[[quoteright:350:[[Film/VickyCristinaBarcelona http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/vicky_108.jpg]]]]
[[caption-width-right:350:ScarlettJohansson looking orange.]]

This trope applies to films, TV-series, video clips and graphics.

The director/director of photography/production designer thought it would be a good idea to do something fancy to the colors. This could be saturating the colors so everything looks more vivid than normal. More often than not, [[OrangeBlueContrast this means making skin appear orange-y and everything else teal]]. Another example would be shifting the entire color palette - making (almost) everything appear a certain color.

Compare with tropes such as RealIsBrown, UnnaturallyBlueLighting and DeliberatelyMonochrome. The difference between those tropes and Color Wash is that (a) the film uses both or (b) uses another type of visual trick entirely, such as cranking up the saturation of the colors.

See also MoodLighting, [[PostProcessingVideoEffects Post Processing]], and ColorContrast. Often used to signal a {{flashback|Effects}}.

Most of the time, using lots of Color Wash turns the product into something horrible; but other times, it is used in a very clever way.



[[folder:Animated Films]]
* ''Disney/BrotherBear'' uses an orange wash to emphasize the setting of Native American Alaska.

[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
* In the Toei first series anime of ''Anime/{{Yu Gi Oh|First Anime Series}}'', the palette seems to be made up entirely of super-saturated neons that do not go together.
* The infamously confusing anime ''Bounty Dog'' takes place on the moon, and everything is colored a shade of sickening yellow.

* This was a common criticism of the art in FrankMiller's ''TheDarkKnightReturns''.

[[folder:Live-Action Films]]
* Creator/JamesCameron always uses a strong blue tint when scenes are supposed to be set at night. It allows the scene to be strongly lit so that the audience can see everything, but give the indication of darkness.
* The first film of ''TheTwilightSaga'': Because Forks is a dreary, rainy town, the director decided to desaturate the colors to bring this across. The point is that the colors are also very desaturated when Bella is in another place, such as California, meaning that (a) the director's explanation [[FridgeLogic does not make sense]] and (b) the whole movie looks bland and boring.
** Done again in the sequel, where everything seems washed with gold.
* Among the many, many reasons that the ''Film/BattlefieldEarth'' movie was awful was the blue filter over many of the shots. The movie also enjoys combining green and purple, using the same logic as movies that use orange and teal - the colors contrast, and putting them together causes them to "pop".
* In ''Film/TheMatrix'', the scenes in the normal world are tinted a cold blue; the scenes set in the Matrix itself are tinted a digital green, like an old monochrome computer screen. In fact, the green tint becomes more and more prominent as Smith takes over the Matrix. [[spoiler:The final scene, after Smith is defeated and the Matrix freed, [[RuleOfSymbolism is completely devoid of this tint]]]].
* SpyGame uses different filters for each flashback segment. Vietnam is orange as hell, Berlin is kind of a cool blue, and Beirut is sort of a sandy yellow. This serves to easily delineate between the flashbacks and the central hub of the story.
* Creator/PeterJackson's ''Film/TheLordOfTheRings'' uses digital colour grading, which becomes blatantly obvious at times. It's especially noticeable in day-for-night scenes, like with Merry and Pippin in Fangorn. There's even a scene in ''Return of the King'' where Pippin is searching for Merry, that appears as a daylight scene in the theatrical version but was regraded to night for the extended version. An interesting example occurs with several shots used more than once (Green Dragon Inn exterior, Boromir's last stand, a certain close-up of Elrond) in different movies: frame-by-frame comparison shows exactly the same imagery with drastically different colors.
* ''OBrotherWhereArtThou'' plays with this a lot; they messed with the hue and saturation until everything was an intensely colorful brown, imitating the look of old-timey photos. [[UrExample Also, the first feature film to be entirely digital color corrected]].
** This was also done because dying yellow crops look better in a Depression-era film, whereas most of the greenery was verdant as Hawaii during filming.
* ''VickyCristinaBarcelona'' is very golden-yellowy looking.
** Creator/WoodyAllen [[SignatureStyle likes warm colors]].
* The movie version of ''LightNovel/KamikazeGirls'' is really, really yellow.
* In ''TheThirteenthFloor'', one character comments on how the colors are off [[InsideAComputerSystem in the computer simulation]].
* Used far too much in the made-for-TV film ''Jason and the Golden Fleece'', with desaturated colours and hard light.
* ''Film/{{Avalon}}'' has a ''very'' amber filter, to the point of monochrome [[spoiler:until the end, when it's removed to suggest that the main character is now in "the real world."]]
* The Moroder version of Film/{{Metropolis}} used color washes over the whole screen -- blue for scenes in the underground Worker's City, reddish tones for surface scenes, though there were some variations.
* The original ''StarWars'' trilogy has a fairly consistent dark blue wash (very noticeable in scenes set on mostly-grey spaceships) in the DVD version that wasn't in any earlier version (compare the bonus disc, which has the original theatrical version without the blue wash).
* In the film adaptation of ''SouthPacific'', everything appears heavily yellow because the film was filtered through a yellow sheet of cellophane in postproduction. This was overkill of what they wanted, which was to make the film "more yellow", and they hadn't actually intended it to ''be all'' yellow. They released it anyway.
* Creator/DavidFincher is a big fan of brown.
** A big part of this is his use of natural light, rather than artificial lighting. Creator/StanleyKubrick did this a lot on his later work (most prominently, ''EyesWideShut'').
* In TheBookOfEli the entire world is brownish, as though it's being seen through the sunglasses everyone's wearing.
* ''SavingPrivateRyan'' looks fairly washed out due to cinematographer Creator/JanuszKaminski playing with the shutter speed of the cameras. This also made the images appear sharper and shakier, making it look more like documentary footage than a $70 million Hollywood production.
** Creator/StevenSpielberg and Kaminski have done this at least twice now - ''MinorityReport'' has an icy hue to it, accomplished in the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bleach_bypass film processing stages]] of post-production.
* ''ClerksII'', except for the [[BigLippedAlligatorMoment dance scene]].
** The film was originally intended to shot in black and white like the first one but producer Harvey Weinstein wanted the film open wide so director Creator/KevinSmith chose to desaturate the colors instead.
* ''IAmSam'' is very blue, both in color and in mood.
* The ''Film/HarryPotter'' films, the first installment is full of vivid colours, with plenty of warm reds and gold. Each of the films thereafter gets more and more desaturated until ''[[Film/HarryPotterAndTheDeathlyHallows Deathly Hallows]]'' is practically in B&W.
* ''Film/{{Ghostbusters}}'' used a purple wash to give the film an eerie, paranormal feel.
* The theatre release of {{Payback}} has a stark blue filter applied throughout the whole movie. The Director's Cut however doesn't have this (and changes the whole last third of the plot).
* ''Film/TheWrongGuy'' uses a bland mix of grey and blue-green in the early "corporate" scenes. After the boss is murdered and Nelson discovers his corpse, color begins to seep in, starting with the red blood. By the time Nelson meets Lynn, the palette is brighter and a broader spectrum.
* ''Film/TheRaid'' is very blue.
* For some reason the HollywoodDarkness in the ActionPrologue of ''Film/OnHerMajestysSecretService'' wasn't considered dark enough and it suddenly was given a dark blue color wash in the Ultimate edition DVD.
* ''Film/{{Kontroll}}'' is set in the Budapest Metro (underground railway), and most scenes have a green/yellow cast. When we see these scenes being filmed in the "making of" feature, they all have natural colour, and are brighter.
* ''Film/ManOfSteel'' has a dark bluish tint when Clark is out in the world, while Smallville scenes use yellowish lighting instead.
* Some of Creator/StevenSoderbergh's films:
** Many scenes in ''Film/SideEffects'' are tinted warm yellow, especially in the first half of the film.
** ''Film/{{Contagion}}'' varies from scene to scene, with green, yellow and blue being popular choices.
** ''Film/{{Traffic}}'' has different filters for different locales. In particular, Mexico was always awash in orange-yellow. The US had a blue filter.

[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
* ''CSIMiami'': Because this spin-off is set in Miami, everything is drenched in orange. Whenever someone is walking outside in daylight, the ''sky'' is a vivid orange too.
** Related, ''{{CSINY}}'' uses UnnaturallyBlueLighting (and the crossover with Miami has Horatio Caine bringing his orange light...).
** [[RuleOfThree Not to mention]], ''Series/{{CSI}}'' had a green tint.
*** Not so much. In earlier seasons, scenes set in daylight had a noticeable BlueOrangeContrast, while those taken indoors or at night had a more feasible blue tint.
* On ''Series/{{Skins}}'', scenes that take place outdoors have very saturated colours. This is often seen as very good cinematography.
* ''Series/{{Life On Mars|2006}}'' did this. The entire show was made to look older (took place in the 1970s) by washing everything with yellow during the coma/ whatchamacallit (and that lasted the entire show). The 2006 scenes were, in comparison, almost drained.
* ''Series/ColdCase'' uses this a lot. Scenes that take place in the present have only a slight blue tinge, or no color wash at all; those in the past, however, have a color wash that 'fits' the time. For instance, scenes in the 1970s have vivid, warm colours to contrast with the present.
* ''[[Series/BattlestarGalacticaReimagined Battlestar Galactica]]'': scenes on lifeless planets tend to be very washed out. But the scenes on Kobol had implausibly vivid green foliage.
* ''Series/CharlieJade'' had a different colour wash depending on which dimension you were currently watching. Alpha was green, Beta was Blue and Gamma was red.
* ''{{Jekyll}}'' plays with this to wonderful effect. When Tom Jackman is awake, colors are subdued by means of a subtle blue filter, while vivid colors mark Hyde being awake.
* Similar to ''{{Traffic}}'' above, from season 2 onwards ''Series/BreakingBad'' would frequently visit orange-yellow-tint Mexico.
* In ''Series/{{House}}'', earlier episodes had an almost orange look to them, fading out to a very slight greenish tint for the rest of the series.
* ''Series/{{Heroes}}'' often filmed their New York settings in a blue or green light, while Texas, California and other outdoors settings in the show had a yellow or orange light.
* In ''{{Scrubs}}'', the episode "My Way Home" features heavy colour saturation as a homage to ''Film/TheWizardOfOz''.
* The entirety of ''Series/{{Utopia}}'' is shot in vividly over-saturated colours.


* The video for {{Devo}}'s "Girl U Want" is ''very'' purple-and-green, to the point that there almost aren't any other colors. Even skin is mostly purple.

* It's not uncommon for a Lighting Designer to implement one or two dominant colours in a play.

* ''{{Singularity}}'' is overly fond of [[OrangeBlueContrast lighting everything with the color orange. Anything that isn't orange tends to be blue.]]
* ''VagrantStory'', like ''Singularity'', is fond of a yellowish-brown color for absolutely everything with occasional blue-lit areas (usually in the Undercity).
* ''VideoGame/BattlefieldThree'' is the bluest game in the history of gaming. Even the ''night'' maps are blue and not black.
* ''VideoGame/{{Prototype}}'' is one of the reddest games ever made; red menus, red monsters, red zombies, red pulsing hives and building, and red skies.
* ''VideoGame/DeusEx'' has a color scheme where the primary color on the palette to denote high technology is blue.
** ''VideoGame/DeusExHumanRevolution'' also has this, but yellow.
* ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid'''s Shadow Moses and a good deal of ''MetalGearSolid2'' are green-blue.
* In ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTwilightPrincess'', the Twilight Realm was initially designed as [[DeliberatelyMonochrome grayscale]] with some splahes of color. However, the design later changed to an incredibly hyper-saturated color scheme, with gold, brown, and magenta being the most prominent colors. Most have praised the new design, citing it as more original and evocative of a creepy, alien twilight world.
** Used to a lesser extent with normal-Hyrule, which had a faint yellowish tint to most things.
* ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'' uses different color grading in different areas. The difference is sometimes very noticeable--for instance, Ghostlands looks very different when you're looking in from Zul'Aman than when you're inside and the darker color grade takes hold. It's sometimes so strong (particular with red colored areas like Durotar) that it takes a while for eyes to readjust to another color when changing zones.
* Used in ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoSanAndreas'' for an accentuated atmospheric sense. Since San Andreas was a really huge state, with contrasting environments, there's a Color Wash scheme that differs from place to place. [[UsefulNotes/LosAngeles Los Santos]] had a slightly orangish weather with heat hazes. [[UsefulNotes/SanFrancisco San Fierro]] had a [[UnnaturallyBlueLighting unnaturally teal lighting]] to convey a mild-to-cold atmosphere. [[VivaLasVegas Las Venturas]] went for a less blatant color scheme, but still conveying a [[CaptainObvious hot weather]]. The contry-sides had a pastel green/brown tint to them, and the deserts took it further with bright white/yellow skies that turned purplish at night.
* The NES games on the Wii's VirtualConsole has a filter that not only darkens the screen, but it also darkens the colors. This was supposed to emulate how NES games would look on a TV set from the 1980s, but it makes the games look like someone put a gray film over the screen. Ports of the NES games plus emulators don't use this feature, which makes the games look brighter and more colorful by comparison.
* ''{{Super Mario galaxy}}'' uses colour tints on the cosmic comet missions. Red for the speed run missions, Yellow for the Fast Foe missions, Blue for the cosmic clone missions, white for the daredevil missions, and purple for the purple coin missions. The effect is subtle, but it's there.
* Almost everywhere in ''[[VideoGame/{{Fallout3}} Fallout 3]]'' has a [[Main/SicklyGreenGlow strong green tint]] (save for [[spoiler: the Tranquillity Lane simulation]], which is sepia-toned in the style of old photographs). In fact, if you remove the tint with one of the various visual overhaul mods out there, you will see that a lot of the game's textures [[DeliberatelyMonochrome have been almost entirely desaturated]] to exaggerate this.
** The areas added by the first two DLC packs have their own colour pallettes. The industrial setting of ''The Pitt'' is denoted with a red-brown wash, whereas ''Operation Anchorage'' is tinted blue, in keeping with its winter themes. However, the fourth DLC, ''Point Lookout'', cranks the green wash of the main game UpToEleven, complete with a heavy green haze (which was probably added to hide the lack of detail beyond the borders of the playable region).


* Played with in latest arc of NoNeedForBushido. Scenes seen through the eyes of Yori (who at that point is under the effect of a powerful hallucinogenic drug), have duller colors and a sap tint, as opposed to the usually vivid visuals of the rest of the battle.
* In ''Webcomic/FarOut'', the color palette is all tinted toward ruddy orange.
* In ''Webcomic/CucumberQuest'', [[http://cucumber.gigidigi.com/archive/page-197/ by the water scene, in blues.]]
* A frequent technique used by [[http://tamberella.deviantart.com/gallery/ TamberElla]], often to set up a [[MoodLighting specific mood]]. This is taken to the extreme in their webcomic [[http://tamberella.deviantart.com/gallery/32753874?offset=0 Ink]] which is set in a world made of stain glass.