Once I was speaking with an abstract expressionist painter, and she recalled a lesson from her teacher, George McNeil, describing the balance of color in painting. McNeil said one wants those fully saturated primary colors on the canvas, but you also need the "real color": shades of brown, grays, and muted tones.
In editing, I try to remember this pallet concept (in a metaphorical way, no longer really about color). Maybe some scenes are experienced as "real color" and some might be experienced as the more ecstatic "fully saturated primary colors". I feel that something special does happen when a piece as a whole can allow for some communication between a grounded "reality" and a more expressive, colorful one. Maybe the two elevate each other, or maybe this contrast speaks to the relationship our senses, thoughts, and memories already have with the reality they try to make sense of.