At Charenton Macerations, we spend a lot of time playing around with video. From watching to producing, we can, at any one point, have up to four video screens running simultaneously, pumping in various content from around the world. As access to video grows (already an audience of over 1 billion on YouTube), and the means of production become even easier to obtain (i.e. cell phone video capture), video will continue to play an important role in our lives, and hence help shape how we view our surroundings. We are now, more than ever, living in a video-centric world. Ask yourself, from watching TV, to websurfing on your computer, to checking in on your smartphone or iPad, just how much time do you spend interacting with a screen? As years go by, the average amount of time spent will only continue to increase. Video’s functionality and interactivity is a key part of what is driving the current technological revolution. For that reason, we invest a lot of time using video, understanding its value as a tool for better explaining our fragrance concepts, and actively encourage others to use video as an additional way to express how certain elements of fragrance look and feel.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJAxZt7joNE
To that end, see the above clip is from the 1985 Universal Pictures movie, Mask, starring Cher, Eric Stoltz, Sam Elliott and Laura Dern. Mask tells the story of Rocky Dennis, a boy born with severe facial deformities. The film aims to challenge viewers’ preconceived notions of beauty, namely the idea that beauty is only about physical appearance. Laura Dern plays Diana, a blind girl Rocky meets at camp, and one of the few people able to see past Rocky’s disease. At minute marker 7:50, as the love between the two blossoms, there is a great scene where Rocky teaches Diana about color. By feeling color, Diana is able to see through Rocky’s eyes, bringing the two closer together. They are communicating through a shared experience, an idea not so foreign to fragrance. The clip helps underscore the many similarities between the worlds of color and fragrance.
In video production, we dedicate a lot of time to color, much of it using the 3-Way Color Corrector. Color plays an important part in enhancing sensorial impact. By correcting a person’s skin tone, you are trying to make them look more pleasing, make them feel more real (based on the context of the piece). Notice, I said trying. That’s because how you perceive and associate color is individually biased, heavily impacted by environmental and cultural influences, just like fragrance. Even though color is easily communicated by the average person through physical and emotional association, it’s effects are not universal; color attachments are always subjective. It’s hue. It’s saturation. It’s lightness. All reducible to numeric code, yet our responses to color continually shifts with conditioning. Though the results are not always predictable, simple color variations do provoke emotional responses, and because of that, remain an important tool in video production. Television networks invest heavily in their color profiles, understanding color choice to be crucial to overall branding. It’s why an image on NBC is now “More Colorful,” and will always looks different than CBS.
How can fragrance learn from color? In color theory, color combinations known to cause pleasing effects are called harmonies, with simple harmonies analogous to fragrance families. Depending on which fragrance classification system you subscribe to, there are roughly 4-8 established fragrance families. There are millions of possible harmonious color combinations. Color is universally taught early in life, seen as essential to development. Childhood fragrance education is minimal. Despite variations in response, the manner in which we approach color still encourages open and easy communication. Can the same be said about the current fragrance classification system? While useful to developers and others versed in the language, scent classification proves confusing to average fragrance shoppers, and lacks the ease of communication shown in the color description example. Moreover, it is rife with inconsistencies. Fragrance should take more advantage of its similarities with the world of color. Borrow from the language of color and adopt a more harmonious approach to understanding and classification. Develop a stronger, universally recognized system of fragrance communication inspired not only by the fluidity of color communication, but also by its openness to an undiscovered spectrum of possibilities.
When you start to view fragrance in respect to color, you begin to see it more like a lens, a window to see the world through. In this sense, fragrance is much more active. It’s applications endless. Our homes, our cars, our bodies… We dress our world in color, making color a vital concern, and lucrative business, for many industries. Huge expense is paid to the automotive industry for interior and exterior custom color and graphics (personalization). Just purchasing a red sports car increases your insurance rate (implied luxury, added value). Great consideration is given to how you will paint your walls (environmental impact). Color is not just an accessory, it is a critical source of emotional expression, a point of view. Color is responsible for sending us millions of coded messages each day. Color is analytical and emotional. Private and social. Rational and irrational. Color is an important part of our daily lives. Color is making a statement.
It’s a neat idea to combine fragrance communication with color communication. It reminds me of people who experience synaesthesia, or the ability to sense something with an alternate sense (i.e. someone smells something and sees a different color). Such a great concept to test out.