Screen palettes

The palettes from film and television, and the wording for each one.

A screen palette is a set of colours a production agreed on before the camera turned over. Some of them came from a chemical process, some from the lamps on the floor and some from a paint chart, but every one of them is a decision you can copy. Naming the film does not copy it: a model that recognises a title brings the faces, the costumes and the grain along with the colour. Naming the colours does copy it, which is what each entry here gives you.

The saturated end

4

Four palettes where the colour is the point. Each one was a technical decision first and became a look afterwards.

Technicolor Three Strip: Ruby, emerald and sapphire at full strength, on brilliant white.

Technicolor Three Strip

Ruby, emerald and sapphire at full strength, on brilliant white.

Primary Gel Wash: Saturated coloured light thrown across a dark room, one hue per surface.

Primary Gel Wash

Saturated coloured light thrown across a dark room, one hue per surface.

Red and Green Glow: Warm red and bottle green held together by gold, with every surface kept warm.

Red and Green Glow

Warm red and bottle green held together by gold, with every surface kept warm.

Bubblegum Pop: Hot pink leading, sky blue supporting, and nothing darker than a mid tone.

Hot pink leading, sky blue supporting, and nothing darker than a mid tone.

Night and neon

4

Four palettes built for the dark. The colour comes from light sources inside the frame, so the ground has to stay black.

Amber and Cyan: Amber light sources against cyan haze, on a black wet ground.

Amber light sources against cyan haze, on a black wet ground.

Digital Green: One green hue at every value on black, as if a screen were the only light.

One green hue at every value on black, as if a screen were the only light.

Night Blue and Magenta: A deep indigo night with magenta light cutting across it.

Night Blue and Magenta

A deep indigo night with magenta light cutting across it.

Warning Red: A steel grey world with one red, used as a signal rather than as decoration.

A steel grey world with one red, used as a signal rather than as decoration.

Flat and daylight

4

Four palettes that run in ordinary light. The colour is in the paint and the objects, not in the lamps.

Pastel Symmetry: Chalky pastels in flat even light, with one muted deep colour to anchor them.

Pastel Symmetry

Chalky pastels in flat even light, with one muted deep colour to anchor them.

Anime Sky: A deep cerulean sky over painted greens, with the clouds kept pure white.

A deep cerulean sky over painted greens, with the clouds kept pure white.

Sitcom Brights: Warm primaries on wood and cream, lit flat so nothing falls into shadow.

Warm primaries on wood and cream, lit flat so nothing falls into shadow.

Steel Blue Grey: Cold blue-greys with one dull olive, and no warm colour anywhere.

Steel Blue Grey

Cold blue-greys with one dull olive, and no warm colour anywhere.

Run one of them

Copy a palette into a prompt and pay for that one run. No subscription.

Open an image model

Other palette groups

Colour harmonyThe ways to choose a set of colours, and the wording that gets each one.10 harmony schemes Period palettesThe sets of colours that date a picture, and the wording for each one.15 period palettes Nature and materialPalettes taken from landscapes and materials, with the words for each.12 natural palettes Functional palettesPalettes chosen to do a job, with the real numbers behind them.10 functional palettes

Print stylesDesigning the whole poster rather than choosing its colours? The same reference, for ink on paper.

It works badly. A model that recognises a title brings the faces, the costumes, the era and the grain with it, and you wanted the colours. Naming the colours gives you the palette and leaves your subject alone.