1. Understanding Color in Theatre

2. What this unit is all about

3. Color is light ! Color is in the eye, for no two people see color the same way and some are color-blind! Color is paint ; light merely reveals it! Color is in the mind – after all, people can dream in color!

4. It’s ALL of that stuff! Scenic Designer James Noone, of Boston University

5. We need 3 main terms to describe color in an objective way: HUE VALUE CHROMA

8. HUE 1.The first variation of color. 2.The position of a color in the electromagnetic spectrum. The six easily identified hues in light and pigment. PRIMARY HUES 1.The three hues which form the basis for mixing color in light and pigment. 2.In light: red, blue, green. 3.In pigment: red, yellow, blue. SECONDARY HUES 1. Hues produced by mixing any pair of primary hues.

9. VALUE 1.The second variation of color. 2.The light-to-dark ratio of a hue or mixed color. TINTS SHADES Used by painters more than lighting designers, in part because in colored light there is no “black” – just the absence of light. The main limiting factor in a value scale is the eye’s ability to perceive differences between steps in the scale.

10. White High Light Low Light Medium Black Low Dark Dark High Dark See Color Plate 8-2 in text for integration of hue and value.

11. CHROMA 1.The third variation of color. 2.The degree of pureness, or freedom from neutrality. 3.Sometimes known as “intensity.” NEUTRAL means GRAYSCALE. See Color Plate 8-3 in textbook for how this works…

12. What we do to make new colors and match old ones.

13. ADDITIVE MIXING 1.The blending of colored light from two or more sources.

14. Try this out for yourself!

15. SUBTRACTIVE MIXING 1.The crossing or combining of color mediums in front of a single source of light. (Filtering out hues.)

16. Without a light source, there is no visible color! A colored surface reflects only the colors of that surface, i.e. a red surface will reflect red light and absorb all others. Because we must use subtractive mixing for these mediums of color, instead of six principal hues we use twelve. Using twelve full-intensity hues allows an artist greater versatility when mixing and reduces neutralization that occurs in subtractive mixing.

17. PIGMENT 1.The coloring agent in paints, dyes, and nature. 2.The chemical properties that create hue. Madder plant Indigo plant various ochres

20. Color Schemes

21. MONOCHROMATIC One color, across the entire value scale. ANALOGOUS Three neighboring hues. THIRD INTERVIAL Three colors, once removed. “hue, skip, hue, skip, hue” FOURTH INTERVAL One pair of complimentary colors, plus one “hue, skip 2, hue, skip 2, hue” FIFTH INTERVAL Triad creating an equilateral triangle. “hue, skip 2, hue, skip 3, hue, skip 2” SPLIT COMPLEMENT Avoids direct contrast by using softer hues COMPLEMENTARY Direct opposites on the color wheel COLOR CHORDS

22. How do the two mediums combine on stage? TRY IT OUT!