Color Contrasts

Johannes Itten distinguished between seven color contrasts based on the colors of his color wheel that describe varying subjective effects that different color contrasts and combinations have on the viewer.

A systematical analysis of an excerpt regarding its color contrasts can be very useful for an artistic analysis of the color composition. The color contrasts that are particularly relevant for film analysis are the contrast of pure hue, the complementary contrast, the light-dark contrast, the cool-warm contrast, and the contrast of saturation.