ParaExtraordinary

Here it is, the last post. For this joyous sad occasion I'd like to do something I usually never do in this blog. I'm going to talk about a film!

Paranorman was probably my absolute favourite film of 2012. Created by Laika, the makers of Coraline, they truly outdid themselves this time. It includes some stunning use of colour, such as this lovely use of a yellow-green/purple-red contrast, depicted in the pictures below. I always have a great deal of respect for stop motion, it's clear so much love goes into these films, and into ParaNorman in particular. Not only does it have perfect miniatures, lighting and colours, the storytelling of a simple and yet complicated tale is masterfully executed. ParaNorman never stops being a joy to watch despite its serious theme and undertone.

*Swoon*

Simple use of cloth creates beautifully lighted skies.

Beautiful miniatures and cinematography.

Desaturated colours reinforce how much Norman dislikes school.

American Dance Appreciation Station

American Horror Story is an interesting TV show created by Ryan Murphy. Every season is a self-contained story, with the latest one taking place in an asylum. The plot would take a while to explain, so I'm just skipping ahead to the part which concerns this blog: colour!

One of the inmates has been treated with electric shock therapy on an extremely severe level. She is completely disoriented and when another character asks if she remembers her name, she abruptly breaks into an psychotic, imagined dance scene. The concept and colour shift are so dramatic and sudden, it takes you by surprise completely. It's interesting because up until then, I did not even realise how muted the colours were. But as soon as that surprise colour shift came along, it made it very clear that this was nothing but a disillusion caused by madness.

From reality...

...to fantasy.

Colour Wars

Lately I've been playing a game called Guild Wars 2. I like it's art style a lot, it's got a lovely art direction using paint strokes. It's proud of its art style and concept art, and shows it. Every loading screen, in fact.

A Guild Wars 2 loading screen.

This is fine. It's nice, in fact, the artwork really is nice, with lovely use of colour. ArenaNet, the developers of GW2, are known for hiring only the best of concept artists and it does show in the end result. The environments are, for the most part, quite stunning. There are, however, areas which are not quite there as well, such as the bottom screenshot. I feel like in that case, there is too much going on colour wise. Perhaps if they shifted the saturation around a little bit, or simply reduced the amount of colours. The bright, almost neon colours drown the character out entirely.

Contrasting goodness.

Cheat Sheet

Okay so I'm cheating just a little bit here, but today I saw an amazing motion graphics piece and I have to get it off my chest. This piece is absolutely beautiful, and even though the concept is quite simple, it's brilliantly executed. The soft pastel colours match the mood of the music perfectly, and the motion suits both. It shows an excellent grasp of animation, and I am quite frankly jealous.


Mork from Phil Borst on Vimeo.

Iconic Proportions

The best characters are not only easily identified by their shape and silhouette, but even by colour alone. On a forum I frequent the users created blocks of colour and their proportions and let others guess which characters they were referring to. It's went pretty well. As it turns out, characters with balanced colours are easily identified. It goes to show that colour proportion does not only simply look better in the artwork overall, but also makes it more iconic.

Scooby Doo

Futurama

Brain Powered Madness

Psychonauts is a game in which the protagonist is able to visit people's minds. It uses a quirky, stylized art style and is both original and fantastic. While the real world is depicted as being relatively muted and dreary, mainly by using desaturated and few contrasting colours, the mind worlds are both colourful and insane.

The real world.

The designers went all out with this game. Every person's mind is altogether different and creative use is made of that fact. For example, a paranoid milkman's mind looks like an American suburban area, but with crazy twisted roads, a bright glaring sky and camera's popping out of mailboxes and rubbish bins.

The Milkman Conspiracy.

Alternatively, a Spanish painter with relationship issues has a mind like a historical Spanish town - except everything is in fluorescent colours and black backgrounds, as if the whole world is a black velvet painting.

Black Velvetopia.

Xibalba

The Fountain is a film I've watched many times as one of my long-time favourites. It has a complicated storyline taking place in three seperate planes and is done very well. If you haven't seen it yet, I heartily recommend it.

Golden light is a recurring theme in this film.

The film makes good use of colour balance. A particular golden yellow light is used throughout the film. It intensifies in important moments and is muted in others moments; when the main character's wife is dying in hospital, she is bathed in a white, clinical light. But outside the hospital room the light is golden. That gold light becomes associated with the will to live and determination over the course of the film.

Golden light versus white light.

Purple hues provide a beautiful contrast with the gold.