Colour Symbolism

A theme that I had in mind was to use a colour to express the character and the behaviour of that character. One colour that has always struck me, and is one of the reasons I'm using it, is Teal (or Turquoise). The symbolism of teal is that of:

"The color turquoise helps opening lines of communication between the heart and the spoken word. It is a friendly and happy color that is enjoying life. In color psychology, it controls and heals the emotions, creating emotional balance and stability. In this process, it can feel like an emotional rollercoaster that goes up and down, until it balances itself. Overusing the effect of turquoise color meaning can lead to emotional stress."

From this, I thought I would start with a minimal amount of teal, then slowly increase its appearance through the film, leading to a build up of stress. The description works well with how Aidan would feel during grief, where he bottles up his emotions to a point where he serves to have a breakdown.

http://www.functionalcolour.ca/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/education-spectrum-teal.jpg

In a broader spectrum, the colour Blue would also be a good symbolism presence in the film.

In terms of complementary colours, I looked at how the colour teal would work against opposing colours, or colours that would work well with it.

Here are a few examples:

https://thestylenote.files.wordpress.com/2014/05/screen-shot-2014-05-27-at-6-16-57-pm.png

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/20/0f/d4/200fd4172568231236ef4fe87deba438.jpg

http://www.belleandsebastien.ca/img/tealcoral.jpg

The one colour that stands out as being the most complementary colour to teal is an orange peach colour.

http://www.rattanfurnitureinc.net/Onlinecommerce.jpg

One website described this type of orange colour as:

"Different shade, tints, and hues of orange have meanings. For example, dark orange may represent deceit and distrust, while red-orange relates to passion, pleasure, desire, aggression, domination, and action, and a golden orange often stands for prestige, wisdom, illumination, wealth, and quality. A light orange or peach color tend to be more friendly and soothing."

Another website describes 'peach':

"The meanings of Peach tell us that we might be relying too heavily on others to help us with our life and problems even to the point of manipulating them to take care of us because we are afraid we won't get our needs met. Use the Energy Healing Properties of the Color Peach when you have lost your kind, true self and need to restore your sparkle...Pride keeps us fighting even when there is no cause. Sometimes when in Peach, we assume a stance."

When you apply Teal and Peach together, as complementary colours, we see that Sky's 'teal' is a reassurance on the fear to Aidan's 'peach'. Because also the calming influence of teal is a heavy colour throughout the film, when they are taken away (as Sky brought many things in teal), we start to see Aidan's fear coming through, and he realises that by taking Sky out of his life, he is essentially bringing himself to breaking point. Through his grief he believed that by getting rid of anything that would remind him of Sky meant that he could move on. However, the 'Impression' that Sky left behind meant that Aidan was left emptier, and he inevitably felt worse.

Links:

http://www.color-wheel-pro.com/color-meaning.html

Blue
http://www.empower-yourself-with-color-psychology.com/color-blue.html
http://www.colormatters.com/blue

Turquoise/Teal
http://www.empower-yourself-with-color-psychology.com/color-turquoise.html
http://www.color-meanings.com/turquoise-color-meaning-the-color-turquoise/

Peach/Orange
http://www.bourncreative.com/meaning-of-the-color-orange/
http://www.old-earth.com/chapter-peach.html