Product Description

If it's Purple, Someone's Gonna Die is a must-read book for all film students, film professionals, and others interested in filmmaking. This enlightening book guides filmmakers toward making the right color selections for their films, and helps movie buffs understand why they feel the way they do while watching movies that incorporate certain colors.

Guided by her twenty-five years of research on the effects of color on behavior, Bellantoni has grouped more than 60 films under the spheres of influence of six major colors, each of which triggers very specific emotional states. For example, the author explains that films with a dominant red influence have themes and characters that are powerful, lusty, defiant, anxious, angry, or romantic and discusses specific films as examples. She explores each film, describing how, why, and where a color influences emotions, both in the characters on screen and in the audience. Each color section begins with an illustrated Home Page that includes examples, anecdotes, and tips for using or avoiding that particular color.

Conversations with the author's colleagues-- including award-winning production designers Henry Bumstead (Unforgiven) and Wynn Thomas (Malcolm X) and renowned cinematographers Roger Deakins (The Shawshank Redemption) and Edward Lachman (Far From Heaven)--reveal how color is often used to communicate what is not said.

Bellantoni uses her research and experience to demonstrate how powerful color can be and to increase readers awareness of the colors around us and how they make us feel, act, and react.

*Learn how your choice of color can influence an audience's moods, attitudes, reactions, and interpretations of your movie's plot
*See your favorite films in a new light as the author points out important uses of color, both instinctive and intentional
*Learn how to make good color choices, in your film and in your world.

*Learn how your choice of color can influence an audience's moods, attitudes, reactions, and interpretations of your movie's plot
*See your favorite films in a new light as the author points out important uses of color, both instinctive and intentional
*Learn how to make good color choices, in your film and in your world

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #177494 in Books
• Published on: 2005-06-09
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 288 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780240806884
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

Review
"In this book we are really watching movies through designer's eyes and what a refreshing examination it makes...Anyone with creative input into filmmaking will find this book a very useful guide in creating moods and emotions for an audience...This is the movie equivalent of having colour and its effect explained by Monet, it is that fresh and original...Anyone who works on a film set in any capacity will have their money's worth out of this movie colour guide for years to come." - www.ukfilmfinance.com

"Patti Bellantoni's If Its Purple, Someones Gonna Die has given us a highly entertaining exploration of the world of color and its impact on our emotions. Told through a careful analysis of motion pictures that have used color to enhance or define their characters or dramatic needs, we are given a lively and insightful view of our reactions to the film experience.

Leading us gently but firmly through places we may have taken for granted, we find revelations that can be of real help to readers who use color to shape emotional responses to concepts, as well as physical environments. We can never again take the
world of color for granted." --Robert Boyle, four-time Oscar-nominated Production Designer (North by Northwest, The Birds, The Thomas Crown Affair, Fiddler on the Roof)

"A wonderful idea and very impressive! Patti's book shows the importance of color in developing both character and story." --Henry Bumstead, two-time Oscar-winning Production Designer (To Kill a Mockingbird, The Sting, Unforgiven, Mystic River)

"We see color--Patti Bellantoni feels color. She is passionate about how we (the audience) are affected by the use of color as an emotion in film. This book pulls me back into my favorite films and helps me look at them in a new way. The book is a first of its kind and a great asset for our students on the impact of cinematography and production design." --Judy Irola, ASC, Head of Cinematography,USC School of Cinema-Television

"Bellantoni's evidence is confident and her examples are authoritative. Like Robert McKee's Story Seminars, hers is a breakthrough concept." --Sam L. Grogg, Ph.D, Dean, AFI Conservatory

"There comes a point, as Bellantoni spins example after example, where it all suddenly clicks. The use of color in motion pictures is not just a happy coincidence, but a conscious artistic choice that wafts with concrete meaning through all of the film's language. Unconscious and primitive in many respects, conscious and sophisticated in many more, the use and choice of color in motion pictures depends on the filmmakers instinct and intellect, the pillars of all great art. No one can ever look at moving pictures the same way after steeping themselves in this excellent book of discovery."
--Sam L. Grogg, Ph.D, Dean, AFI Conservatory

"Color remains one of the filmmaker's greatest assets and opportunities. With the new arsenal of digital tools available, the range of options for color has grown dramatically in the last three years. For filmmakers, Patti Bellantoni's new book is a great resource for what is now possible."
--Robert Hoffman, Vice President, Marketing,
Technicolor Entertainment Services

"Patti Bellantoni has opened our eyes to the power of color in our lives. Her book is an invaluable resource not only for film professionals but also for artists, writers, designers, psychologists, educators, healers, and all who seek a deeper understanding of visual experience." --Judith Searle, Author, The Literary Enneagram: Characters from the Inside Out

"A fascinating exploration of how color affects our emotional perception of the world. Although Patti primarily discusses the impact of color in film, her book is an indispensable resource for all visual artists." --Ralph Funicello,Tony Award nominated Set Designer,Don Powell Chair in Set Design, San Diego State University

"Patti does a wonderful job of dissecting color and its presence in film. She makes us aware of the visual path in our brain and how a film touches us. This is a critical concept as we contemplate the digital medium in film making!" --Beverly Wood Holt, Exec. VP Technical Services & Client Services, Deluxe Laboratories.

"This is a crossover book with a broad appeal and a longer life. It's not only about movies. It's about how people feel when they watch movies." Barnes & Noble manager, Los Angeles

Customer Reviews

Tickled Pink!
As an instructor of film-studies, I needed a text that tackled color-theory but used terms that first-year college-students could understand (i.e. a jargon-free examination of color in film). Bellantoni's work easily fulfills this need.

Foremost, Bellantoni logically divides her chapters by color (How refreshing to find a technical-work which travels a simple path!!) Within these chapters, are references to both well-known films (ex. "The Godfather," "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs," "Saving Private Ryan," "American Beauty," "Eyes Wide Shut," "Rosemary's Baby" and "Malcolm X") as well as lesser-watched films (ex. "Mi Familia," "Eve's Bayou, and "The Caveman's Valentine"). The tremendous range of examples ensures that every reader will find a film-favorite for each color entry. (No need to worry about this being another text brimming with obscure/out-of-print works!!)

Now, let me be clear about Bellantoni's work. She emphasizes that there are both "intellectual" and "visceral" responses to color. Her text focuses almost entirely on the "visceral" (which she repeatedly states). Some detractors of the Bellentoni's find fault with her "failure" to explore the "intellectual." Nonsense. Frankly, I prefer this focused approach to a broader (potentially sloppy) work. The richness of this text would have suffered if Belllantoni felt compelled to address every possible interpretation.

While I enjoyed Bellantoni's personal anecdotes, I was occasionally frustrated by her neglecting to cite sources for a variety of evidence. For instance, when she asserts that "red cars get more speeding tickets than cars of any other color," I would have appreciated a footnote citing her source (or even providing the data)(2). Nonetheless, these were minor irritations in an overall informative work. What compensates for this "problem" is her interviews with cinematographers. These frequent "blurbs" lend credence to Bellantoni's work ... if ever you doubted the importance of color, just read a few of these inserts and you will become a "believer."

In my class we read one chapter a week ... by the last week, my students were color-masters!! The assigned films had become exercises in color-exploration ... to the point where I had to stop my class and say "Let's look at other elements also!" What this tells me is that Bellantoni's work is easily accessible to every student and genuinely exciting!! While my class has completed readings on most film elements, they inevitably want to return to Bellantoni's work on color and camp there! That kind of enthusiasm ... well, that's rare!

Thank you, Professor Bellantoni for inspiring excitement in my students! What a gift you have given to professors and students alike!!

A great introduction to color's role in storytelling
This book is definitely on the beginners side of the spectrum. (no pun intended) You're not going to learn to be a production designer just from reading it, but it's a great start to becoming more aware of the use of color in film (or comics, video games or any other visual media) to influence underlying mood of the story. And once you're aware of color's presence, you can start making educated choices on how to use color in your own work.

Although a few more pictures would've been nice, the author does a good job of taking each of the six primary & secondary colors and defining its role in general and then giving numerous specific examples of the different visual and emotional tones each color can take.

If nothing else, this book added about 8 movies to my Netflix queue.

Bellantoni Review
As a student first looking into the true meaning behind film, I enjoyed "If It's Purple Someone's Gonna Die". In order to recognize the cultural significance of a film, its necessary to notice and understand the emotions that the director wishes to display which cannot always be conveyed through dialogue. Through references to films that have greatly impacted American society, Bellantoni does an excellent job of helping the reader see the crucial role color plays in film.
One of the things I enjoyed most about this work was the stress placed on the feelings and reactions of the audience when certain colors take over the screen. For example, purple, seen as a color that represents royalty from an intellectual perspective actually has associations with the noncorporal in the context of human emotion. However, I did feel that Bellantoni did not provide evidence to support many of her claims. For example, when discussing the color green, Bellantoni states that people hesitate to consume green foods or drinks because of its correlation with evil. Though this may be true, her statements sometimes seemed subjective. Statistical evidence may have made these points more effective.
Lastly, I thought that Bellantoni's work is an overall success in expressing the role color plays in film because of the connections made to the reader. Whether or not one is a film student, Bellantoni cites groundbreaking films that have had an effect on all of our lives. Many can recall the girl in the red coat in Schindler's List and our implied connection to her or the progression through the primary colors representing an emotional and intellectual journey in Malcolm X. These examples presented in the text make it possible for the reader to refer back to a film whose use of color affects them physically and emotionally. By relating to her audience, and providing memorable, relevant examples, Bellantoni makes it possible for the reader to understand the visceral effects of color in film.