The Use of Color As a Tool for Conveying Emotion in Cinematic Space Design: An Analysis of Auteur Directors' Films

ABSTRACT The design of cinematic spaces by directors plays a crucial role in shaping the audience's experience. Directors who adopt the auteur theory, with their unique cinematic language, often create distinctive cinematic spaces that significantly impact the audience. Color, as a vital element of visual perception, is one of the primary tools used by auteur directors to evoke emotions within these spaces. The paper aims to investigate the use of color as a tool for conveying emotion in cinematic space design across the films of auteur directors. Following a comprehensive literature review on cinematic space and the use of color within these spaces, a research is conducted to investigate how auteur directors use color to symbolize various emotions and situations. In the research, the primary and secondary colors used by auteur directors Wong Kar‐wai, Wes Anderson, Jean‐Luc Godard, Dario Argento, Stanley Kubrick, Lynne Ramsay, Sean Baker and Tom Ford in their cinematic spaces are examined with a semiotic approach and their effects on color symbolism are discussed. The color palettes of their cinematic spaces are identified, determining both their denotations and connotations, while exploring the relationship between color, space, and narrative from an interdisciplinary perspective. A unique aspect of this research is its comparative analysis of the similarities and differences in how auteur directors from America, Europe, and Asia use color as a tool for conveying emotion within cinematic spaces. It should be emphasized that the analysis does not aim to define each director's overall color aesthetics, but rather examines how color is employed within a selected film by each director as a case study. Consequently, the findings are discussed to reflect the specific narrative strategies identified within the chosen samples. Key findings of the study reveal that the color preferences of auteur directors to convey emotion or situation differ significantly from one director to another. Contrary to the studies where the meanings of colors used in cinematic spaces are clearly defined, the findings of this study reveal that auteur directors' use of colors in cinematic spaces extends beyond such frameworks. Auteur directors who seek to create a distinctive narrative language often transcend these boundaries, using colors to convey a broad spectrum of emotions. The findings of the study not only contribute to the literature on cinema, architecture, spatial psychology, and color research, but also offer practical contributions to directors, architects, designers and color experts on how color can be used in spaces to create a unique narrative language.