The use of a colour tint can often change the complexion of a scene. Colour can give off a psychological feel of temperature; temperature affects our spatial perception, as warm colours optically seem to advance and expand, yet cooler colours recede and contract. Although, these characteristics are relative, as the intensity and value of the colour will also affect the spatial action of warm and cool colours. This manipulation of our spatial perception can be seen in the hit TV series Breaking Bad, where a 'warm' tint is added to scenes set in Mexico. This made Mexico look like a hot, intense, dangerous wasteland, which is relative, as much of the danger facing the protagonist Walter White comes from Mexico.
The use of a tint can often bring connotations to a film; for example, many zombie movies use an off-yellow tint. Medically, many warning and hazard signs are in yellow, and even medicine bottles are often a translucent brown or yellow. Many zombie films are now marketed through the spread of a virus, as opposed to being supernatural, or 'un-dead'. I believe that this is due to many major public health scares, such as foot and mouth, or bird flu. By adding a yellow tint, zombie films become relative to medical scares and health hazards, thus potentially allowing audiences to further their disbelief.
In video, colour correction includes adjusting both the hue (colour) and luminance (brightness and contrast) in an image. By adjusting the colour and luminance within a video, clips can create a mood, eliminate any unwanted colour that appears in a clip, correct video that’s doesn't have the right level of brightness, or set the specific levels to meet broadcast requirements or to match colour from scene to scene, helping with continuity. Many of the tints mentioned are achieved through the usage of colour balance, angle, and saturation controls. Colour balance does exactly what it says on the tin, balancing the red, green, and blue components to produce a specific blend of white and neutral greys in the image. This is manipulated based on the desired effects. Whether it's adding a warm, reddish tint to create a sweltering Mexico, or maybe a scene in a gritty crime drama requiring a cool (bluish) colour scheme, colour balancing clips can drastically change the atmosphere within a scene.
To show the example of adding a tint, I have edited a short clip in Adobe Premier Pro.
This colour wheel shows colour correction adjustments. 'A' represents Hue Angle, 'B' represents Balance Magnitude, 'C' shows Balance Gain, and 'D' is Balance Angle. Through the use of sliders, all of these colour correction adjustments can be easily and quickly manipulated. When making adjustments with Premier Pros' colour wheel and saturation control, I find it useful to open a reference monitor to view the vectorscope ganged to the composite video in the Program Monitor. In this video, I will adjust the colour to make the heat of the stage lighting more intense, the wrestlers look more bronzed, and to create a warmer, heated atmosphere for the match.
Although it's rather simplistic, this example shows that, through the use of Premier Pro's colour wheel, I am able to not only manipulate the colour, contrast, and saturation of the video, but also to use colour to psychologically change the temperature and atmosphere of the clip, helping to improve the overall production values of future edits, and to create a cinematic atmosphere through editing.
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