This is a presentation that I created for my Color Theory class about the history and use of color in movies.

1. Color my World
The history and use of
color in the movies
by Tanja Michels

2. Introduction
Color is one of the most powerful but least consciously
noticed elements of a movie. In this slideshow I would like to
give you a brief history of how movies became color, and
then show you how film makers consciously use color in their
movies to communicate with their audiences.

3. Movies tinted by hand
Color was first applied in movies
by either entire scenes being
tinted (using blue for night
scenes, for example), or by
objects in scenes being tinted by
hand. It was time consuming and
expensive to do this. The first
hand tinted movie came out in
1895.
Examples:
 The Great Train Robbery – 1903
 The Last Days of Pompeii - 1926

4. 2-Color Technicolor
In 1915, the company Technicolor was founded by Herbert
Kalmus, who wanted to create a motion picture process that
would capture natural color. The first process was shot on
two strips of black and white film through red and green filters
– and then pasted together the 2 color negatives to make a
positive print. Later, a dye transfer system allowed the two
negatives to be printed as a single positive film. The movies
were now in color, but the results were sometimes
underwhelming with a limited color palette.
By the early 1930’s, movie studios were almost totally
abandoning color. It was too expensive and difficult to
produce. Because of the Depression fewer people were
attending movies, and because the colors weren’t all that
great viewers didn’t really care that the movies were in color
or in black and white.

5. Examples of 2-Color Technicolor
• The Toll of the Sea - 1922
• Ben Hur - 1926

6. 3-Color Technicolor
Luckily in 1932 Technicolor unveiled the first 3-strip, 3-color
process camera. In this process, the light was sent through a
beam splitter to 3 strips of film. Half of the light went through
a green filter on to black and white film, the other half of the
light went through a magenta filter on to a “bi-pack” of a blue
sensitive film strip in front of a red-sensitive film strip. This
allowed the full color spectrum, especially the color blue, to
be reproduced on the screen for the first time. Walt Disney
was the first to use this process in a commercial film. Disney
was always innovative, and jumped at the chance to use new
technology.
Ironically, critics condemned the overuse of color, especially
the color blue. The better quality color won audiences over,
however, and for the first time viewers showed more of a
preference for color movies.

7. Examples of Early 3-Color Technicolor
• Flowers and Trees - Walt Disney
- 1932
• First commercial film to use this
new process.
• Becky Sharp - 1935
• First feature length film to use
3-color process.

8. Best examples of 3-Color Technicolor
• The Wizard of Oz - 1939

9. Best examples of 3-Color Technicolor
• Gone with the Wind - 1939

10. Best examples of 3-Color Technicolor
• Singin’ in the Rain – 1952
• Peak of the 3-color process

11. Eastman Color Film
In 1952 Eastman color film was introduced, which recorded
all 3 primary colors on one strip of film. This made color
production much less expensive and easier to do. To show
what an impact this had, consider this: in the late 1940’s,
90% of films made were still black and white. As of 1957,
even with the advances in Technicolor, only 50% of movies
were color. By 1966, black and white movies were phased
out almost completely. Use of this color film has been
dominant since the 1970’s.

12. Recent films in Technicolor
There was a revival of the Technicolor dye-transfer process
in the U.S. in the late 1990’s by those concerned with film
preservation. The process has also been used by directors
to achieve a certain period look in their movies. Some
examples include “Pearl Harbor” and “Toy Story”.

13. Color - a powerful tool in movies
Once technology and cost were no longer an issue in making
good quality color movies, film makers had a very powerful
tool to better share their vision with the audience. Color
conveys the emotional aspects of a film visually, and can
evoke strong psychological, sometimes even physiological
responses in people. Color has both functional use in film,
like highlighting a dramatic development, and aesthetic use,
giving the movie a certain look or feel. Here are some
examples of some different ways that directors have used
color to help tell their stories.

14. Color as a Transitional Device
• Used to signal important
changes
• Wizard of Oz - 1939
• Black and white represents
reality
• Color represents Dorothy’s
fantasy or dream world

15. Color as a Transitional Device
• Pan’s Labyrinth - 2006
• Winner of 3 Academy
Awards, including Best
Cinematography

16. • Director Guillermo Del Toro color coded the two worlds of the
lead character, Ofelia.
• Color was the key design element of movie. According to the
director, color “tells a tale when you code it carefully.”
• If a color was not in the palette the director chose, it was not
included in the movie.

17. The movie is about a young girl named Ofelia in post civil war
Spain in 1944. The story takes place in dual settings. In Ofelia’s
real world, she and her pregnant mother have moved in with her
new stepfather, a brutal Captain with the Fascist government. The
colors of Ofelia’s “real” universe are grays, blues and greens –
muted, “cold”, unfriendly colors, representing the harsh reality of
the captain and his troops.

18. In Ofelia’s fantasy world, she meets a faun who tells her she may
be a long lost princess, and he gives her three tasks to prove
herself so she may be returned to her true existence, escaping the
sadness of her earthly life. The colors of that world are golden and
red – warm, organic, nurturing. The director’s goal was to suggest
a “womblike” environment. Rounded shapes were also used to
create this effect.

19. The two worlds sometimes reflect each other, with the only difference
being the color and texture.

20. The color guidelines weren’t always followed exactly, because the
night scenes would not have felt natural. All of the night scenes
were actually shot during the day.

21. • The two worlds start to bridge as one world infects the other.
• It becomes harder to tell the difference between Ofelia’s reality
and imagination.
• The director represented this by letting the colors start to mix.

22. Expressionistic Use of Color
• Amelie - 2001
• Color expresses the inner reality of
the character
• Nominated for 5 Academy Awards,
including Best Cinematography

23. Amelie is a movie about a shy waitress in a Paris café with a vivid
imagination. After anonymously returning a long-lost childhood
treasure to the man who used to live in her apartment and seeing
the effect it has on him, she sets out on a mission to make others
happy. In the process of living vicariously through those people
she begins to connect with them, and eventually finds happiness
and love of her own.

24. • To reflect Amelie’s fairy-tale view of the world, a green-gold
palette with a lot of red was chosen.
• Director Jean Pierre Jeunet and Cinematographer Bruno
Delbonnel wanted an “explosion of color.”
• Digital color correction was used to achieve a bright look with
saturated colors.
• Splashes of blue were added for contrast to the main color
palette.

25. Color as Symbol or Clue
• The Sixth Sense - 1999
• Nominated for 6 Academy
Awards, including Best Director

26. • According to director M Night Shyamalan, in The Sixth Sense the
color red is used to symbolize anything in the real world that had
been tainted or touched by the “other” world, or the world of the
dead.
• Shyamalan has used color as a symbol or theme in many of his
movies, including Unbreakable and The Village.

27. Use of Color to Evoke a Time or Place
• O Brother, Where Art Thou? - 2000
• Nominated for 2 Academy Awards,
including Best Cinematography

28. • Directors Joel and Ethan Cohen used color to transport viewers
back to the dry, dusty era of the Great Depression.
• Cinematographer Roger Deakins used digital technology to
desaturate the greens and give the movie the feeling of old,
hand-tinted postcards.

29. • First live action feature that manipulated the “look” of the film
digitally rather than with traditional photo-chemical processes.
• The film was shot in color with no filters.

30. In Closing
As you can see, color is a very important element in a movie
and can be used in many ways to speak to the audience.
Directors put a lot of thought and effort into getting the color
just right, but since modern audiences have always seen
movies in color, we take it completely for granted. So the
next time you go to a movie, see if you can discover what the
movie is trying to tell you with color. If you’re interested,
there is a lot more information about this on the internet,
much more than I was able to include here. Many times
there are special features about the color and cinematograhy
included with the movie on DVD or Blu-Ray.

31. To find out more…
On Technicolor and history of color in films:
www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technicolor
www.widescreenmuseum.com/oldcolor/index.htm
On cinematography and use of color:
American Society of Cinematographers: www.theasc.com