Do a lot of movies use this 3 color rule?

[Ryan Elder]

yeah that's true. I guess I just meant variance of skin color. So I guess my three colors would be skin color, blue, and red then. Or if skin color doesn't count as a color in the scheme, then just blue and red.

[Pete Cofrancesco]

Ryan if you haven't figured it out Josh pushing you to explain your decision and your difficulty in answering them means that your story and characters aren't driving your decisions for things like blue walls. You watch tutorials with the 3 color "rules" and now you are applying them for their own sake.

[Brian Drysdale]

If you take that video, skim is part of brown, but there are elements that show aspects of brown, because it's part of nature. However, the colours need to be revealing about what going on under the surface.

Blue has been used in up marker perfume commercials, so there's also more going on than just the colour..

[Josh Bass]

I would give ryan an example of what a director/dp might say about why those colors could fit Ryan’s movie but I almost know for certain he would say “yeah thats what I meant” and then use that argument as we continue to talk about making this film for the next ten years and I wont make it that easy for him.

[Ryan Elder]

Originally Posted by Josh Bass

youre sort of getting somewhere. cold and passion are at least more concrete than gritty. Now tell us what cold and passion have to do with your story and characters. Im trying to get you to specifically tie these colors to things that happen in your film. what does cold have to do with your story? what does passion?

A director must be able to articulate and communicate things otherwise how will you ever succeed?

Paul, I am positive he got the brown is inevitable thing from one of those three color vids on Youtube cause I’ve seen that video too.

Yes they say that in the video, and I saw their point about how skin is in the more brownish area, so that will end up becoming a color. But if skin color doesn't count as part of the color scheme then I can just go with blue, and red then.

Originally Posted by Pete Cofrancesco

Ryan if you haven't figured it out Josh pushing you to explain your decision and your difficulty in answering them means that your story and characters aren't driving your decisions for things like blue walls. You watch tutorials with the 3 color "rules" and now you are applying them for their own sake.

Well is the 3 color method bad though, if other movies do it? I actually have six colors in mind. Skin color, blue, red, white, black and grey. Unless white, black and grey do not count as colors and just shades. As for the color of wall, well it's just white walls look bad for some reason and so many locations have white walls. But if I am to recolor the walls, so they are not white, I figure I might as well color them a color that is part of the color scheme I am going for shouldn't I?

[Pete Cofrancesco]

Originally Posted by Josh Bass

I would give ryan an example of what a director/dp might say about why those colors could fit Ryan’s movie but I almost know for certain he would say “yeah thats what I meant” and then use that argument as we continue to talk about making this film for the next ten years and I wont make it that easy for him.

What he never seems to get is that the process is as important as the final decision. No doubt he has taken your question as a challenge find the right answer to support his blue wall decision.

Color can take on different meanings based on it's context. Green in Amelie is peace and nature, where as in the Matrix it is the sinister virtual world of the computer. So this isn't about whether blue is good or bad it's about you creating rules and impediments where none exist. Your movie doesn't need to follow 3 color rule you just made an arbitrary stylistic decision that it must despite not having the ability to pull it off.

[Ryan Elder]

Well also the type of blue would determine the mood as well. For example I am going for a somewhat desaturated tone too as far as feeling goes.

[Brian Drysdale]

There's no point in you endlessly asking questions, it's what up on screen colour wise that counts and if that seamlessly connects with the audience as part of the mise en scene. .

[Ryan Elder]

Well if that's the case, should I choose a color scheme for the wardrobe then and the set pieces more so?

[Josh Bass]

You should worry less about color coordination and think about what these characters would wear based on who they are and how the locations should be dressed based how the characters that inhabit them would dress them. How would this lady decorate her house based on her life, back story, likes and dislikes. Same for police station etc. Really, bro. Make this color thing a last priority. You're trying to shoot this in less than six months (we said summer, right?). You don't have a finalized script, actors, locations or crew locked down. You're worrying about color schemes. Get the other stuff sorted first. Prioritize.

[Ryan Elder]

Oh okay, but I thought that the choice of their clothes would be based on other things, such as one character may wear a suit, another a leather jacket, etc. So I thought those types of things would tell you who the characters are, but the color of those clothes are for the tone more so.

[Josh Bass]

I still wouldn't worry about it. Unless one of your gritty cops tries to a hot pink pleather jacket that says "JUICY BOI" on it or something, let it go. What they would wear would be a) based on their job b) their personality, just like in real life. Booth on the show "Bones" was an FBI guy so he wore a boring suit but he also had this rebellious streak so he wore goofy colored socks or a goofy belt, always one "off" item just to rebel. This was brought up repeatedly. That's an example, not a suggestion for your movie.

[Ryan Elder]

Oh okay, but in planning the clothes, I thought I still had to plan the colors of the clothes befores shooting.

[Pete Cofrancesco]

Ryan you like to talk big, how you're hiring this person, renting these location, buying this gear, but none of it ever materializes. How are you even going to get police uniforms, let alone ordering specific color clothes for everyone. This will most likely regress into actors having to wear whatever matches closest.

Is your next thread going to be on costume design and how to sew suits from scratch? Or will it be on how to apply make up? Maybe you can brush up with a quick Youtube tutorial on fashion, cosmetology or set design. What's to stop you? You've tried your hand at every possible job in movie making.

Look no one would blame you for not having the money or not wanting to throw away the little you have on such a risky endeavor, but why must you play these charades?

[John Nantz]

Originally Posted by Pete Cofrancesco

Ryan you like to talk big, how you're hiring this person, renting these location, buying this gear, but none of it ever materializes. How are you even going to get police uniforms, let alone ordering specific color clothes for everyone. This will most likely regress into actors having to wear whatever matches closest.

Pete - Very good point.
Costumes cost money and getting them so they all fit the cast properly will be time consuming. Also, not all our volunteer or budget cast would necessarily “look the part” (well groomed hair, tattoos, etc.). Even the leather shoes and other leather items, police badges, name badges, matching shoulder web cams and radios, etc. will be costly. Thanks for bringing this up. This is where PLANNING is helpful.

We’ve got a good solution for THAT problem - we’ll change the script to read Police “plain clothes” DETECTIVES so they will be wearing whatever helps them blend in with their “clientele”. All the actors will feel more comfortable in their everyday dudes. Maybe even have a skateboard for show. Speaking of those black shiny leather shoes, those can be expensive and need to be polished. How many of the cast know how to polish a leather shoe???

Being Plain Clothes Detectives, they won’t need to be showing their badge all the time so only need to buy (or borrow) one and share it, if needed, in different shots. Remember, eBay fake ones cost around $4 ea, so the budget for several of them adds up. With budgeting, “the devil is in the details”.

Police cars? Hey, the Plain Clothes guys drive incognito, so no fancy black-’n-white needed.

Think of Mannix (TV circa 1970s, the private eye who lived in a trailer near the beach and wore a sport coat). Detective cars use a single magnetic flashing light they reach out the window and put on the roof.
Edit: If a detective wants to dress more up-scale (Mannix-style), pick up a used sport coat at the Goodwill (second hand store).