Digital Filmmaking Workshop: The "Blockbuster" look "Teal & Orange"

In storytelling/filmmaking you emphasize the important aspects or parts of the story and eliminate distractions or things that are less important. In other word you focus the audiences attention on what you want them to see. One of the best ways of doing this is to create contrast, to emphasize something by contrasting or comparing it to its opposite, this way it stands out. Obviously the actors and their performance are the most important and so focusing the audiences attention on this through the use of contrast in color achieves this.

How the look is achieved:

Basically blue is pushed into the shadows and yellow into the highlights. For detailed instruction watch Stu Maschwitz’s tutorial on creating the “blockbuster” look.

Contrasting color with skin tones:

Contrasts in color or complimentary colors, (colors that sit opposite each other on the color wheel) “compliment” each other or makes the other color stand out when matched up next to or on top of its opposite.

Skin tones lie between red and yellow on the color wheel, or sort of an orange color. The complimentary color of skin tones or opposite is teal or blue. Since we’re trying to emphasize the skin tone of the talent which is orange, it’s natural then that this color of teal is used to help the skin tones stand out against environment. This focuses the audiences attention on the actor.

The funny thing, is our brains like contrasts because it makes it easier to discern detail. This is why looking at an image that has contrast in tonal range with an “S” curve, is aesthetically pleasing as compared to a less contrast or “flat” image. The same must be understood for chroma or color.

Best contrasting colors:

I will tell you that blue and yellow (or if you want to call it teal and orange) are the best complimentary colors on the color wheel for the reason that they contrast each other tonally as well. If you were to take the color wheel and convert it to greyscale (black and white), what do you see as the blackest or darkest color? What do you see as the whitest or brightest color?

You would see that it is blue and yellow respectively. Thus blue and yellow contrast each other tonally not just in chroma. No other colors do this as well naturally.

With this understanding in mind, it’s also important to note that darker colors recede into an image while lighter colors “pop” out. Thus skin tones or the talent actually stand out in comparison to their surroundings.

You can think of pushing colors in one of four basic variations, with cool colors being green, cyan, blue and warm colors being magenta, red and yellow.

1) Pushing cool colors into shadows and highlights to create cool color cast

2) Pushing warm colors into shadows and highlights to create warm color cast

3) Pushing cool colors into shadows and warm color into highlights to create separation or contrast with complimentary colors (i.e. “blockbuster” look)

4) Pushing warm colors into shadows and cool colors into highlights to create separation or contrast

With the last variation pushing lighter or warmer colors into shadows can be problematic as it effects the tone or the brightness of the shadow, (not to say it isn’t done, some films use this look) and cooler colors into highlights, seems unnatural when contrasted to warm shadows. So you really see that cooler colors typically belong in the shadows and warmer colors in the highlights when trying to create this type of contrast.

Pushing cooler colors into shadows and warmer colors into highlights seems more natural and creates more or less the “blockbuster” look. How much the colors are pushed may determine if it would be considered the “blockbuster” look. Of course these are only basic variations and the “blockbuster” look is a basic look. But more variety of complex looks can be achieved with secondary color correction.

Original:

Grade concept:

Teal and Orange - Hollywood, Please Stop the Madness

Those of you who watch a lot of Hollywood movies may have noticed a certain trend that has consumed the industry in the last few years. It is one of the most insidious and heinous practices that has ever overwhelmed the industry. Am I talking about the lack of good scripts? Do I speak of the dependency of a few mega-blockbuster hits to save the studios each year, or of the endless sequels and television retreads? No, I am talking about something much more dangerous, much deadlier to the health of cinema.

I speak of course, of THE COLOR GRADING VIRUS THAT IS TEAL & ORANGE !!!

Some films took this color-look to extremes like "Transformers 2" that the actors' faces look unnatural in color orange. Too much of anything is just BAD.