If It's Purple, Someone's Gonna Die

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 colour selections for their films, and helps movie buffs understand why they feel the way they do while watching movies that incorporate certain colours.

Guided by her twenty-five years of research on the effects of colour on behaviour, Bellantoni has grouped more than 60 films under the spheres of influence of six major colours, 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 colour influences emotions, both in the characters on screen and in the audience. Each colour section begins with an illustrated Home Page that includes examples, anecdotes, and tips for using or avoiding that particular colour.

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 colour is often used to communicate what is not said. Bellantoni uses her research and experience to demonstrate how powerful colour can be and to increase readers' awareness of the colours around us and how they make us feel, act, and react.