Throughout films certain colors are associated with certain moods or tones. Scenes are set up in specific ways and with planned colors to communicate emotions or themes. Bright colors such as yellow can create feelings of joy or happiness and darker colors such as blue can create a more serious or somber tone. Also, warmer colors such as red can evoke a feeling of anger. Wes Anderson, a popular American film director, often uses this to his advantage in many of his films. By using bright and lively colors Anderson creates a tone of joy or happiness as opposed to using dark colors to create a more serious or somber tone. Anderson also uses colors to explain a certain character’s feelings or emotions in a specific scene. Films such as The Royal Tenenbaums, The Grand Budapest Hotel, and The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou portray Anderson’s theme of high contrast colors and how they influence the tone and emotion of a scene. 

In the film The Royal Tenenbaums the colors are primarily warm tones such as red, yellow, or orange. These warmer colors often set a happier tone, so when there is drastic change in the color of a scene it is noticeable that the tone of the scene will change as well. In one scene in particular the color scheme changes drastically from its usual warm colors. Anderson sets the scene in a bathroom with blue painted walls to set a more serious tone of depression. He uses the sudden change to the color blue to transfer the viewer’s attention to one specific character in the scene and their emotions rather than the scene as a whole. In this scene in particular, it shifts to the character’s feelings of depression and suicide. Colors often provoke certain emotions and have unique connotations. The color blue is often associated with sadness and depression, which is why Anderson uses the color blue in this particular scene in the film. An example of how Anderson uses warm colors in the film can be found in the scene where Chas, Ari, and Usi are all wearing bright red track suits. Throughout the scene Chas is concerned with the safety of his children, Ari and Usi. The use of the red track suits in this scene are representative of this. Since the color red can often be associated with safety alerts like stop signs or fire alarms, the viewer can infer that this is why Anderson chose the color red. Anderson switches the colors up from warm tones to more somber tones quickly in the film. Anderson’s unique use of contrasting colors in the film can help translate the emotions felt by the characters in the particular scenes.

The film The Grand Budapest Hotel uses the color purple throughout the film. It can most often be seen in the uniform worn by the hotel employees. Purple is often a color associated with royalty and elegance. Anderson makes the characters wear purple to show that they have power in the hotel and to show the elegance of the hotel as well. In the scene where Gustave first meets Zero, he is pictured in a purple tuxedo. This purple tuxedo is used to represent his importance to the hotel as well as his elegance and class. Gustave’s authority or royal-like figure is shown as he is a teacher to Zero, the lobby boy, which is why he is often pictured in the color purple. Another color often pictured throughout the film is pink. The color pink is most notably seen in the hotel, which is painted pink. Pink is a bright and lively color often associated with fantasy. This can clearly be seen in the hotel with it’s almost fantasy-like elegance and social status. Pink can also be associated with bakeries and their sweets. Anderson shows this by wrapping bakery goods in pink packaging. Anderson’s use of the colors pink in purple throughout the film help magnify the feeling of fantasy and elegance of the hotel and its staff.

Anderson continues the use of set color palettes in the film The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou as well. Steve Zissou, the main character of the film The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, is often pictured wearing a red cap throughout the film. The color red is often associated with vengeance, which happens to be a main theme of this film. Zissou’s mission in the film is to avenge the death of his friend by killing the shark that killed him. Anderson gives Zissou a red cap to show his that he is seeking vengeance. Red is also often related with anger, which can be associated with vengeance as well. By giving Zissou a red cap, Anderson also shows Zissou’s anger towards the shark which explains his want for revenge. Another color that is often seen throughout the film is the color blue. This can be seen most often in the team member’s uniforms. Since the color blue is often associated with the sea, it is a perfect fit in the film as the setting is at sea. Since Zissou is a captain at sea, the color blue helps portray the importance of the setting for the story. The use of the colors red and blue in the film help emphasize the setting while also getting across the main motive behind Zissou’s search for the shark.

Wes Anderson’s use of colors in the films The Royal Tenenbaums, The Grand Budapest Hotel, and The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou help portray the tone of scenes. In The Royal Tenenbaums Anderson uses most often warm tones such as red, yellow, and orange contrasting with the color blue to show the difference in tone between the setting and the individual character. In the film The Grand Budapest Hotel Anderson most often uses the colors purple and pink to create and feeling of royalty or fantasy. Also, Anderson uses the colors red and blue to show vengeance and importance of setting in the film The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou. His continued use of a unique color palette in each film is apparent and successful in translating the emotions of a scene. 