Why do great movies use the 60-30-10 . Color Percent Rule?
There are a lot of features of great movies that you might miss unless you take the time to really consider all the ingredients. Color is a key factor in any visual medium, but did you know about the 60-30-10 rule?
Whether you’re a photographer or videographer, there are several elements that you love, mainly light and color. Between light and color, the tone and mood of a scene are determined and so we often seek or exploit them in every frame. In some genres of photography this tends to be more random than others, and more especially in cinematography, where almost everything is carefully considered and decided.
I’ve always been conscious of color and its importance, or at least I did after watching Amelie as a teenager. Once I was choosing a camera, however, this became more important, and once I started shooting commercial work, it became essential. My first experience with palette control happened quite by accident: I was not satisfied with the look of the watch and tried to popularize why. I decided it was because the blue tones weren’t appearing anywhere on the watch or in the scene, but were just a result of natural light, so I removed them. Since then, I’ve started working with color restriction, although I can’t say I’ve ever used a 60%, 30%, and 10% distribution. Have friends?