25 things you didn’t know about your favorite rom-coms

500 Days of Summer: A purposeful color palette

500 Days of Summer is an indie darling starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Zooey Deschanel. But they let us know early on, it is not a love story. Tom falls hard for Summer, but Summer lets him know she’s not looking for anything serious. Even though she warns him, the two are hot and heavy for while, but it doesn’t last forever.

And the aesthetic of the movie reflects that.

Throughout the film, the production didn’t not use the color red on purpose. Red is fiery and angry, but also represents love and passion. Instead, the filmmakers often used the color blue in abundance to represent love and happiness, as well as to bring out the blue in Deschanel’s eyes.

Red is only found twice in the whole movie. It appears on a little origami bird in Summer’s (Deschanel) apartment and again at the end, when Tom (Gordon-Levitt) meets Autumn, and she’s wearing a red blouse.

Since the timeline of the film isn’t linear, the use of colors and lighting help set the tone for when things are happening. The mood of the background art represents the status of Summer and Tom’s relationship. When things are going well, everything is brighter and happy. When things start going south, you’ll notice the colors are less vibrant and more dark.

If you never noticed that before, go back and rewatch it. When a film is unique and follows a non-linear timeline, it’s important for the filmmakers to find different ways to help the viewers better understand what they’re watching. And using color was a perfect way to get their point across!