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Technicolor

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Eyes Of A Generation.com

Technicolor

First, I must acknowledge The American Wide Screen Museum website by Martin Hart for most of this material. The site calls itself ‘the internet’s largest film technology resource’ and I can tell you that I have never seen anything that comes even close to capturing the exhaustive detail that Mr. Hart includes in all areas of film technology! There will be plenty of links as we go, but in this post, I am starting our discovery of the film processes with Technicolor.

Below is the famous Tri Color Technicolor film camera. In 1932 the first 3 strip camera was completed and it was expensive! It cost in excess of $30,000 during a time when the average American wage was less than $.50 per hour.

Most of us think that’s where Technicolor started, but much to my amazement, it started in 1915! If you think color television was complicated, wait till you read how the Technicolor process worked! Before the 3 strip camera in 1932, 1 and 2 strip cameras were used. Both shot chemically treated black and white negatives through a beam splitting prism with a red and blue-green filter, but print making is where it gets tricky. One side of strip A was dyed blue-green and one side of strip B was dyed red. Both strips were half the thickness of a regular print, until they were glued together.

I have not even scratched the surface on Technicolor, so I’m now directing you to Mr. Hart’s 10 page Technicolor spread on his fabulous site. Notice the page selection buttons near the bottom of each page. Enjoy!

http://www.widescreenmuseum.com/oldcolor/technicolor1.htm

This is the home page of the site if you would like to save it for later browsing.
http://www.widescreenmuseum.com//

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8 responses to “Technicolor”

  1. Dennis Degan

    The WideScreen Museum website is a monumental collection that will take the reader DAYS if not weeks to pore through. It’s incredible, densely filled with tons of material on the technology of filmmaking and its history. There’s nothing else like it on the internet and must be experienced by anyone interested in the process of making movies. Thank you Bobby for reminding me how wonderful this site really is.

  2. Gilberto Sgarbi

    The same principles was used to creat the ‘all electronic color television’.

  3. Gilberto Sgarbi

    Technicolor process started a new age in the communication field: made possible produce full color movies using only B&W movie films. Miracle? ..No, only ‘Advanced Tech-Logic’.

  4. Claus Harding

    ASA 5…with no AC…real troupers they were. I am sure make-up was kept busy.

  5. Jed Skillman

    It’s a beauty; a testament to American ingenuity. The labor intense nature of the film business at that time is reflected in the fact that the three-strip film system was initially the equivalent of ASA 5 film speed. Your iPhone camera is about ASA 80 on the “low” setting. This necessitated arc lighting for everything, which meant large crews, a slow work pace, and hot sets.

  6. Hillary Hess

    I understand, and only mention it because in your description above the photo in this post, you refer to “two-strip” Technicolor, and the use of two films running through that earlier camera, which, according to the AWSM site, is not accurate. Knowing how interested you are in accuracy when describing historic technology, I just wanted to point that out. I am not trying to introduce anything in addition to what has already been touched upon.

  7. Hillary Hess

    Please keep in mind earlier two-color Techicolor cameras only ran one strip of film, not two. See the NOTICE box at the time of this page on the American Widescreen Museum site: http://www.widescreenmuseum.com/oldcolor/technicolor1.htm

  8. Kenneth M Johnson

    At our theatre we have one of the projectors used at the 1964 World’s Fair for one of the Disney exhibits on display in the lobby.

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