Comments on: The Color of Toei

By: Tony Lee

Tony Lee — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 03:08:20 +0000

These color results remind me of some of the films made in the 70′s in Europe. (And U.S. for that matter.)

I think one factor to measure color quality in a production is the actual setting itself. In the pictures above, some may be filmed in a actual home or apartment setting as opposed to a studio. I say that, due to the presence of fluorescent lighting in the background. In this case the color quality was doomed from the beginning.

By: Funny pictures and videos at the blog of Brad McAllister

Funny pictures and videos at the blog of Brad McAllister — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 15:56:44 +0000

Kill Bill, one of my favorite movies :), 1 not 2!

By: searchforvoip

searchforvoip — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 20:17:58 +0000

This is veryyyyy funny. I was complaining about this a week ago to my freinds. I dono why this happens, but you might be right about the diff films that are used, as well as the advances hollywood on comparison to Japan.

By: blauereiter

blauereiter — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 06:12:04 +0000

Very interesting and thought provoking article, its something I’ve always given thought about too.

I went through 2 years of film school in Japan and was involved in a couple of shoots, and when our rushes came back it looks just like what you’ve dubbed “Toei color”, although we were shooting only on 16mm and not 35mm, which is what most features are shot on. The final look of the footage is decided by the DP and director, so they have to work closely with the colorist or filmgrader during “one light”, the first print of the film. You can manipulate the colors later in post but alot of raw information is “burned in” during the One Light phase and locks the look of the footage.

That said, the Toei color you refer to is possibly the default color of the print with minimal creative intervention at One light. I’m not implying that Japanese filmmakers aren’t skilled enough to achieve different results from their shot footage, but major hollywood productions usually have more resources available ( ie using bleach bypass or requesting Kodak to develop special stocks ) to finetune and create a very specific look and color for the final print.

Well, my calculated guess, I can be woefully wrong.

By: Keith

Keith — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 15:36:46 +0000

“Strange how different the colours are. But i find both not natural. One is too much green and yellow, the other one has too much red.”

I agree, still my pick is the red one.

By: giolicious

giolicious — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 17:40:14 +0000

well it doesnt really matter as long as its pleasing with the eyes. :)

By: seothaithai

seothaithai — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 05:22:31 +0000

I’m so freaking glad you brought this up as I’ve been thinking about this for years, and none of my friends seem to care/believe me. I’ve always thought that many Japanese movies have a weird yellow grain tinge to them and it’s nice to know I’m not alone.

By: Jonas Verliebt

Jonas Verliebt — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 14:11:09 +0000

These color tricks are used to give unity to the movies, and not hurt people´s eyes. It makes it more comfortable for the viewers and enables them a deeper thinking about the movie.

These yellow is also a remind of those japanese doors u can find in traditionnal houses.

By: Soth

Soth — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 13:27:51 +0000

I also have been thinking about this for years. I called it the “french movie color palette wannabe” because reminds me the artificial colors of the movies of Luc Besson and Jean-Pierre Jeunet. Until now nobody agreed with me.

By: Gesundheit

Gesundheit — Sun, 25 Jan 2009 21:41:29 +0000

Strange how different the colours are. But i find both not natural. One is too much green and yellow, the other one has too much red.

By: simplycomplex

simplycomplex — Sun, 25 Jan 2009 18:55:23 +0000

Before I moved to Hell’s Armpit(aka Tucson) I used to watch a show regularly broadcast here in the city, that was(I believe) filmed in Japan. I never really got most of it, but one thing that did strike me was the color scheme, and how it ranged far more toward yellow/green than anything I’d been exposed to previously. Nice to have one of those lingering adolescent questions resolved. And even nicer to have a topic fairly safe from harsh debate!

By: nayhem

nayhem — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 10:38:35 +0000

Fluorescent lighting on tungsten stock. Or differing white balance settings.

Maybe the crews aren’t paying attention? It’s pretty simple to match the output in that last set.

By: CMWilly

CMWilly — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 01:00:45 +0000

I agree with Shipon, those two factors make up alot of how films look like. Another factor is the film that the Japanese tend to use.
It seems most Japanese films tend to like using Fuji film stock which tends to lean towards a more cooler temperature and has a bit of green in it.

By: zalas

zalas — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 12:01:04 +0000

For some reason the non-Toei pictures you posted seem a bit pinkish to me, but then again, color management is a pretty complicated science(art?)… By the way, according to http://www.cybercollege.com/tvp028.htm the standard color temperature of TVs (at least back when this page was written) was around 7100K for the US and 9300K for Japan. That’s a huge difference. Thus, the “yellow” image you see gets boosted by a good dose of extra “blue” in Japan.

By: shipon

shipon — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 08:48:28 +0000

Any number of factors :

- DOP/Director decided to shift color balance for creative reasons
- Dodgy telecine (a lot of transfers are crap : check the UK Tartan release of Battle Royale vs the standard NTSC one

My professional experience puts it at the above two, but I suspect it’s more for creative reasons than anything else.