The article intends to shed light on the role of color as the essential film medium in the figural reflection of reality. Given its potent artistic and figurative value, color allows filmmakers to augment and transform the onscreen reality redefining it and making space for a subjective view.The increasingly larger role of color and its impact on the viewer under the current evolution of cinema and television is one of the key factors of this work. A cineaste ought to appreciate the phenomenon of color and the modes of its application in the course of narrative. Color can bring the image closer to reality or create a whole new, illusory world, transfer the viewer to a universe of fantasies and symbols. In that case, the imaginative form replaces the reflection of reality and becomes an integral part of the film and television production as a whole. The use of a random color may bring to nought the semantic and artistic solution of the film.With a conscious choice and competent use, the color palette launches a certain response of the audience, makes good points, typifies the characters, evidentiates the changes or arcs throughout the narrative, creates the mood and sets the style of the whole film. Therefore, the study of the general theory of color and of its role in the system of cinematographic art devices is an important part of theoretical education of cineastes who will be later using their knowledge in practice while working on their film projects.