How To Create A Colour Script For Animated Films

A group of stills from a film showing color relationships between frames

As an Associate Professor and Chair of Animation at the Columbus Higher of Art and Design (CCAD), our Blitheness Section has supported numerous cohorts of students every bit they create their animated films. In the last four to five years, I have noticed the students suffering a chronic reliance on local color. Films contained gorgeous motion, cute stories, simply the colour application was non supporting the narratives.

Using Color Theory for Film

CCAD has a long history of delivering colour theory though the Munsell Color System. In the electric current curriculum, at that place are several bear on-points where students investigate their application of color through Munsell. This is why it was surprising to me to see students thinking virtually their moving-picture show'due south color-voice as local, anatomical choices. Local Color was reducing the impact of our students' stories.

Creating Color Symbolism Palettes

To accost this, I began a Colour Scripts course. This form reinforces CCAD students' Munsell knowledge and begins a dialogue on colour relationships in support of the students' stories. A Color Script for Blitheness is a quick, working document that establishes which color combinations chronicle to specific emotional bear on-points of the story. Animators constitute relationships that they maintain (or interruption) based on what they want to communicate to the audience. This Color Symbolism is subtle but highly impactful. It touches the subconscious of the audience—they may not exist able to tell how it was made, but they can tell you lot how it made them experience.

A group of stills from a film showing color relationships between frames

Allie Vanaman, "Sharklock Foams" Beginning vs. End of Semester, Color Scripts 2017

To achieve this, animators tin can use Color Symbolism. At the most bones level, a story has iii Color Symbolism points. For instance: Disharmonize, Peace, and the Transition between those 2 words. This means that the animator will create color symbolism palettes, one for Peace, which is unlike than Conflict, which is different than the Transition between Peace & Conflict.

Color Symbolism is not a linear application. It is the application of the specific palettes in relation to moments in the movie. If the animator maintains these relationships, then the audience will subconsciously connect the palettes with the emotion. The audience volition feel a deeper connection to the story.

The beauty of the Munsell System is it labels each example of color. As students prepare their symbolism, they can produce numeric guides that they tin can use to estimate the success of their pic. For case, if a exam audience says a scene is confusing, the animator tin analyze the scene based on: i. The Munsell selection of colors, and 2. The Intended Word paired to those numeric colors. This pairing can be objectively analyzed to encounter if the system remains consistent. If not, the animator will know what they need to adapt in order to bring the color concept back in support of the story.

The ability of the animator to visually key their stories through the application of a numeric color-system strengthens the visual affect of the story. Stories that pair fundamental emotional touch points with a delineated color palette, and maintain those relationships, volition invoke the strongest connection between the pic and the viewer. The Munsell Organization will continue to provide a vocabulary for the students of the Columbus College of Fine art & Design to develop their animated stories.

About the Author

Photo of Charlotte Belland Charlotte Belland, Chair & Acquaintance Professor of Blitheness at the Columbus College of Art & Blueprint, is notorious for her artistic report of animals. Through analogue ink drawings, digital sculpture, and augmented reality, Charlotte adapts a broad range of mediums in the exploration of animal forms. Her favorite cartoon medium is ink because it keeps her focused in the present and committed to the line. She has an G.F.A. in Computer Animation from The Ohio State Academy. Yous can cheque out her work on Instagram.