why Ariel's story needs colour | a 1989 vs 2023 analysis

[@artatmidnight]

UPDATE: I have since seen the remake, and I think my thoughts still hold up! however, land looks much better than under the sea (except for the Kiss the Girl scene which is quite dark). it's probably the 2nd best princess remake next to Cinderella, but the animation still has my heart 💙 -- I recorded this before the live action was out (there’s no spoilers!). If you’ve seen the movie already, I’d love to know what you thought of the visual style 🫧🌊 (also sorry if my S’s are harsh. I used a de-esser on full max and this was the best I could get it 🥲)

[@nicole-mq2dk]

Your s's are way more than fine.

[@notmycircusnotmymonkeys3627]

So you made this before even watching it? Unbelievable. Yep let’s just pile on more hate to this movie for no reason.

[@moonlight_haze]

i watched the movie a few weeks ago. it was actually better than i thought it'd be. i will say, i wish some parts of the movie was brighter visually. but overall it was a pretty good movie and halle is a perfect ariel for the live action

[@andreeadoca1550]

@@notmycircusnotmymonkeys3627 exactly which part of this video was hateful?

[@cedricdallaire3324]

Love the dark tones I feel like the og was pretty dark to and if you translate the whole animated boat shark chase scene colors with the live action one its pretty much what you would get in real life. I even prefered all the darker scenes just becaus I thought the ocean felt empty during day time lol

[@strawberryart3886]

Animator here- a very important note is that The Little Mermaid 1989 was the last Disney film to be inked on cels. This is a tedious, hand painted process for every frame of animation. Every color choice they made was VERY intentional

[@griffinmathers929]

Thank you, it's always so interesting to hear from the perspective of artists. I have an old friend, we lost touch a few years ago, but he worked on a lot of Disney projects, mostly in the mid 1990s and later, he shared some of his original cels, how much people want to buy them, recognizing the artistry and so much work that went into making these once magical movies. Something feels lost with the - I guess more computer generated animation? Nice to have both but I hope it didn't put a lot of you out of work.

[@jujuoof174]

Gosh what a beautiful work!

[@barneyerror4561]

Whether intentional or not, it was worth it.

[@sacrameretrix]

before i even watch the video, for me, ariel’s hair being muted took so much away from characterization that is implicitly communicated. the vibrancy of her hair reflected her inherent fiery and adventurous nature. ariel was always searching for colour because she herself is full of life

[@seandalo]

Her hair is extremely vibrant. the trailer clips just don’t do it justice and these underwater scenes make it more dull. On land it’s so colorful. It’s more of a strawberry blonde

[@CATSWITHKYLA]

The thing that makes me most angry about the hair topic is, well clearly it isn't fire engine red like in the animation. But Halle is wearing $150,000 worth of extentions 🤨 Why in the hell aren't they BRIGHT RED? It would've looked so much better even of she had some of that bright red mixed in there, but no they choose dark-brown red instead. I am convinced that Disney just likes to screw with their audiences. This movie is over 2 hours long. Most of the kids in the theaters fell asleep. Ugh

[@CATSWITHKYLA]

​@@seandalo I disagree that it looked strawberry blonde in any scene but even that is the WRONG color 😂

[@krxpsykrxme2353]

@@CATSWITHKYLA because they would’ve damage her hair even more y’all don’t be understand black hair

[@MysticOceanDollies]

@@krxpsykrxme2353 couldn’t they have done box braids with bright red extensions or had her wear a wig? I know nothing about black hair, but I’ve seen black girls with vibrant colored braids before, so could they have done that? I think it would have looked great on her if they did.

[@SanguinaryBlade]

The really dark tones of the remake also really don't work well with the darker skintone of the actress compared to the original either. Darker colours, including skin, absorb light, so they should have put more effort into adding that inner glow darker skintones can get under the perfect lighting. Underwater is the perfect place to add the right beautiful light beams to properly highlight her too.

[@ShesquatchPiney]

I love how Diddnee says they care so much about representation, but not enough to bother lighting Halle well.

[@fiercearmadillo6850]

Halle has such a beautiful complexion. She deserved warm, flattering, glowing light.

[@ieatteeth5605]

@@ShesquatchPiney No fr though, its not hard to make flattering lighting for black skin they were just lazy

[@msk-qp6fn]

I think this really did not help Halle. While I often tell people that her acting leaves more to be desired, it's really not that bad but the general execution and direction makes it seem a lot worse, especially the underwater scenes. Instead of the fantastical whimsical vibe I expected from the little mermaid, it gave me pirates of the carribean and thriller vibe and Halle's expressions got muddied.

[@yourshoulderdevil5229]

​@@msk-qp6fn I don't even think her acting was the problem, I think it was all Disney having no direction. Most scenes don't look intentional or thought out at all, so even if she was the greatest actress in the world I doubt it would look much better. I saw a few behind the scenes and she was clearly putting effort in, but it was all muddled by the end, just like her complexion and the rest of everything in the movie.

[@-AtomsPhere-]

It was crazy when you showed the “our planet” clip to contrast how beautiful the actual ocean is.

[@gayroach2916]

You can have a fish tail for legs but not unnaturally colored hair, bc realism.

[@Sarah-og3mp]

Magic exists, but animals can't emote because they have to look realistic

[@morningrosie3684]

HAIR DYE. Just say she dyed her hair. Problem solved.

[@laceymcgrath3945]

Guess they randomly just chose from a hat what would be extra real & what would be totally fake & unbelievable? Pick a lane already Disney....

[@Nyang-j3q]

You can have a bird that talks under water, but not red hair cause it's not realistic 🥲

[@pettybee3860]

Which is also weird because.... Hellooooo she's a MERMAID. It's so strange to me that a literal mythical creature is the subject for the movie and they can't even do the colour palette right 😭

[@0deadx21]

Merida from Brave has realistically colored red hair, which is different shades of orange and vermilion. They could have given Halle's Ariel that hair color but slightly more reddish. Her white sisters have pastel hair colors, and Halle's hair underwater is all CG, so her drab, boring hair color was intentional.

[@paradigmshift470]

Oh I see what’s going on you just REALLY dislike this specific movie and actively seek out comments where people like it. Cool!

[@0deadx21]

@@paradigmshift470 The movie could have actually been quite good, if it weren't for the unimpressive visuals, Awkwafina singing, and creepy-looking talking animals. Avoiding the blatant woke identity politics couldn't have hurt either.

[@PaceFineArts]

Brittney Reacts recently did a video on why we need more films like Barbie and one of her main arguments was the great colour palette since so many movies are so dark nowadays.

[@mariaisabelg4701]

To answer your question about why TLM remake(and a lot the recent Disney remakes) have this dull and dark color palette is because it's an attempt to hide the unfinished CGI. It's why a lot CGI-heavy scenes(the underwater scenes especially) look dark in order to hide them. The VFX artists don't have unions here in the US so unfortunately they're mistreated and overworked, so it will reflect on the movie. It's sad because water CGI can look good as we've seen with the recent Avatar movie. On another note, I love color analysis sm❤! I appreciate the incredible detail and work you put out and as an aspiring artist that is still new to coloring this is extremely helpful to me. Great video💕.

[@paidendenae]

That's actually such a good point! Especially after learning about the strike and Disney's habit of not meeting their actors'/employees' needs

[@msk-qp6fn]

so it IS rushed and badly made

[@RougeRenawe]

Cinderella (2015) has one of the most beautiful colour schemes ever created by Disney. It’s even prettier than the original animated film.

[@artatmidnight]

the 2015 Cinderella has the most gorgeous costumes 💛 it's the only princess remake i've seen that gets it right

[@MegaMegafran]

And the costumes knocked it out of the park, even though everyone looked gorgeous and vibrant Cinderella always stood out and thats how you do disney princess dresses. Go BIG or go home

[@zylahnuri7064]

@@artatmidnight As well as Cruella De Ville, even though she's a villan

[@CATSWITHKYLA]

I agree that the The costumes were beautiful the color was nice but the got rid of somebody the songs and didn't feel like to Cinderella... My daughter watched Cinderella put the dress on that the mice made and got up and was like "I'm out" 😂 She said "the scene were the mice make her dress and sing Work Song (Cinderelly, Cinderelly) was removed. Sing, Sweet Nightingale, was removed and even the scene when the fairy God mother was doing her magic, they messed that up too. The fairy God mother was supposed to be acting singing bobbity bobib boo! And she didn't it was just playing. This movie they removed versus to Poor Unfortunate Souls and Kiss the girl and in The Lion King they completely removed Scars Villain song ..... Due To Controversial Lyrics. 😱 Disney Woke and are living in a different dimension now. Sorry Rant over. 😂

[@nyes4596]

I'd disagree, i think Maleficent captures the essence of "fairy tale" Very well! (Especially in the second film!)

[@andreeadoca1550]

SHES A MERMAID. Who cares if her hair is a natural color or not. SHE. IS. A. MERMAID. Mermaids are fantastical creatures, so giving her huge red hair fits right in. How come no one who worked on this movie ever took a second to think about color theory, especially after Avatar 2?? Baffling

[@Melanin_Goddess-e6b]

Why does it matter? The movie is created y’all need to get over it and stop having a attitude because a movie isn’t a certain way you want it to be.

[@FuzaketeSatsugai]

@@Melanin_Goddess-e6bokay…hun there’s something called criticism??

[@thescarIetbitch]

her sister literally has pink hair.

[@KaiKailuv]

They tried the bright red but it didn’t work with her skin tone. They wanted her to actually look good

[@edwintovar1505]

​@@KaiKailuvthats not true Hailey and her sister had fire red hair braids in some point a looks so beautiful

[@ohhowkeni8709]

It really says something that I watch the movie in theaters, with a big screen and a dark room, and there was STILL scenes where I felt like I could hardly see what was happening!

[@animemi]

I saw the live action a week or so ago, and I still agree that it wasn’t nearly as colorful and vibrant as I was hoping. Some scenes looked better than the trailer for sure, but I feel like most of the colors were so dull (especially in the ocean scenes; it was so dark I couldn’t see most of the details and I suspect this might’ve been to cover up rushed cgi). I also think Ariel’s hair color could’ve been more red; instead it was more orange-toned which I think was to make it more realistic, but it ended up falling flat imo. I think overall, I prefer the original aesthetically.

[@artatmidnight]

totally agree! i think the CGI department just needed more time. apparently that industry is so overworked and maybe that's what happened here :(

[@nightwish1453]

apparently the way the hair being orange-toned was if the dye was a much stronger colour it would have a hard time at keeping it that same shade when shooting the scenes where Halle is in non-gi places with water. seems more like laziness as there shouldn't be that many scenes where that issue would come up pretty much all the underwater scenes are done on green screen it's just when Halle is just above water where that may happen and require more takes which there is a vid online of a 30th anniversary video where the swimmer being Ariel used the bright hair and probably had a way lower budget than the movie so it should be possible just more effort. There are people who have edited on the internet to the hair and made it much brighter as well as some of the locations and it's an improvement so it's questionable why they didn't do that in post edits for those small scenes if they didn't want to go through the trial and error of it.

[@seandalo]

@@nightwish1453 I think the ginger red/strawberry blonde that they went for in the final take looks so much better than the red that was edited on her on twitter. The strawberry blonde just matched her skin tone and complexion much better. It made her look more like Ariel, with like innocence. I just don’t know why it looks brown underwater. The edited red is just not it in my opinion. It kind of gives more hot bad bitch girl than the curious innocent wanderer

[@sweetchocolate7113]

​@@seandalo exactly

[@moonlightpov9124]

About the hair color. The hairstylist for Halle said in an interview that the hair color choice was based on Halle's undertones and such. She said that they tried 15 different shades of red until they found the one that matches Halle's undertones the best which is the ginger copper toned red shade we have in the movie

[@bialynia]

"Animation was better" is a new "book was better". And I don't mean it in a mocking way. When you make an adaptation between two mediums you need to understand strengths and weaknesses of both the original medium and the target medium. Something will be always lost in adaptation because the target medium simply cannot convey certain aspects the way the original did. To make a good adaptation you need to have a clear idea of how to compensate for that loss, but most importantly what it is that the target medium can do for the story that the original couldn't. Filmmakers are surprisingly bad at this.

[@Dragonild]

I personally think a good example of this done well is in The Last of Us. (Spoilers ahead, be warned!) In the game, the player meets the characters of Henry and Sam, and gets to spend lots of time with them. It’s also a more personal interaction, because the player is playing AS Joel and Ellie. They get to choose optional conversations, fight alongside those characters, and generally grow closer emotional connections due to the nature of gameplay. In the TV show, there’s less time to tell Henry and Sam’s story, but there’s also an inherent disconnect between the viewer and the character. It’s not a bad thing, just a change between mediums, but it means that the viewer may not feel as personally connected to the characters as a player would. The tv show changes Sam so that he’s deaf. According to the official behaving the scenes, this was done to make Henry and Sam’s relationship feel more unique and give more weight to Henry’s need to be there for Sam, but I think it also works as an efficient way to endear those characters to the audience. With less time to spend on little personal moments, Sam’s deafness gives his relationship with Henry and Ellie’s connection to him immediate weight. Idk if I explained this well, but I thought it was a well done example ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[@bialynia]

@@Dragonild Oh yeah, I agree wholeheartedly! People behing The Last of Us show really knew what they were doing and nailed everything I wrote about adaptations. They made all the right decisions what to ditch, what to keep, what to alter, and what to add.

[@deletelater3484]

I saw the live action last week! Honestly, it's a lot brighter than the trailers so I'll give it that, but while I loved Halle as Ariel, the colours still didn't really match the energy and impacts of the scene, they felt far too dark :( This is especially evident in the first half of the film, and while I don't think Ursula's lair was bad, the colours didn't mesh together well and it distracted me while the scene was playing. Overall I really love this analysis of how colour was used in these films!

[@artatmidnight]

thank you! so happy it's not as bad as the trailers but also disappointed about Ursula's lair :( especially since her character was based on the drag queen, Divine. better colour would've given her that flair ✨

[@mjberanabroso4617]

I wish someone edits the film's color grading just so we can see how effective color is.

[@MegaMegafran]

I once posted a comment on tiktok about how her hair color was done dirty, and everyone jumped my throat thinking I meant the race thing. This is what I meant, Halle is gorgeous and crazy talented her image should've popped out of the screen at you and they picked a color for her hair that made her blend into the background had this been any other role, the color they picked would've have been fine but the lead princess in the story should NEVER blend into the background. In the animated version you followed Ariel everywhere in this one you're lucky if she doesnt disappear in the crowd😢👎🏻, though I disagree with the vid that they shouldn't have considered the vibrant red, its a film about mermaids realism goes out the window and if she looks good then its a good option to consider. Disney live actions should follow the rule "GO BIG OR GO HOME!"

[@gabrielasosa9146]

Im sorry they all choose the race card. Is a poor excuse to defend an aesthetically poorly made movie. They are taking away the serious meaning of "racism" by ust throwing it like that

[@spinosaurusstriker]

Halle's fans are like kpop stans at this point.

[@catenigma6352]

I think the red would look garish in live action, I think the natural red looks better

[@VictoriaGates]

@@catenigma6352 A quick Google search for "black woman with vibrant red hair" says otherwise. There are some amazing ways to do this.

[@caoisekamay1175]

​@@spinosaurusstriker its making me sad and frustrated. Wanting more vibrant hair and set design isn't an attack. We want those things because it would made Halle more stunning. Imagine how much more gorgeous she'd be if she wasn't subjected to muted and muddy backdrops all the time. We all deserved better but especially Halle

[@honeycrud]

the heavy use of cgi in movies these days is probably a huge culprit in why everything is so dark and hard to see; its just easier to hide flaws in a darker setting. which sucks because i wanna see the movie not a reflection of my own face on my nasty laptop screen..

[@kjlynne1191]

this is such a wonderful video for teaching how color impacts story! i’ve been teaching art at a camp this summer, and i am HIGHLY considering showing my students this video to help exemplify what i’ve been trying to teach them about color. thank you for making this!

[@artatmidnight]

thank you! feel free to share! i'm so glad this is helpful for you 🤗💛🫧

[@Aisha_Luv]

I understand that Halle has a warm skin tone which is why they went with the ginger, but in fanartof the movie, many people made the orange a more vibrant and redish, while keeping the orange tone! And it looks amazing! They just needed to make it a bit more vibrant!

[@ieatteeth5605]

Exactly!

[@rainebows]

the cinderella remake was my favourite use of colors and the costume design was so smart for the characters. you can just tell everyone’s personality from their costumes which i love.

[@dianaay6131]

I’ll be honest… not every movie should be a live action. This is one of those movies.

[@seandalo]

ok but we needed halle

[@penmaster003]

@@seandalo She could be a different princess. This live action was certainly not needed at all. It was better left undone.

[@bumbabees]

personally i think if it needs to be almost entirely CGI to make it live action, it should be left alone. thats why so many of these movies just dont work. the CGI doesnt make it look better, it makes it look dead. not everything NEEDS to be realistic.

[@charg1nmalaz0r51]

@@seandalo as the singer sure, they needed a better actress though

[@Melanin_Goddess-e6b]

@@penmaster003shut up

[@MacaTooni]

OMG literally yes amazing analysis !! Also they did Halle so dirty with the makeup it looks like when girls have lash extensions on but no other makeup. She already have really round eyes so they should've left the middle part alone and only do individuals at the corner, also a brown liner. Also as a mermaid I was expecting some blue and purple glitter/highlighter as well as more blush but they gave us nothing :/

[@LQFamily]

Why did they have to race swap to begin with? We didn’t need diversity on this movie.

[@justinecorrington4106]

Honestly for the hair i was okay with not real red, but look at Ariel. She added flowers, barrettes… make her dreads decorative under the sea. Glitter on face. Her sisters are brighter decorated and fancy But what made me go what, is she is singing under the sea. I get it, she sings beautifully, have her sing it for credit

[@Mely.Moon.]

Haven't watched yet (movie or vid) but i really do wish LA Ariels hair was brighter 😭 it was so iconic

[@artatmidnight]

i agree! i touch on this a bit in the vid. Halle still looks beautiful, but I would have loved a more vibrant red

[@Mely.Moon.]

​@@artatmidnight I just got to that part and I agree

[@madeupname3008]

After watching the movie I felt it was actually pretty bright in the above Land scenes

[@spinosaurusstriker]

​@@madeupname3008thats the problem , itssupposed to be like that even under water

[@animula6908]

Not for no reason. Her hair expresses her irrepressible if awkward curiosity and adventurous nature. It’s designed to communicate things about the character. They didn’t actually make a lot of mistakes in the original. Maybe that’s why I hate these remakes: certain movies aren’t needing someone to fix them. This is one imo.

[@penmaster003]

I didn't like the live action. I didn't like anyone's acting (Especially the voice actors for the animals and Halle Bailey's). I didn't like the changes to the music. And I really think the color palette was one of the worst aspects of the film. Especially Halle Bailey's hair. Given the fact that the sisters had pastel pink and lavender, neon yellow, and bright blue in their hair, I have no idea why they gave her such muted and uninspiring hair color.

[@benjihudson2768]

I hate the assertion that the colors should be muted because it makes the ocean look less appealing, and justifies Ariel wanting to leave. The ocean looks beautiful in the original. Ariel just doesn’t appreciate where she comes from. I think that’s a really great message, see the beauty in where you come from (And I’d just rather watch a fantasy movie where everything looks nice)

[@Oscitant_Otter]

That idea would have been great if the land scenes were intentionally bright and cheery to emphasize how happy she had become getting a taste of what she'd always wanted. If instead like the movie we got, both land and sea are similarly muted, I guess we're supposed to think Ariel's just not happy anywhere lol.

[@pacrat190]

I don’t get why they dulled her hair so much Like yes that is a natural red but it’s more of a strawberry blonde It’s too close to her skin tone as well so it washes her out a little Just doing a natural red would’ve been fine, I’ve been natural reds with VERY red hair

[@ieatteeth5605]

Exactly! Ive been saying that the hair colour was way too close to her skin tone

[@muajin]

If they were going for a cgi underwater scene, they should have used avatar's water movie as a reference. Instead their water scenes are quite dark and not even that great *for example one scene where it's storming up top but you see light coming down in the water* so they failed about matching that.

[@SpiralDown2077]

My mum oil paints, I used to be fascinated by all the names for specific tones. I would compare tubes to burn the difference in my mind. I now work with garments and each company just tries to make it a pun name or cutesy. It can be quite frustrating to see something labeled completely off. Like pine and kiwi getting mixed up. Lol glad I found this channel

[@hazelnuiit]

Her hair color was so pretty at the premier!! It looks so princess-y!!! Why didn't they go with that for the movie???? 😭😭

[@caterpee]

this is the same problem i had with the peter pan and wendy trailer. it looked dark and almost unreadable. great video ^^

[@shadowsoulless6227]

Disney: if it's live action it has to be realistic Also Disney: We are going to have talking animals that speak English and have human intelligence in our live actions which are supposed to be realistic Also also Disney: In our live actions there is going to be magic, also mermaids, but it has to look 100% realistic, like real mermaids and real magic. Everyone elsr: uuuuhhhh

[@Theaceofspace255]

I’m Australian and I grew up near the Great Barrier Reef. I think this was a huge missed opportunity to show the beautiful vibrant colours of the ocean, anyone who has been to the reef and dived will understand the vibrant even fluorescent colours that show up. Also don’t you think a mermaid would be able to see all the colours on the spectrum that we can’t see? So why are we given this pallet?

[@HybrydaArt]

I'm always schocked how much more dynamic animated movie is, when it's harder to do this weird angels and spins than live action... how is it that a drawing has so much more life in it?

[@MandatoryMyocarditis7]

I saw a video of how they created the animated version using Sherri Stone as the model. It is an eye opener and explained what you see.

[@egg_2705]

For the same reason we're mesmerised by art while left indifferent by a photograph of the same scene. Style is more engaging than simply realism.

[@coreywigent7693]

The original had passion and creativity. The live action is corporate slop

[@missing_name]

I honestly feel like this is an issue with a lot of live actions. There’s just not a lot of color.

[@artatmidnight]

i think the lion king remake had this problem too. the hyper realism is impressive, but the lack of colour takes the energy away :(

[@missing_name]

@@artatmidnight the biggest issue I had with Lion king was the hyper realism. A realistic animal face isn’t suited to emote because they’re physically not meant to emote. That’s why cartoons and stylization works so well.

[@imthebossmermaid3648]

@@artatmidnight I saw a scene of the live action jungle book(where it was night out and there was a fire/animals fighting) and it had the same problem. Granted, I haven't seen the movie and never plan to, but still.

[@same9818]

I saw the movie last week and agree that the underwater scenes were lacking in colour, however the land scenes were beachy and beautiful but this just made it more evident to me how much the sea scenes were lacking they weren't ugly by any means but I noticed that especially in under the sea there was just a lack of vibrancy and a lot of empty space, I feel like they should of made the water a warmer blue and made things like the fish and coral more vibrant (more like a tropical sea.) As for Ursula, I didn't really find Melissa's performance compelling and don't think it was really campy enough (maybe it would of helped if her scenes had more purple/dramatic colours like you said). The same problem happened with king Triton, in the original he was a paranoid overthinking dad but in the new film he honestly just seemed stone-faced and cold Other than those critiques I loved this movie and think that Halle and Jonah especially did amazing with their roles! It's the best Disney remake by far

[@artatmidnight]

i keep hearing Jonah and Halle are the cutest couple in this! i've seen so many interviews of them together and they have the best chemistry 💖 ugh it's so disappointing about the underwater scenes. I was hoping it would look better on the big screen somehow. it's especially important to help demonstrate Ursula and Triton's presence! i'm looking forward to seeing it though. Glad to hear it's one of the better remakes (thank goodness, we needed one haha)

[@brosplit]

In my humble opinion, best remake still goes for Cinderella then Maleficent 1.

[@nessierey6721]

Cinderella’s still My Favorite LiveAction personally but I agree with everything else you said ✨

[@seandalo]

under the sea was super colorful wdym

[@mayaadrianna317]

I feel like if Ursula was a popular drag queen, like Eureka O’Hara, it would added that camp feel and makeup would’ve been better as she would’ve done it herself.

[@i_prefer_the_term_antihero]

I watched the whole thing without seeing your comment that you hadn’t seen the movie yet, and it seemed to me like you had! I’ve seen it and you absolutely hit the nail on the head. This was a great video. Ive watched quite a few videos on the live action little mermaid and this has got to be one of my favorites. I love how you’re able to point out the movies faults in a thoughtful and respectful way that isn’t overly negative or condemning. Just states gently and well what worked and what didn’t.

[@artatmidnight]

thank you for your kind words 💛 i try to be mindful that even if something can be improved, we can still appreciate the work and effort that got it this far. i'm so glad you enjoyed watching !

[@whatalsaid]

I would’ve LOVED a more somber looking little mermaid retelling, especially considering that the OG story is quite sad, but the DISNEY version of that story is not where we should be putting these very somber colors.

[@TryinBin8889]

The live remake Cinderella was gorgeous. Visually amazing with the use of colours. There are many moments where the mansion is dark, but that's because of the sinsiter nature of the evil step-mother. It creates tension and contrast from the brighter scenes. Disney is clearly capable of telling a story through the use of colour in a live-action remake. They just don't here. It's so cold and depressing to watch

[@megarakadmea]

Cinderella also deepened the prince’s arc while this movie literally stole the arc right out from under Eric. Ironic considering how Eric was one of the first princes to have a personality.

[@phillinsogood]

Disney did a phenomenal job with using the color palette in the original 80’s version to tell & enhance the story. Bravo to the animators

[@mariahsty]

i love bright colour palettes when it comes to movies about magic, and adventure. That's what I was expecting for the live action, but I guess Disney prefers muted colors when it comes to their live actions. That's why my favorite live action film remake will forever be Cinderella.

[@perrilewis180]

I hate that no one seems to get the right kind of red for black girls yet. Like starfire in the titan series had too dark of a red and Halle is barely orange.

[@imthebossmermaid3648]

It's because white people are behind the scenes, we need Black hairstylists for Black actors STAT. (white/nb ppl learning how to style/color Black hair/outfits wouldn't hurt either, though)

[@starsandsuns]

I'm a lighting designer for live theater and I recently got to work on The Little Mermaid! It was one of my favorite shows to work lights for because of the ample opportunities to use a more varied, vibrant color palette. It makes me sad to see the live action movie not take the same opportunities when they had so many more resources available! Since color can communicate so much about characters and story (in lighting but also in costuming, set design, etc), it's disappointing to see Disney shy away from taking full advantage of it.

[@xXOpenYourHeart759Xx]

Really great analysis here. Excellent description of color tones and schemes. Color is so important to The Little Mermaid. I wish the remake had more vibrance, contrast, and variety.

[@MsCameraMan75]

I thought the best part of the live action was when she’s out of the water after she completed the spell because, first: her and prince eric’s chemistry carried the movie. And secondly, the color palette is way more interesting than any of the water scenes (still really dark though)

[@nataliabusko1432]

There wasn’t any chemistry lol They fall in love cause they HAVE TO (it was written in the plot)

[@jenng7389]

@@nataliabusko1432 that's in all movies. they're all scripted. the love story in the updated Mermaid was rooted in a real connection of similarities and not just 'a look" like in the cartoon

[@nataliabusko1432]

@@jenng7389 love story on a remake was forced and lacked chemistry yet original love story felt natural

[@jenng7389]

@@nataliabusko1432 you're joking right? the cartoon felt... natural?! 🤣🤣🤣🤣 So spending time together and getting to know ones passions, dancing and laughing together is forced but seeing someone and falling in love at first sight is natural. y'all be trying way to hard. oh boy. thank you so much for this big laugh today.

[@nataliabusko1432]

@@jenng7389 yes, cartoon felt natural in comparison with remake😂 Can you imagine that level of bad writing You are right, it gave me good laugh

[@moritzmartini4132]

Tbh I think bright red hair could work in live action. Like of course not tomatoe red, a little bit darker, but still bright red hair

[@truthseeker9249]

I would say a wine red. A deep yet prominent wine red.

[@therealgrimreaper68]

What really got me particularly disappointed was the hair colour, it was bright red in the original but now it looks more orange or brown than red. It isn't supposed to look natural, no one has a fish tail either. This movie really didn't need a remake.

[@just_foxy35]

the saddest part about disney remakes being... dark is that children need color. It's about as helpful for them to make the live action dark as it is for aesthetic pinterest moms to give their babies all beige and grey and wood tones toys. I don't know who they are making the remakes for, but it's neither children nor people who grew up with the originals, not the way they approach it at least

[@themartyflorence]

I love your DEEP DIVE into the original. You analyze every scene and show the differences with their corresponding emotions. I always loved this movie and thought it was beautiful but hearing you explain why it is so eye catching really gives a new layer of awe to the film I simply never looked that hard into. Thank you 😢❤

[@TwistedSynn]

The people who make these live actions and make such muted colors need to go outside more, the world isn't muted and is filled with colors.

[@godrules311]

Personally, I think that Disney deliberately makes these remakes to attract adults who grew up with the originals. That’s why they’re copy-pasted directly from the original movies. These were never made for children. They don’t have the attention span to watch stuff that’s so long and dull. And what kid would want a plushie of this version of Flounder and Sebastian?

[@axezeeplushie2497]

The new film is so dark i think its only possible to watch in the cinema. At home darker films are harder to see especially in the day. Yes i suppose you could wait for night or close all the curtains and doors but this is a kid’s movie we’re talking about. I hate that a lot of films in the last decade or so are SO DARK visually (and tonal-y but thats a different topic)

[@mana-uv7cz]

The movie really didn't look like the trailers, it was more visible. Overall it was passable but I agree it could have been a bit more colorful. In the theater the scene with the most color was under the sea.

[@madeupname3008]

Same it was very colorful in theatres

[@StarlightNebulosa]

Honestly, after "Aquaman" this movie has no excuse for the lackluster colors underwater.

[@walmaker8372]

Another critic of the live-action remake: currently, I'm watching those clips while the sun from the window is bouncing off the screen which makes it harder for me to actually see what's going on.

[@MaddieDeux]

11:25 one of Ariel's sisters, Caspia, had pinkish hair. Not natural in humans, but then these are mermaids. Surely they couldve given Ariel a more vibrant red?

[@imthebossmermaid3648]

EXACTLY!

[@Pangora2]

This is EXACTLY why I prefer animation, western, eastern, etc, over live action. Lazy live action just thinks because its in 3D its somehow...better than animation. Animators, artists, everything you need on the page, on the screen, its an active choice. Even in the intro you bring up "simple color choices" but maybe you can say that, but those colors still had to be chosen. Even if it was a subconscious thing, it was within the creator's minds. Live action? CG? Apply a filter. I know Live action can also have all of this stuff too - but this is not a feature that did it. It just assumed "I am live action, so I am already inherently better." By looking down on animation it earns my scorn.

[@sydney9011]

Incredible analysis! I feel like I have such a magnified appreciation for the original's clever color palettes now! As much as I enjoyed the new one, I feel like maybe it was a combination of Halle and nostalgia for the original that made me like it. At most it was an interesting watch, it was an odd exploration of what The Little Mermaid would look like if it were more realistic visually, only somewhat narratively.

[@00warrr]

Amazing and very well thought out video! I loved your color analysis of the original story, and how it helped me see it in a new light. Some additional things about Ursula's purple is that since purple is the least common color in nature, it feels unnatural and even magical, and it also is generally just a darker color, and both of these themes are perfect for an evil sea witch, along with the royalty factor (which I think plays into her backstory a bit?? Idk) once again, great job!!

[@artatmidnight]

yes! the purple definitely reflects those elements to 💜💜 so glad you enjoyed the video ! 🥰

[@mooniharu]

would love to hear your opinion once you watch the live action, just stumbled in your videos and they are so wholesome because we can feel the love you have doing these analysis so thank you ❤ Watching this now I understand why I felt such a range of emotions when I was little and watched again and again my favorite Disney movie and it’s so cool having this “woah” moment even though I already knew about color theory, so really you are awesome, now I’m a fan 🌻

[@nappeywappey]

the fact that after the movie released someone rerendered scenes with color correction that took like 10 seconds to apply and it instantly looked 10000% better 💀

[@mick3405]

I think you should do videos like this for the other Disney live-action remakes a especially the princess ones! I know for a fact that I’m not the only one who would love to see a video of your for the Cinderella remake or even Beauty and the Beast! Your insight to color symbolism and knowledge of the subject are so nice and fun to listen and you do such a good job at communicating your point. Even in just your shorts where you have less time you do such a good job at telling what you want to say without it feeling rushed. This is just a suggestion, feel free not to take to seriously, but it might be a really cool video series! 🐚🦋🌹🧚‍♀️

[@hopetokki]

Color has been my main issue with the live action since the first teaser was released. Ariel is my favorite Disney princess and Halle is such a great fit. Her voice is bright, bubbly, and youthful; just how I envision Ariel. That alone was enough for me to be excited to see Halle in the role. All of your points hit the nail on the head! The colors in the original movie was what really brought it to life and tell its own story. Even real sea life has much more color than the live action. Halle's Ariel blends in with the environment and everything around her is dull and hard to look at. Even while watching this video, I had the urge to turn up my brightness so I could actually see the clips and then realized my brightness was already maxed out. Goes to show how truly dim the live action is. The poor color execution is one of the biggest disservices to The Little Mermaid!

[@kaveenasingsandcosplays3441]

I completely agree with everything you said in the video! I enjoyed the new little mermaid, but there were some things that could've been done better, like the lighting. I agree that some scenes were so dark that I couldn't see what was happening very clearly. They also could've done a better job with her outfits on land. The original movie Ariel wore a different dress for dinner, the boat ride, and that blue sparkly dress towards the end of the movie. And they could've styled her hair rather than just giving her a headband.

[@CeltycSparrow]

I agree with your assessment, and I believe this to be true for most all of these live-action remakes. If you look at the original animated films, it is clear that they were made with love and creativity and passion. The animation is stunning, the colors are vibrant, the songs are timeless, the characters just explode to life onscreen. With these new remakes, its just copy/pasted from the originals and they are made with absolutely NO love....with the rare exception being 101 Dalmatians with Glenn Close. They DO NOT honor the stories or characters that we love at all.

[@MyoArven]

I saw this movie on theaters and some scenes were so dark that I thought the projector broke or something because I couldn’t see anything😅 Altho over all loved what they did with the stories and songs.

[@corpsenymph4644]

I’ve thought it before and I’ll say it now, Ariel looks gorgeous, but her hair not being cherry red is a *travesty*

[@beajack4990]

What’s funny too is at the premiere her hair is closer to the correct red than in the movie. So it proves she is willing to have that color and it looks good on her

[@jacobthomasdanao]

This analysis was so accurate I love it! I did see the live-action THREE times. Once on IMAX and the other two times at different theaters. The IMAX screening was totally different than standard theaters. The colors (while still more drab than the animation) did their best to pop and be vibrant. In the standard theater though, it was a whole different mesh of gray. The final battle was awesome action and scale wise, but visually it was so hard to see gigantic Ursula's face. It was definitely menacing with her glowing eyes and gill slits. In IMAX it was decent, but standard theater, I could barely see her eyes glow. While I appreciate the live-action in its own sense, I do agree that the color palettes needed more variety, contrast, and definitely brightness added.

[@heikeameis8122]

Because of these dark disney movies I have to make my phone screen as bright as possible...

[@Popchaaa0731]

I swear when watching the 2023 Little Mermaid in the cinemas, I had to widen my eyes cuz everything was so dark especially the scenes underwater and the shipwreck

[@gabrielleduplessis7388]

I don’t have anything to add about the dark backgrounds because you said everything. I was just glad as I was watching this on my TV where the sun was bright, I could still see the dark scenes. That is rare. I usually cannot see these dark scenes without the sun blaring in and giving a glare even with the blinds closed.

[@xedrasiv]

Disney really could have taken some inspiration from the czech adaption of the fairytale, Malá mořská víla. In that movie, all the mermaids had very detailed and some even colorful headdresses. If they couldn't give Ariel her bright red hair, it would have been so nice to have that color by adding some hair pieces, some oceanic accessoires etc...

[@amethystimagination3332]

This problem isn’t unique to this movie unfortunately, I’ve noticed the same lack of colour in The Lion King remake and too much darkness with little contrast in many scenes of the Aladdin remake. I know the real world can be bleak but colour does exist in “realistic” settings

[@sulsulii810]

I do think the entire Part Of Your World sequence-song in her lair, celebration on the ship, fire, rescue, iconic rock shot-was really, really well done in the live action. The initial song scene is kinda dark, but it fits the vibe well. The introduction of vibrant colors on the ship and in the sky, while Ariel is still trapped in the dark of the ocean, works as well. Even the juxtaposition of it being dangerously bright from the fire but nearly pitch black in the ocean works with everything around it. And the introduction of soft, warmer colors on the shore brings it all back down to earth. Then we get to Under The Sea and, gosh darn it Disney, give me a coral reef, I know how colorful they can be. That whole sequence felt way too muted, as did the rest of the film. Halle was phenomenal tho. I remember seeing her with what I believe was her natural black hair, and honestly I would’ve preferred that to the noncommittal ginger we got, since it’s a beautiful contrast to her skin tone.

[@clairelin0216]

Oh yeah, as someone who draws a lot and familiar with the use of color, the colors in this remake version just feel off to me. They had the money to make extensions that are super expensive but they can't make it vibrant red? Color can indicate lighting, the animated version's colors were chosen because those colors will make the characters stand out against the background even when there's very little to no light on the screen, the colors for the animated version were chosen for contrast. I want the seashell bra! The seashell bra in the animated version to me is more than just a creative choice, since the story takes place in the sea, it's also a great choice to incorporate seashells into the design of the character. I've seen the use of colors on characters in animations from other animation studios as representation of the changes that characters go through in a movie, when we see a character start from being not confident to confident, we'll see the clothes the character wear change from dull green, to vibrant blue, to a vibrant yellow, or when we see a character go from bright colors to more simple and basic colors to tell us that now this character has changed from the previous ways to a more humble self. And just something else I want to say, I also developed a crush on Eric when I first watched the animated version😂

[@Frogface91]

It's interesting to me that you showed live action Beauty and the Beast as an example of too much saturation as I personally thought that was fine, but the live action Cinderella everyone thinks is the best actually hurt my eyes in the cinema because of how overly saturated the colours were.

[@akabaneaki]

For the hair, bruh. Even my mum's hair dye box's color is more vibrant then halle's and that urks me to NO END.

[@Lilas.Duveteux]

To me, the issue with her top, is not that it's not sea-shells, is that it's so obviously latex.

[@jamesturnbull128]

I feel like Ariel is the one Disney princesses character where having such vibrant hair just makes so much sense. She's a mermaid, look at the vibrant range of sea life there is

[@peccantis]

God that gala hair Halle had (best shown @11:05) would have been absolutely gorgeous as a slightly exaggerated magical-realism version. Dark red braids opening into a fringe of dark red curls that catch light more, giving a saturated burning red, with deep golden orange highlights. They could have given her a halo of almost glowing red and paid homage to the original version's floaty cloud while still giving her a believable style of her own.

[@m.n.2971]

I always thought Ariel in her pink dress (which I had never noticed it matched the sky outside) seems so soft. She fits the environment, and despite still needing to adjust, this is where she belongs.

[@Mothermochi]

I agree!!! I saw it with my kids and it was so dark. I think it would’ve been received so differently if it was more visually pleasing. Halle’s voice is so good. It just felt really safe. Contrast is important.

[@ariesearthdragon]

Ariel was the only mermaid whose colors were not uniform. Her sisters' fins, tops, and accessories matched. She was meant to be "the odd one of the family". Also, I hate that the live action did not give her red hair. That was an iconic part of her look I was hoping would have been kept for her.

[@Dollily]

I think most of us can agree, when it comes to The Little Mermaid and Ariel, we WANT bright fantasy colours! I haven’t seen the live action yet. Halle is of course beautiful but she honestly looks bland to me, I wanted to see brighter red hair! Simply understanding colour palettes and how they convey certain feelings is important to me. I rarely comment on stuff these days because people will literally call you names for no reason. I’ve stated her hair is too dull and apparently it’s “racist”. It’s not, Ariel is a fantasy character and I would have loved some vibrancy to convey her personality more, plus it’s more aesthetic to create colour underwater scenes: I can’t stand dark films, it feels like lazy CG when they know we won’t actually be able to see any effects 😂.

[@checkerrose1990]

I feel like nowadays a lot of people who design stories worry too much on how realistic they can make their work. Now, it depends on the genre (Fantasy, Action, Horror, etc), but even then, I see many people restrict them selves in color pallets because "it's not realistic". In terms of film, with mediums such as animation and cgi, why limit oneself? You have the active ability to change the literal sky to any color and yet you make it grey. You don't have to worry too much on sets anymore because big budget films basically do it in a big blue box! What the hell is stopping these people to have fun with their creations? You're adapting an animation for Christs sake, make it feel just as fantastical, because that's sort of what's amazing with animation, you got to make the unreal seem real. Nowadays so many people hold back and it just makes me upset, like you don't even have to make it like pastels or neon, but work with pops of color, grittiness might've been cool or something, but not when you're adapting a medium that actively uses tangible colors to tell a story! This goes for comic book adaptations as well, why is everything so dark? even Spiderman's suit went Emo! How did Spiderverse make Mile's morales suit seem freaking brighter then Captain America's star spangled ass?! WHAT THE FUCK. Anyway, I needed to rant, I think I lost my thread, but tldr, I feel like people are holding back in terms of color pallets.

[@lullustration5775]

In cinema the colours were fine. The land scenes were really beautiful, the sea ones could have had more pop, but it wasn't too dark

[@lydiah12]

Great point about 1989 Ariel's hair color and style differentiating her from her sisters

[@animezinglife]

Honestly, nothing about her hair looks good in the film. On top of it being a brassy, burnt orange, it looks heavy, matted, unclean, and stiff. It doesn't look like something out of a fairytale--it looks a bit too literally like she's been swimming in the ocean her entire life. The choices they made there are baffling. The fact that Halle found a better/more flattering option for the premier is kind of sad. It complements her skin tone better whereas the orange washes her out.

[@luuluumystics]

I loved Halle in this movie, but I'm so pissed they muted her red hair. They could have emphasize her skin tone and hair to stand out against the muted blue ocean.❤

[@StyleboyEsposito]

loved this video so much 😋you've taught me so much about colour and i love it 😋 i've watched the live action and i loved it, however, i also agree in a way. i felt that the land ended up being way more vibrant and colourful, especially with the dance scene and ariel discovering other humans and the market, so to me, that might be symbolic of how ariel wanted to be more on land and how her dreams are brought to life vs. the sea where it's all blue, maybe sadder to her because of the desire to up to sea maybe ✨ however, i do agree, i wish it was more vibrant or even contrasted more with lighting, like with the under the sea number was my fave and most colourful but yeah i agree

[@artatmidnight]

thank you!! i can't wait to see it for myself. land during the day looks so pretty! I can see how the contrast would reflect Ariel's emotions. i don't mind the dark/blue vibes, I just wish they upped brightness in the ocean just a bit so we could see it better - even if she does want to leave it haha

[@StyleboyEsposito]

@@artatmidnight ooh i agree, there was a point where it was too dark and i was ok...we need a little light 😅 omg yess, can't wait to hear your thoughts about the movie

[@Anonymous__S]

From the moment I saw the trailer, while I don't mind the actress, I was like: But you ruined her, she looks like she's a zombie when surrounded by those colors. Doesn't favor hair at all.

[@michaelawilson6938]

I 100% agree with the coloring of this movie 🫣 the whole point is that she wants to experience being on land! The land scenes were bright and colorful. The most colorful water scene being “under the sea” makes so much sense because Sebastian is trying to convince her how great it is where they already are. That’s just my personal opinion. But I just think this makes a lot of sense!

[@giamarbles]

i was also a bit disappointed with the coloring when i watched in theaters. the story was great and i don’t think the darkness distracted from the plot, but it was jarring to see a disney movie so dark. my fav part was when she was exploring the shops and dancing with eric! it was lively and bright, which i was craving badlyyy

[@LordDawnWreaver]

Their need for "Realisim" has only made the live action movie more sad. That works with some movies, like beauty and the beast. But even that movie had bright colors for happy scenes.

[@germainelowpt7206]

You explained what I felt exactly !

[@binablob]

this is a really great video1 as an artist it hurts to see some of the scenes on this movie, colour is VERY important

[@daniellewhitley8397]

And another thing I’d add is the amount of bubbles is pitiful … I mean the bubbles in the animated version make the action under the water more unique and special Tbh. The bubbles add colorful texture in my opinion. Everything else I agree 💯 with what you stated in this video! Nicely said and shown video.

[@niczous]

The undersea scenes should be colourful and more focused as it’s a mermaid story but sadly the movie is not full of mermaids or town under the sea. 😢

[@ladygaga2100]

I wish Ariel’s hair was more saturated 😭 realism doesn’t matter she’s a MERMAID🧜‍♀️