ACCION EDUCATIVA

Cool Colors (Purple/Green) Warm Colors (Yellow/Red) Emotional response Coldness, distance Action, urgency, closeness

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When deciding the color palette for your title sequence, cul- tural connotations are another factor. Certain colors can acquire a particular significance, depending on the cultural background and codex. Red, for example, is often interpreted as danger, as exemplified by stop signs.

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The following are some of the scientific, symbolic, and emo- tional connotations to keep in mind while you work with color: • Color affects our mood. In a study conducted by Shashi

Caan Collective, called Spatial Color—Live Experiment, color affected physical activity. The Collective built three identical but differently colored rooms and held a cocktail party in each one. In the red and yellow rooms, people were dynamically interacting, gesturing, and moving around. In the blue room there was little social interaction and the people were more still and calm.

• Color has cultural and sociological connotations. • White is associated with mourning in Japan.

• Red signifies good luck in China but mourning in South Africa.

• Black is associated with mourning in Western countries but signifies honor in Japan.

• Purple is associated with mourning in Thailand but signi- fies royalty in Europe.

• Color has political connotations.

• Red: Labor, left wing, communism, socialism • Green: Green Party

• White: Pacifism, surrender • Black: Anarchism

• Color has a religious connotation. • Blue: Hinduism

• Green: Islam

• Color can influence other senses. A survey conducted by researchers at the Institute of Psychology at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz in Germany found that colored lighting has an influence on how we taste wine. Wine that was drunk in an ambiance illuminated by red or blue lighting received a higher taste rating than the same wine which was drunk in an ambiance illuminated by green or white lights. • Color palettes can evoke places, memories, and personal

associations. Think of colors that evoke a particular child- hood memory, season, or place where you spent time. Memory can influence the perception of color; studies indi- cate that we recall colors as more saturated than they actually were, as though we replaced the original memory of the image with something different. These memory colors do not affect our perception of reality, but they do affect our color prefer- ences. In research published by the Journal of Experimental Psychology, Karl Gegenfurtner stated, “It appears as if our memory system is tuned to the color structure found in the world. If stimuli are too strange, the system simply doesn't engage as well, or deems them unimportant.” Co-author Felix Wichmann said, “In order to engage or grab one's attention,

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bright colors might well be most suitable . . . If, on the other hand, the aim is more to have an image stick in the viewer’s memory, unnatural colors may not be suitable.” Based on these studies, while you are working on your title sequence, if you wish to make a particular element endure in the audi- ence's memory, you could try to enhance it with color (for example, the lipstick’s vivid red in the True Blood title sequence).

• Color as therapy. In chromotherapy, an alternative medical treatment, color and light exposure is used to heal and restore a physical or emotional imbalance.

• Color preference is affected by culture and geographical location. In the book Eidetic Imagery, E. R. Jaensch explains that human beings living in hot climates have to adapt to the long waves of light because of the increased amount of sun- light, which could create a different pigmentation in the ret- ina. People affected in this way are referred to as red-sighted and their color preference is warm, vivid hues. On the other hand, green-sighted people have adapted to a shorter amount of sunlight and have developed a preference for blues and greens. Another study, conducted by Marc H. Bornstein, resulted in evidence that people living closer to the Equator do not distinguish blue from green.

• Color preference is affected by age. In the book Color Psychology and Color Therapy, color expert and industry consultant Faber Birren states that yellow is the color of pref- erence for children, but their preference for it declines as they grow into adulthood, at which point blue becomes more pop- ular. He says, “With maturity comes a greater liking for hues of shorter wave length (blue, green) than for hues of longer wave length (red, orange, and yellow).”

Take a glance at the following table to see some of the most common emotional, political, and cultural connotations gener- ally associated with colors. Keep in mind that these associations are only a starting point; before you embark on a project you should do research to ensure that you have the most up-to-date information on what colors represent to changing attitudes, gen- erations, and cultures.

For example, even though white has traditionally been associ- ated with mourning in China, brides have started to wear white gowns in addition to traditional red dresses, mimicking Western brides. Or consider the use of violet in Thai Airways' branding. Even though the color violet is culturally associated with mourn- ing in Thailand, the airline's decision to use violet in its brand- ing is most likely dictated by the fact that the target audience for Thai Airways is foreigners who often associate the color purple with luxury.

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