thank you

[@TacoSpaceKitten]

The best movies I've seen with beautiful color schemes are: gretel and hansel, the witch, suspiria 2018, evil dead 2013, a cure for wellness, and tale of tales

[@kylajensen1957]

Newbie here, coming to yammer on about my own work. My wattpad novel The Silent Sphinx has an all over the place color palette, but gold and brown show up a lot - mostly because it's set in another dimension that copies an Egyptian tomb. The main villain, the Pharaoh's ghost, meanwhile, is associated with purple and black and his appearance in story is usually heralded by thick gobs of purplish smoke.

[@davydevilution3483]

"You've got 'red' on you.." (Shaun Of The Dead)

[@happychaosofthenorth]

This is such a great video, but the background keeps moving and it makes it hard to watch because it's so jarring, which is a shame because the content is stellar. I hope your newer videos don't have this because your content is great and I want to see more.

[@Nanengla]

Great video, please make the background filmstrip static, really dizzy. @-@ again, great content :)

[@commandosolo1266]

You neglected gray: gray-skinned corpses, the "gray aliens," gray cloudy days, gray is the most somber and cheerless color, lacking even the mystique of black. The old Universal monster movies took advantage of the absence of color to throw Dracula and Frankenstein further into the uncanny valley. The film Alien inverted the "pop of color in a black and white film" trick. The Nostromo is quite colorful with blue tones and yellow rotating lights. The creature and everything connected with her is entirely in grays, as if a Universal monster had intruded into a modern color film.

[@Ikusabe]

Very interesting topic that I've never heard being discussed. And for those of us who're not very knowledgable in movies or design field, the color wheel did help us understand a lot easier. The use of blue in horror is very surprising and eye opening.

[@BloodGutsandSocialCommentary]

Really happy to hear the visuals helped. Thank you for the feedback.

[@tobehonest116]

7:40 jeepers creepers 2 uses orange and yellow colour setting love

[@ZOOTSUITBEATNICK1]

imo Good vid...well-done as always. I know it's not a horror movie, but 'The Cook, The Thief, His Wife & Her Lover' used color incredibly well. imo

[@BloodGutsandSocialCommentary]

Honestly never seen that.

[@ZOOTSUITBEATNICK1]

@@BloodGutsandSocialCommentary Highly recommended...acting, art directing all rock...some great music in it too...a longtime favorite movie of mine.

[@BloodGutsandSocialCommentary]

It's apparently on Hoopla so I will add it to the list. Thank you

[@ZOOTSUITBEATNICK1]

@@BloodGutsandSocialCommentary Cool! Please let me know what you think!

[@FrightfullyForgotten]

Brilliant topic and Brilliant video! You really did your homework for this one and dug deep. You should look into being a Director of Photography! Got me scratching my head trying to think of a horror movie that uses allot of Orange now too! haha. Would like to see you tackle a video on when black and white is more effective than color! ;)

[@BloodGutsandSocialCommentary]

Ooooo that could be a lot f fun

[@Zalidia]

Only now do I understand why I am less stressed and more calm during the summer. During the winter the fuckin sky is filled to the brim with white but during the summer there's a blue sky! (That and temperature)

[@incogniftoar3943]

Interesting thought might keep your videos on my playlist!

[@sile7189]

Great video! Helped me a lot. Thanks for this

[@doctoronishispsychosislab1474]

the flickering oldschool film rolling in the back ground has broken me already :( only made it 3 minutes

[@LordBitememan]

Not horror related but do you know what popped into my mind as you were listing the traits of red? The kid in the red coat from Schindler's list.

[@BloodGutsandSocialCommentary]

It was so hard not to use that as and example because it fits so well.

[@tskmaster3837]

7:44 Orange horror film? You mean like Firestarter? Check out the trailer as they even dress Drew Barrymore all in blue to contrast with all that orange. And the techs in the Shop wore blue jumpsuits. Characters in general had some blue on them... the cars were blue, so much blue...

[@StringDogg]

This was great! Thank you :)

[@coltonmonroe9824]

Awesome!! Instant sub

[@Flowey_Ghost]

For the first 5min i felt like i was in art class again

[@RogersJimmy-n4q]

I think pink is a sexual color because it's supposable close to the color of skin. More or so pinks, reds, and oranges, but the scene at @4:07 is promptly pink because it's somewhat of a sexual scene. The room is pink, and her dress is pink. Her dress is short and her leg is raised. I see pink as a sexual color.

[@Masterhitman935]

That last red sense shot reminds me of Django.

[@BloodGutsandSocialCommentary]

I can see that

[@Hutchsky]

I want to watch this video but that moving background is too intense. It has a strobing effect that hurts my eyes and distracts from what you’re presenting.

[@gaminganimators7000]

Susperia is technically not a giallo but your point still stands (that's a thing people say right?)

[@experi-mentalproductions5358]

The URL has 'pug' in it..

[@satanlover134]

7:10 dude thats vermilion

[@Blurns]

Red and green aren't opposites, goddamn it.

[@feonjun]

If only J.J. Abrams watched this video, he would understand how his lens flares kill the mood of a scene.

[@SonicfanTheNightfury5099]

I have trouble with Color Theory in art XD

[@BloodGutsandSocialCommentary]

Ouch, yeah wasn't my favorite in school either. Best of luck.

[@SonicfanTheNightfury5099]

@@BloodGutsandSocialCommentary well I am artist out of school and have trouble with Color Theory for my art

[@BloodGutsandSocialCommentary]

@@SonicfanTheNightfury5099 ah, got ya. Got a month worth of it from the most monotone professor ever.

[@alicedubois1348]

"Remember to keep comments respectful and to follow our Community Guidelnes." Does anyone else get this or is it only me?

[@BloodGutsandSocialCommentary]

Ugh, they marked this comment as spam for some reason.

[@alicedubois1348]

@@BloodGutsandSocialCommentary Big brother is watching...

[@MadameCorgi]

I thought I'd accidentally angered the Gods.

[@ukaszponiatowski879]

I just wanna say thank you 😇

[@BloodGutsandSocialCommentary]

Thank you for watching.

[@Scratchboardproductions]

Oh man please don’t ever use that constant moving background again. 🤮 motion sickness

[@silverpaladin0710]

I always visualized Orange as a industrial, viscous color in horror. I starting thinking this way after looking at the film Alien in a deleted scene where Ellen Ripley must kill a friend to free them from their suffering. Link to the scene below kzbin.info/www/bejne/gqa3nGeHmJx9fas