Jul 7 / Christian Bull

DIGITAL COLOUR

Quiz time!

01 - ROUND ONE

What colour do you get if you mix red and green?

If you said “yellow”, you probably don’t need to be reading this. If you said “brown”, well done! But keep reading.

If you didn’t answer and thought “I’ll just keep reading and I’ll get told the answer”, shame on you, I can’t do everything for you.

The correct answer is “it depends”. If you’re mixing paint/pigment, you’re using a subtractive process. The more colour you throw in, the less light gets bounced back, and the darker everything gets, with black being the extreme.

In a subtractive process, red + green = brown.

If you’re mixing light, then you’re using an additive process. The more colour you throw in, the more light everything gets, with white being the extreme.

In an additive process, red + green = yellow.

Monitors and projectors create light, and therefore work with colour additively. When you’re working with film digitally, you’re therefore working with additive light, and need to get comfortable mixing in that way.
Empty space, drag to resize

02 - ROUND TWO

Ok next question - what is white plus black?

If you answered grey - YOU SHOULD HAVE KNOWN THIS WAS A TRICK!

The computers that we use to create films have no conception of color. They just store 0s and 1s, and therefore are only suited to working numerically. Therefore when you’re working with colour digitally, you’re working with numbers.

Black is 0, white is 1.

0+1 = 1, therefore black + white = white.
Get to grips with digital colour using our juicy interactive explainer here →
Empty space, drag to resize

Empty space, drag to resize
Empty space, drag to resize

Not currently a Shoot First student and want access to our AI templates along with all other filmmaking and vfx tutorials? Click the button below to choose the plan that suits you best.

Empty space, drag to resize
Empty space, drag to resize