COLOUR AS A NARRATIVE DEVICE AND ITS EFFECTS ON AUDIENCE PERCEPTION: A STUDY OF CLARENCE PETERS’ INSIDE LIFE

This research explores the role of colour as a narrative storytelling device in film and its impact on audience perception, using Clarence Peters’ Inside Life as a case study. The study examines how colour, when consciously deployed through lighting, costume, scenography and editing, can shape emotion, enhance meaning and guide viewer interpretation beyond dialogue and plot. The problem this study addresses is the limited scholarly attention given to colour as a deliberate cinematic tool in Nigerian film, especially in relation to its emotional and psychological effect on audiences. While Nigerian filmmakers often engage with visual symbolism, there remains a gap in formal analysis of how colour choices influence narrative reception. The study critically examined how colour is used in Inside Life to advance character development, support thematic progression and shape emotional responses. The study is grounded in colour theory; drawing from Goethe’s emotional colour psychology and Albers’ theory of perception. It employed qualitative, scene-based analysis approach and descriptive method to highlight how technical departments such as lighting, costume design, makeup, set design and colour grading collaborate to construct this visual language. Findings revealed that Clarence Peters’ use of colour in Inside Life is intentional, expressive, and emotionally charged and colour operates as a silent language that enhances the film’s psychological weight and guides audience interpretation. The study concludes that colour, when treated as a central element of visual storytelling, contributes significantly to narrative depth and audience engagement. It recommends that Nigerian filmmakers and film students approach colour not as an afterthought but as a core narrative tool, integrated from pre-production through post-production.