the prettiest robot . net - Movie Color Palettes

Each of these images was generated from a popular movie, showing that movie's color palette over time. Click for large versions.

(1939) The Wizard of Oz:

(1940) Fantasia:

(1968) 2001: A Space Odyssey:

(1970) M*A*S*H:

(1972) The Godfather:

(1975) Monty Python and the Holy Grail:

(1978) Superman:

(1979) Apocalypse Now:

(1980) Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back:

(1982) Blade Runner:

(1982) Tron:

(1984) Terminator:

(1989) The Little Mermaid:

(1994) Pulp Fiction:

(1994) The Lion King:

(1997) Princess Mononoke:

(1999) Pokémon: The First Movie:

(1999) Fantasia 2000:

(2002) Russian Ark:

(2003) Goodbye Lenin:

(2005) Serenity:

(2006) Superman Returns:

(2008) Wall·E:

(2009) Avatar:

(2010) Tron Legacy:

These images were created one vertical column of pixels at a time, from left to right. Each column is composed of the five most prominent colors in a particular still frame. Each of the five components scaled corresponding to the amount of that color in the frame.

The movies were broken down into small frames using FFmpeg. The colors were chosen from each frame via k-means with OpenCV. The final images were created from this color data with Processing.

Here is a breakdown of the image generated from 2001: A Space Odyssey. You can see the stylistic transitions: the green and tan colors of the savanna in the beginning, followed by the bright, familiar colors of the space station, and then the tense darkness of moon base. Near the end, there is the technicolor hyperspace scene, followed by a return to bright light, green, and tan in the aging scene.