Shining Color Space – Part 5: Color Theory

A short intermission: I want to omit the quirks of human color perception in order to give you a cartoon version of human color perception. We have three types of color sensitive cells ("rods") in the human eye: one for red, one for green and one for blue. This would roughly map to an three axis RGB color space (plus quirks). However there are better suited color spaces for understanding human color perception. An example is the L*a*b* color space, which is close to human perception of color. The three RGB axis have been transformed to the three L*a*b* axis: we have a light luminance axis or white-black axis ("L*"), a red-green axis ("a*") and a blue-yellow axis ("b*"). (See Natural Color System for a shorter example.)

In such a perceptive color space we can consider six distinct color points that could be constructed as defining "corners" of that perceptual color space. "Pure" white, pure red and pure blue, plus the "anti"-color points black, green and yellow. (BTW, white and black are sometimes not considered "colors", but are essential in defining color spaces.) All else colors are "mixtures" between those endpoints and exist on a continuum in a 3D space between those points – the ratio on each axis defines a color.


With regards to emissve colorspace: There are the three primary colors – pure red, pure green and pure blue – plus white (or rather the "white point", light of all colors mixed in a certain ratio) and black (no light). Again: Those last two are sometimes not considered "colors", but are essential in defining color spaces. All other colors (or rather color points in this 3D space) are mixtures and exists on a continuum, and the ratio between the three rods defines a color.

What I wrote about is the case for what the human eye can perceive: an emissive or additive color space. Objects like fire-engines and walls are typically not emissive, but reflective, and for those the subtractive color space applies. There we have also three primary colors, but these are now cyan, magenta and yellow! And furthermore these primary colors depend on the process creating them, as in the color pigments used!

The three additive primary colors are the "anti-colors" to the subtractive colors (and vice versa): E.g. cyan is a mixture of green and blue, but does not contain red, so cyan is "not-red". Red is not a part of the mixture for cyan, so red is "not-cyan". If you go and invert colors, the primary colors of one turn into the primary colors of the other. (Invert the colors in the opening titles of The Shining, and the title font becomes red. C.f. below the reason why surgeons wear cyan colors.)

See Natural Color System (NCS) and Opponent process:
"The NCS color model is based on the three pairs of elementary colors (white–black, green–red, and yellow–blue), as defined by color opponency."

(BTW, this is the reason surgeons wear cyan/green colored garment: First of all one can see any blood stains that weren't removed during cleaning. And secondly during an operation with its bright lights, exposure to one bright color desensitized the eye but but the eye stays sensitive to the "anti-color", and the problem with the red/bloody body gets mitigated.)

The three primary additive colors (pure red, green and blue) that the eye could perceive tend not to appear in nature in pure form, with the possible exception of blue in some parts of the blue sky and green for auroras. What we see in nature is always mixed, e.g. the green of the plants have a bit of red mixed in. Otherwise the pure primary additive colors can only be created by artificial light, e.g. a LED or a laser. Typically when people talk about primary colors, they mean something Fire-Red, which in fact is not a little bit away from the end point of the additive color space that the human eye can perceive, and is not a primary color in the subtractive color space. So what we consider "primary colors", like red, are actually not in the strict sense, but always mixtures. But we gloss over this and can call red, green, blue, cyan, magenta and yellow – those six more or less "pure" colors – "primary colors". Regardless of whether we are in emissive or reflective color space, these six "primary colors" hold special meaning, and it is some of those primary colors that play a dominant role in The Shining.

Shining Color Space – Part 4: Kubrick's Crayola World

COLORS

Before we delve into the symbolism associate with the colors used (and their possible symbolism within Kubrick's work), let's make a list of the distinct, identifiable colors used in The Shining (or at least colors identifiable by me).

For some examples it is a bit difficult to assign a distinct color. Colors exist on a continuum (actually a three-dimensional color space) and "a distinct color" is a point on that continuum, in essence an idealistic construct.

In some cases the film does not make it clear on which point of the color space a color falls: Are these only Earth-tones in the carpet on which Danny play, or is one of the colors a Fire-Red? Is the green in the Kitchen Hallway a Natural-Green, or an Fluorescent-Green? Does the film make a difference between Yellow and Gold, and if so what is the distinct meaning of Yellow? To make matters worse, some Yellow-tones are almost Earth-tones. And what about Blue: Did Kubrick make a distinction between "Primary Blue" and "Light Blue"? Is there a difference between Blood-Red and Fire-Red? And should we differentiate between the different Earth-Tones?  (At least I have difficulties differentiating between all those different Earth-tones.) What about mustard, as mustard is considered a shade of yellow, but if say it is "buff" we could as well group it with under brown or "Earth-Tones".

What are Earth-tones anyway? Wikipedia has this to offer:

Earth tone is a color scheme that draws from a color palette of browns, tans, warm grays, and greens. The colors in an earth tone scheme are muted and flat in an emulation of the natural colors found in dirt, moss, trees and rocks. Many earth tones originate from clay earth pigments, such as umber, ochre, and sienna.

Which Earth-Tones are there in The Shining? I could count at least those:

• Mustard/Buff
• Fur-Brown
• Shoe-Leather-Brown
  

Besides Earth-Tones, there are some (if not many) other cases, the colors are quite clearly distinct, as for example the "Fire-Red" or the "Fluorescent-Green".

Also, there is the question whether White/Gray/Black are colors – e.g. in some contexts white or gray is not considered a "color". But in the context of the film, White is clearly on the same footing as the other colors. But what about Black? And Grays?

So I will try to differentiate colors as much as possible, even if I might end up grouping them back together (e.g. Yellow/Gold, or "Flag"-Red/"Warning"-Red).

There are many "standards" for color names, and I will use the color names of the Crayola crayons, as it is a reasonable assumption that Kubrick knew those crayons – and those crayon colors have names that might suggest a deeper meaning.  Alternatives would:

• An unlikely alternative color standard for Kubrick to use would be the the Federal Standard 595, as it uses only color numbers, no names. Kubrick would have used the additional meaning with the color names.
• Similarly the Munsell color system does use only numbers, no names – hence it is again unlikely to have been used by Kubrick.
• Pantone would have been an possible choice for Kubrick (e.g. "True red" Pantone 19-1664), though I have my doubts he would have used Pantone. Pantone is a set of colors for printing, and one of the central colors in printing is magenta – there is no magenta in The Shining, which would strike me as odd if Kubrick used Pantone colors.
• German pre-War RAL colour standard (from the "Reichs-Ausschuss für Lieferbedingungen ") seems interesting, uses names like "Flame red" for RAL 3000, "Signal red" for RAL 3001, "Golden yellow" for RAL 1004 and "Rape yellow" for RAL 1021 (and would furthermore as being pre-War German tie in with the "Holocaust"-theme people have suggest for The Shining) – but I find it dubious whether Kubrick would have used RAL.
• Another more likely alternative would have been felt-tip pens – from what I've seen, Kubrick used (I could be wrong) broad felt-tip pens for his storyboard and thin fibre-tip pens for notes in the scripts. However the colors of The Shining don't feel (at least to me) like the typcial vibrant felt-tip colors, they feel more like crayon colors – including the fluorescent "Neon"-Green, which at first I thought to be a green highlighter-pen, but actually might have been the Crayola fluorescent color Ultra Green (which was renamed Screamin' Green in 1990). The only color that falls out of the Crayola theme is the pure Cyan used in the titles.
• A less likely alternative are  colored pencils – it is conceivable that one might be able to find a set by a manufacture that has meaningful names for the colors. However the Crayola Crayons are such a good fit for this Crayon-colored world that Kubrick has created …
• A strong contender for the palette Kubrick might have used are painting colors, exemplified by the work of his wife Christiane Kubrick.

By the way, Crayola Drawing Crayons were introduced in 1903 and the earliest Crayola packages listed four cities: New York, London, Paris, Hamburg.

The largest pack released in 1903 contained 28 colors (I don't have the color codes):

Number	Color Name
#1	Black
#2	Charcoal Grey
#3	White
#4	Purple
#5	Prussian Blue
#6	Celestial Blue
#7	Ultramarine Blue
#8	Cobalt Blue
#9	Chrome Green, Dark
#10	Chrome Green, Medium
#11	Chrome Green, Light
#12	Olive Green
#13	Van Dyk Brown
#14	Indian Red
#15	Raw Umber
#16	Burnt Umber
#17	Raw Sienna
#18	Burnt Sienna
#19	Golden Ochre
#20	Madder Lake
#21	English Vermilion
#22	Rose Pink
#23	Flesh Tint
#24	Venetian Red, Light
#25	Lemon Yellow
#27	Medium Yellow
#28	Orange

As I don't have the color codes for those original colors I will have to rely on the information from Wikipedia on the (more or less) current line-up of Crayola. (And obviously the colors changed over the years… E.g. the 1903 Celestial Blue is a kind of dark blue, while the 1935 Celestial Blue looks a bit like the dresses of the "Twins"…) I suspected at first that Kubrick might have used the original 1903 colors, with the possible addition of the fluorescent Ultra Green from 1972 – but then again he might have used a set of Crayola pens that was contemporary to the 1980 film (after all the Overlook in the film has been redecorated in a modern design).

Looking at the early Crayola crayons, I think they include from the film (everything except the modern Ultra Green). There is even Gold and Silver:

The Crayola No 101 was a 12 color box […]. The box lid […] says “Including Gold, Silver and Copper.”

That leaves the question: Is there Copper in the film? There is some brass, for sure…

Let's look at what contemporary Crayola colors where available in 1980:

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Please keep in mind: The following color depictions are only roughly approximate!

Contemporary Crayola Color Name	Examples in the Film
Red (Used in a manner that evokes the image of flag colors)	Clothes mainly Wendy/Danny
Red (Used as warning/help color)	Red Round Fire Alarm Bells in the Overlook Fire Extinguishers NO SMOKING sign First Aid Help Poster Sprinkler Pipes in the various Kitchen and Service areas POLICE and FIRE posters in Telephone Room Printing on cardboxes
Red (other uses of the color red with possible different meaning)	Snocat Some of the sofas Knobs on the "fridges" Freezer Red Light Room 237 Key-Tag Red Doors (elevator/staircase, possibly blood red?) Darts in the Game Room
"Blood"-Red	Killed Twins Elevator blood flood
Gold (metallic) Goldenrod Yellow	Gold Room Decoration Boulder Flat (e.g. Boulder flat) Jack's VW Line on the road Native American art
Black	Wendy's hair
Pine Green Green	Jack's tie in Ullman's Office Native American art
Forest Green	Service Hallway(s) (Evoke images of Pistachio and Chartreuse liquer)
Ultra Green (F)	Light in staircase near Room 237 Room 237 bathroom Boulder flat bathroom (The very similar webcolor Chartreuse is according to Wikipedia "a color halfway between green and yellow".)
"Cyan" Ultra Blue (F) Clearly NOT: Cornflower Turquoise Blue Aquamarine Sky Blue	Film titles are definitely "Cyan" Dress of the "Twins" might be Ultra Blue? Jack's STOVINGTON Eagles shirt?
-	-
White	Walls/Rooms
Blue	Clothes Wendy/Danny
-	-
Indian Red	Carpets in the Overlook Walls in the Overlook Native American art
"Fur"-Brown	Clothes some characters wear Some of the sofas
-	-
Violet (Purple) Royal Purple Plum Red Violet	Room 237 carpet (together with green) Hallorann Bedroom clothes (together with green) Wendy clothes when she opens the fruit can (with yellow fruits) in the Hotel Kitchen (also TV is mostly purple in same scene)
Silver (metallic) Gray Cadet Blue Periwinkle	Road Rocks Overlook Hotel Serving cart (Wendy brings breakfast) Kitchen stuff (lots) Kitchen Hall stuff (strewn)
-	-
Salmon Carnation Pink Melon Peach (Flesh until 1962) Piggy Pink	Ullman's office (And might I add what a strange color) Boulder Bathroom Some parts of the toys
Color	-
Color	-

(And creating this table is driving me crazy… HTML, color codes plus quirks from the blogger.com interface… If you reuse it, think of all the work I put into it.)