Technicolor

Color has undoubtedly again shaken Hollywood to the depths of its cinematic being - Fortune Magazine, October 1934

Technicolor thrived from the late 1930s to the early 1950s. At a time when most films were made in black and white, seeing a Technicolor film was a special event.

Martin Scorsese described his first viewing of The Red Shoes as ‘The vivid reds and deep blues, the vibrant yellows and rich blacks,... such a swirl of color and light and sound, all burned into my mind’.

The Technicolor process produced stunning colour prints that could be used in any standard projector. However it was a complicated process to film. Special cameras had to be used and it required a very high level of lighting.

It was led by Dr Herbert Kalmus and his associates in Boston, USA. Technicolor began in 1916 as a two-colour additive process. It evolved, after 20 years of research, into a three-colour subtractive system.

However process fell into decline. It was expensive, difficult, time-consuming, and the company demanded that it supervision of every production. The last film to be shot in Technicolor was made in 1954, but the company continued to print films shot on various different filmstocks.