Eastern Color Theory in Film?

Color theory has always been my favorite topic, from college all the way to now.

I always remember how interesting it was to learn that colorful doesn't mean many colors; films like La La Land, Drive, and Her are great examples of that. I really do believe color connects directly to your brain and how you process information, including the subtle subtext you might not even consciously notice.

When I prep for a film, I always look at color palettes from Japanese and Kabuki paintings just to pull inspiration from somewhere other than Western painting traditions. There's something about going to a different visual culture that shakes loose ideas you wouldn't find scrolling through the usual references.

I think it's true that older Asian paintings used different structures and materials, and that actually affected the range of colors they could produce. Over time, those constraints shaped what color combinations worked and a lot of those combinations are genuinely unlike anything from the Western arts.

Dictionary of Color Combination

This book has been a huge inspiration for me. It basically catalogs an almost unlimited number of color combinations from Taisho and Meiji Era Japan, many pulled from kimono textiles and popular objects of that time. The combinations are so specific and unexpected. You won't find them in a standard color theory class.

Highly recommend it for a read, and honestly, it has a beautiful jacket too, so it works great as a coffee table book as well.

Is there any color book you recommend?