Premium Member George Ebersole Posted April 26, 2014 Premium Member Share Posted April 26, 2014 Can anyone recommend a good book on gels and their intended effects? Much appreciation in advance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Drysdale Posted April 26, 2014 Share Posted April 26, 2014 The Set Lighting Technician's Handbook has an appendix on Gels. The filter manufacturers seem to just use the Internet for information. http://www.rosco.com/filters/ http://www.leefilters.com/lighting/colour-details.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Freya Black Posted April 26, 2014 Share Posted April 26, 2014 I like the little swatch books you can get from Rosco and Lee. Freya Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Member George Ebersole Posted April 27, 2014 Author Premium Member Share Posted April 27, 2014 I should clarify. Is there a book on the intended artistic effect? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darrell Ayer Posted May 5, 2014 Share Posted May 5, 2014 I would look at the desired effect you like in movies and just go to look up the American Cinematographer article. Different colors mean different things to different people, so there's no true rules on what colors produce what emotional effect. Reading what cinematographer's intention when filming has helped me in developing my own desired looks regarding color. Also spend some time watching light and thinking about how it makes you feel. There are times when I am in good light, I'll pull out my swatch book to find what colors i would use to recreate it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Member George Ebersole Posted May 7, 2014 Author Premium Member Share Posted May 7, 2014 Well, I was taught the basics way back in film basics (red for anger, green for sick); but there's an infinite number of gels, and some are just kind of out there; i.e. "Bastard Amber". I guess I figured there was an extension of the basics codified in a book as opposed to using artistic feel for each scene or series of shots. Thanks for the reply. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Member Adrian Sierkowski Posted May 7, 2014 Premium Member Share Posted May 7, 2014 I think we all tend towards stuff we like. What I found useful with colors were a swatch book, a light, and my eyes looking at things of different colors, e.g putting the gel on a flesh toned thing on a white or black background or whatever, and just observing it. Same with some diffusion. Course I used to live in an area where we would get blizzards and there was a lot less to do when this would happen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Member George Ebersole Posted May 8, 2014 Author Premium Member Share Posted May 8, 2014 Aren't blue gels used to signify cold? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gregg MacPherson Posted May 8, 2014 Share Posted May 8, 2014 Aren't blue gels used to signify cold? From the first frame of a film, what we have been cultured to expect, and all the associations we have, with one thing indicating another, for example colors indicating something, it's all potentially modified. One could argue that all attractive experience is new. New associations, novel connections. So while blue for example is assumed as a cool color, what is the significance of this? A cold temperature, a clinical precision, a sense of detachment from the assumed or expected, or something unexpected. Rather than ask what effect these gels are supposed to produce, ask, what can they do for you to create/modify a moment of experience. One can paint by numbers or one can do the other thing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Member Adrian Sierkowski Posted May 8, 2014 Premium Member Share Posted May 8, 2014 Hell, for some reason when i just thought of blue, i thought of blue silken sheets, with a white sheen on them, and that is by no ways necessarily cold or depressing or clinical-- depending whose in it. I would say, yes, there are your typical associations of color, contrast, hardness, or softness. However, they are yours to usurp, and perhaps one should do more of that. You can build the world of color, texture, and feeling in the media you make. Sometimes, you go off of plans and get a nice sub-divided suburb. Sometimes, you throw that all away and you get the disney concert hall. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Drysdale Posted May 8, 2014 Share Posted May 8, 2014 There is material on the meaning of colour in more general terms than the lighting gels alone. http://www.amazon.com/Color-Meaning-Art-Science-Symbolism/dp/0520226119 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Drysdale Posted May 8, 2014 Share Posted May 8, 2014 Also http://www.amazon.com/The-Secret-Language-Color-Science/dp/1579129498/ref=pd_cp_b_2 http://www.amazon.com/Color-Messages-Meanings-PANTONE-Resource/dp/0971401063/ref=pd_cp_b_3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Member George Ebersole Posted May 10, 2014 Author Premium Member Share Posted May 10, 2014 Well, if it's all just artistic interpretation, then I guess anything goes. Thanks for the replies. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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