FMP Thesis Proposal

The influence of colour on Animation narrative

Introduction

In film studies, colour and story are usually divided into separate sections, the use of colour is usually relegated to a design. Therefore it is not usually considered to be something that should be taken into account in pre-conceptions. However, in some articles it is shown that the colour can effectively influence the audience’s perception, thus creating the desired atmosphere of the film, or even driving the plot and expressing emotions. Once the tone has changed, it often suggests a change in time and space or emotion. So colour shows its ability to tell a story to a certain extent, and it should be viewed more flexibly. Animation as a popular film genre, the effect of colour on animation is more unique and strong. It is clear that artists have more freedom with colour in animated films. Before digital technology, live-action films were confined by the natural colour of objects in a scene as well as by the limited amount of post-production work available to alter colour (Prince, 2012). This paper analyzes the role of colour in animated films from the perspective of colour narrative and attempts to better understand the impact of colour as a narrative medium on audience perception.

Keywords: animation, colour narrative, emotion

Background significance

Animation has been in development for over 100 years. Today, animation does not have to fit with reality, it gives creators more subjective creative space. The meaning of animation creation is also from the initial telling of a complete story to now hoping to resonate with the audience or create a narrative behaviour that moves the audience. There is too much psychological knowledge involved in this field, which reflects that animation creators need to understand artistic elements from the side. For example, in a horror storyline, adding sharp shapes and large areas of red to the scene evokes a fearful emotional response from the audience. However, the knowledge of psychology involved in this article will not delve into its principles, but will serve as a reference to corroborate theories.

Literature review:

Colour in a film is essential in the effect helping us understand the mood, the feeling of a situation, and a character’s journey. Kate Torgovnick May, an Arts & Design writer for TED, writes on How Colour Helps a Movie Tell its Story. Therefore, colour can directly penetrate into the plot, act as the compose and participant of the plot, and become a scene language to express emotional connotation. Colour design is an important means to shape an artistic image and create an artistic environment. Although colour does not tell a very clear story structure as words do, but it helps the viewer to understand the story and thus create a bigger story in the imagination and in episodes where words cannot be specified, colour is the dominant storyteller. In terms of specific colours, research has consistently demonstrated a cross-gender and cross-cultural preference for blue hues above other hues (Eysenck, 1941; Granger, 1952; McManus, Jones, & Cottrell, 1981; Komar & Melamid, 1997). People also tend to consistently rate yellow and brown hues as being the least pleasant, especially in their darker forms (Palmer & Schloss, 2010). Biases across populations are not limited to hue; people consistently tend to favour colours in more saturated forms as opposed to more washed-out or pastel counterparts of the same hue (Granger, 1952)

Research Design, method, and schedule:

Based on the method of quantitative research, combined with the comparative analysis data of the story structure and colour of East and West animation, this paper has carried out a detailed exploration and research on theories such as colour theory, colour style, colour psychology and visual narrative.

The data for this article was split based on the story structure of the selected animation, and screenshots were taken at story turning points and colour temperature data was extracted to create a line graph comparison analysis at the end. The conclusions drawn are then combined with existing colour psychology theories for further study.

Suppositions and implications

This research can lay a foundation for future research on colour narratives in the East and the West, and may provide some ideas for some people who are confused about the use of colour in their animation works and provide some value for their works in expressing emotions. The theory of this paper can be applied in a wide range, based on all directions that use dynamic video storytelling: games, movies and animation, etc.

Conclusion

In animated films, colour is an important narrative symbol, and at the same time can reflect the creative style of animated film directors and the artistic characteristics of animated films themselves. Hua Bing said: Through the reasonable use of colour in the creation of animated films, it can not only decorate the animation pictures, but also describe the characters’ emotions, create the atmosphere of the scene environment, and express the cultural connotation of the characters’ psychological characteristics. The importance of these contents in driving the narrative of animated films is self-evident. The first is that different colours can point out different themes. The narrative of each film needs to be carried out around a theme, but often in the film narrative, the theme is not clearly expressed, and the audience needs to discover and excavate the theme from the plot and imagery. Different colours have different images, and at the same time can bring different psychological hints to the audience. This feature of colour determines that in the film narrative, colour can play the role of pointing out the theme.

Bibliography and reference list

Baker, Logan. “Manipulating the Audience’s Emotions with Color.” Premium Beat, 2 August 2016.

Berens, J., 2014. The Role of Colour in Films: Influencing the Audience’s Mood.

Dutson, S., 2013. Visual Narratives: Storytelling in the Digital Age.

May, K. T. (2017, April 06). How color helps a movie tell its story. Retrieved September 03, 2018.

Miller, M. (2017, November 5). How colors change the way we think, feel and consume – CNN. Retrieved September 03, 2018.

Millman, Z. (2017, April 21). Never Shined So Brightly: The Use of Color in ‘La La Land’. Retrieved September 03, 2018.

Sarah Street, The Colour dossier Introduction: the mutability of colour space, Screen, Volume 51, Issue 4, Winter 2010, Pages 379–382.