Biocolour
Description
“Inevitably, the success of Kinemacolor led to the appearance of imitations. One company, Friese Greene Patents Ltd had been formed in 1908 to exploit several patents, mostly impractical, filed by Friese Greene. From this came a new company, Biocolour Ltd, led by Colin Bennett, a former Kinemacolor cameraman. In Brighton in 1911 he began to present films made in a very similar way to those of Kinemacolor, except that instead of using a rotating filter wheel on the projector, the positive films were stained red and green on alternate frames. The Natural Color Kinematograph Company instituted proceedings for infringement of patent rights against Biocolour and for the next three years litigation dragged on.“
(Coe, Brian (1978): Colour Photography – The First Hundred Years 1840-1940. London: Ash & Grant, p. 118.)
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Source: Coe, Brian (1981): The History of Movie Photography. Westfield, N.J.: Eastview Editions.
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Secondary Sources
Alt, Dirk (2011): “Der Farbfilm marschiert!” Frühe Farbfilmverfahren und NS-Propaganda 1933-1945. München: Belleville, on p. 38. (in German) View Quote
Brown, Simon (2012): Technical Appendix. In: Sarah Street: Colour Films in Britain. The Negotiation of Innovation 1900-55. Basingstoke, Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 259-287, on pp. 264-265. View Quote
Brown, Simon (2013): The Brighton School and the Quest for Natural Color. Redux. In: Simon Brown, Sarah Street and Liz Watkins (eds.): Color and the Moving Image. History, Theory, Aesthetics, Archive. New York, London: Routledge, pp. 13–22. View Quote
Coe, Brian (1978): Colour Photography. The First Hundred Years 1840-1940. London: Ash & Grant, pp. 118-119. View Quote
Measurements
Absorbances measured with a multispectral imaging system from film areas with pure dyes. Credit: Giorgio Trumpy, ERC Advanced Grant FilmColors.
See the specific sample from which the spectra were measured.
Absorbances measured with a multispectral imaging system from film areas with pure dyes. Credit: Giorgio Trumpy, ERC Advanced Grant FilmColors.
See the specific sample from which the spectra were measured.
Absorbances measured with a multispectral imaging system from film areas with pure dyes. Credit: Giorgio Trumpy, ERC Advanced Grant FilmColors.
See the specific sample from which the spectra were measured.
Absorbances measured with a multispectral imaging system from film areas with pure dyes. Credit: Giorgio Trumpy, ERC Advanced Grant FilmColors.
See the specific sample from which the spectra were measured.
Films
Friese-Greene Flower Film (1906)
Kino the Girl of Colour (1920, Release)
Biocolor Picture Theatres Defy the “Clerk of the Weather” Wedy. July 21st 20
According to Brown, Simon (2012): Technical Appendix: Biocolour. In: Street, Sarah: Colour Films in Britain. The Negotiation of Innovation 1900-55. Basingstoke, Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan, p. 264:
The Earl of Camelot (GBR 1914, Henry Wilson)1
1 Brown, Simon (2013): The Brighton School and the Quest for Natural Color. Redux. In: Simon Brown, Sarah Street and Liz Watkins (eds.): Color and the Moving Image. History, Theory, Aesthetics, Archive. New York, London: Routledge, pp. 13–22. View Quote
Downloads
Patents
E.P. 10,150 (Bennett, Colin Noel; filed Apr. 29, 1912; granted Feb. 6, 1913)
Download PDFE.P. 233,129 (Friese-Greene, Claude Harrison; filed April 28, 1924; granted May 7, 1925)
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