Weston, N. J., & Hardy Bernal, K. A. (2022, September 13-14). A discovery of witches, a blue and orange landscape: Colour coding and unconscious orthogonal morality schemata in film and television [conference paper presentation, abstract]. See and Be Seen, Auckland, New Zealand. (original) (raw)

The historical-fantasy television series, A Discovery of Witches (2018 – 2022), named after the first novel of the All Souls Trilogy by Deborah Harkness (2011), and incorporating Shadow of Night (2012) and The Book of Life (2014), is an adaptation based on centuries-long animosities, and new-found romances, between humans and three species of supernatural creatures, witches, vampires, and daemons. This paper investigates the use and impact of aesthetic choices, specifically associated with colour, and analyses their affective contributions to characterisation and storyline. What is immediately striking about the creative direction is the colour palette: The landscape, and everything within it, is almost exclusively limited to variations of blue and orange. The strong use of this schema is both in camera and applied postproduction. While it has become a familiar trope in film and television since the advent of digital colour grading, it is not often as extreme. The all-encompassing teal/blue and orange palette of this series lends itself to be read. For one thing, it can be aligned with the screen-based storytelling concept of ‘blue and orange morality’. According to this model, a character may have a deigned moral compass, but their nature may not coincide with any recognised code of ethics. This is sometimes referred to as the ‘bacon versus necktie’ axis. It is noted that different factions of beings in A Discovery of Witches lean towards one end of the colour space or the other. This indicates that colour symbolism drives the narrative. Did the production team unconsciously or intentionally use a blue and orange palette to reflect character motivations that lie outside a traditional good versus evil spectrum? Nicholas J. Weston (xe/xem/xyr) started work in British television and film in the early 1990s, initially in costume design and make-up, before moving in front of the camera as an actor. Following a relocation to New Zealand in the 2000s, xe moved behind the camera for a return to study. Xe went on to teach film production and post-production for eleven years. Currently, xe is Leader of the Animation Team at the Auckland campus of Yoobee College of Creative Innovation, New Zealand (Auckland, Christchurch, Rotorua, Wellington). Dr Kathryn A. Hardy Bernal is Head of Research and Postgraduate Studies across the campuses of Yoobee College of Creative Innovation, New Zealand (Auckland, Christchurch, Rotorua, Wellington). She is a critical theorist, researcher, and publisher on art, design, fashion, film, subculture, gender studies, psychoanalytical anthropology, and cultural history. She was formerly Fashion Theory Coordinator and Programme Leader (Deputy Head) of Fashion and Textiles at Auckland University of Technology and has held several senior academic and teaching positions at universities in Australia and New Zealand.