Orange and Blue in Films

Everything these days has become orange and blue. It can be a good thing but in many films it is getting to be too much. Everything in the past few years in hollywood has had the orange and blue tent. Why though? Well we all know that orange and blue are complementary colors and when you use a complementary color scheme in your work it catches the eye more. The reason they use this color scheme so often is because it doesn't mess with the skin of the actors. The actors skin is already some what orange so tinting it a little bit isn't going to look too out of place.

Orange and blue can also represent opposing forces, like fire and ice. This can help when trying to create contrast in the film.

This fad has really worked for some films but for others it has just gotten exhausting. Like in this picture for The Other Guys you can see that everything in the background is orange and blue. They didn't even try to make it subtle so that it would be visually pleasing but not distracting. They actually made all the products blue and orange. This works best when you can slightly tint the shadows blue and the highlights orange. You want the viewer to enjoy it but not notice it because then they will see it everywhere and start to get annoyed.

If it is used well it really does make the film or show look great. One show that uses it well is Netflix's House of Cards. It's all very subtle. You know you like the way its shot but unless its brought up you don't really know why. It works well in the movie Drive too. If you watch it you will see the color correction everywhere but it works.

Its a color scheme that can help films but I hope people don't keep getting too carried away with it or else its just going to get really annoying.