Biocolour

1911

|

William Friese-Greene and Colin Bennett; Claude Friese-Greene

Additive 2 color: Alternately stained images

“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, ...

Access detailed information ›

Source: Coe, Brian (1981): The History of Movie Photography. Westfield, N.J.: Eastview Editions.

39 Images in 3 Galleries

Bocca-Rudatis

1933

|

Carlo Bocca, Domenico Rudatis, (Luigi Amati)

|

Italy

Additive 3 color: lenticular screen

The procedure for obtaining the lenticular elements in relief required a series of steps: starting from three black and white positive color separations, obtained with any of the available methods, three matrices were printed, from which the film to ...

Access detailed information ›

Projection of lenticular film in Bocca-Rudatis. Refraction of light beams through lens. Source: Pierotti, Federico (2016): Un'archeologia del colore nel cinema italiano. Dal Technicolor ad Antonioni. Pisa: Edizioni ETS, p. 81.

1 Image

Brewster

1915

|

Percy Douglas Brewster

Subtractive 2 color: Perforated mirror as beam-splitter, duplitized film

“Following the premises of one of William Friese-Greene’s systems, this two-colour subtractive process required that two reels of film be printed in parallel through a lens fitted with a prism that split light in two directions, through red ...

Access detailed information ›

Brewster

1930

|

Percy Douglas Brewster (Brewster Color Film Corp)

Subtractive 2 or 3 color: Perforated mirror as beam-splitter, duplitized film

“The Brewster Process. (U.S.P. 1,752,477. 1930-) Camera. – P. D. Brewster, an American inventor, who was one of the first to apply the bipack system to colour cinematography, has a number of patents to his credit covering various cameras and ...

Access detailed information ›

Dyes of Brewster color. Credit: Brian Pritchard.
Source: Ryan, Roderick T. (1977): A History of Motion Picture Color Technology. London: Focal Press.

52 Images in 1 Gallery

British Tricolour / Dufaychrome

1946

|

Jack Coote (Dufay-Chromex Ltd.)

Subtractive 3 color: Beam-splitter, three-strip, multiple printing

Access detailed information ›

Source: Cornwell-Clyne, Adrian (1951): Colour Cinematography. London: Chapman & Hall.
Credit: Illustration by Sarah Steinbacher, Multimedia & E-Learning-Services, University of Zurich. Source: Cornwell-Clyne, Adrian (1951): Colour Cinematography. London: Chapman & Hall.
Credit: Illustration by Sarah Steinbacher, Multimedia & E-Learning-Services, University of Zurich. Source: Cornwell-Clyne, Adrian (1951): Colour Cinematography. London: Chapman & Hall.
Credit: Illustration by Sarah Steinbacher, Multimedia & E-Learning-Services, University of Zurich. Source: Cornwell-Clyne, Adrian (1951): Colour Cinematography. London: Chapman & Hall.
Credit: Illustration by Sarah Steinbacher, Multimedia & E-Learning-Services, University of Zurich. Source: Cornwell-Clyne, Adrian (1951): Colour Cinematography. London: Chapman & Hall.
Coote, Jack (1948): New Three-Color Camera, In: Journal of the Society of Motion Picture Engineers, vol. 50, June 1948, pp. 543-553.
Coote, Jack (1948): New Three-Color Camera, In: Journal of the Society of Motion Picture Engineers, vol. 50, June 1948, pp. 543-553.

19 Images in 3 Galleries

Busch Farbenfilm

1926

|

Emil Busch (Busch, Rathenow)

|

Germany

Additive 2 color: Beam-splitter, red-green

Access detailed information ›

Credit: Gert Koshofer Collection. Photograph by Barbara Flueckiger.
Source: Klein, Adrian Bernhard (Cornwell-Clyne) (1940): Colour Cinematography. Boston: American Photographic Pub. Co.
Source: Eggert, John (1932): Kurzer Überblick über den Stand der Farbenkinematographie. Bericht über den VIII. Internationalen Kongress für wissenschaftliche und angewandte Photographie, Dresden 1931, pp. 214-222. Leipzig: J. A. Barth.

5 Images in 1 Gallery

Caille

1907

|

Edmond-Charles-Guislain Caille

|

France

Additive three-color: line screen, still photography

Process for still photography in which light is filtered through a screen or transparent plate covered in lines or dots in the primary colors orange, green and violet. For the positive, the process relies on a support material which includes an ...

Access detailed information ›

Chemicolor / Ufacolor in GB

1932

Subtractive 2 color: Bi-pack, mordant toning

“Chemicoior was the name under which the German Ufacolor Process was marketed in Britain. Ufacolor was also marketed under the name Spectracolor. The process used Agfa bipack negatives loaded with the emulsion sides facing and separated by a ...

Access detailed information ›

Source: Coe, Brian (1981): The History of Movie Photography. Westfield, N.J.: Eastview Editions. Film: Pagliacci (1937).

9 Images in 2 Galleries

Chimicolor

1931

|

R. Valette (Syndicat de la Cinématographie des Couleurs)

Subtractive 3 color: Beam-splitter, double-coated film, mordant toning

Access detailed information ›

Source: Cornwell-Clyne, Adrian (1951): Colour Cinematography. London: Chapman & Hall.
Source: Cornwell-Clyne, Adrian (1951): Colour Cinematography. London: Chapman & Hall.

2 Images

Chromart Simplex

1950

|

Hans von Fraunhofer (Anglo-American Colour Photographic Industries)

Subtractive 2 color: Chromogenic monopack

Access detailed information ›

Chromart Tricolor

1950

|

Hans von Fraunhofer (Anglo-American Colour Photographic Industries)

Subtractive 3 color: Chromogenic monopack

Access detailed information ›

Chromo-Film

1923

|

Adolf Hnatek (Chromo-Film Ges. mbH)

Additive 3 color: Double-sized film, rotary filter

Access detailed information ›

Chromogenic development

1895

|

Raphael E. Liesegang

Subtractive 3 color: Chromogenic development

Access detailed information ›

Chromogenic film stock

1911

|

Rudolf Fischer and Hans Siegrist (Neue Photographische Gesellschaft)

Subtractive 3 color: Chromogenic monopack

Access detailed information ›

Chromolithography

1898

|

(Technique adapted from print media and laterna magica)

Applied colors: printing

Widely used in print media around 1900, the chromolithographic printing process was first adapted for the Laterna Magica and then utilized to produce early animated films primarily aimed at children. These films were usually very short ...

Access detailed information ›

[U-Boot]. Credit: Deutsches Filminstitut DIF. Photograph of the chromolithographic nitrate print by Barbara Flueckiger.
Box Der Film fürs Heimkino. Credit: Deutsches Filminstitut DIF. iPhone photo by Barbara Flueckiger.
Box "Film for Home Cinema". Credit: Deutsches Filminstitut DIF. iPhone photo by Barbara Flueckiger.
Box "Attention! Celluloid Film". Credit: Deutsches Filminstitut DIF. iPhone photo by Barbara Flueckiger.
Boxes and loops. Credit: Deutsches Filminstitut DIF. iPhone photo by Barbara Flueckiger.
Box and loops. Credit: Deutsches Filminstitut DIF. iPhone photo by Barbara Flueckiger.
Film can for Chromolithographic Loop. Credit: Deutsches Filminstitut DIF. iPhone photo by Noemi Daugaard, SNSF Filmcolors
Film can for Chromolithographic Loop. Credit: Deutsches Filminstitut DIF. iPhone photo by Noemi Daugaard, SNSF Filmcolors

119 Images in 3 Galleries

Cinechrome

1914

|

Colin Benett (Cinechrome Ltd.)

Additive 2 color: Prism, rotary filter, double-sized film

“[…] pictures were taken side by side, full-size, on double-width film, the film not only being perforated on the edges but also down the centre between the pairs of images.” (Klein, Adrian Bernhard = Cornwell-Clyne (1940): Colour ...

Access detailed information ›

Credit: Courtesy of BFI National Archive. Photograph by Barbara Flueckiger. Film: Cinechrome Colour Test with Soap Boxes and Packets (1920)
Credit: Courtesy of BFI National Archive. Photograph by Barbara Flueckiger. Film: Cinechrome Colour Test with Soap Boxes and Packets (1920)
Credit: Courtesy of BFI National Archive. Photograph by Barbara Flueckiger. Film: Cinechrome Colour Test with Soap Boxes and Packets (1920)

3 Images

Cinecolor (subtractive 2 color)

1932

|

William T. Crespinel (Cinecolor Corporation)

Subtractive 2 color: Bi-pack, duplitized film

Access detailed information ›

Credit: Harvard Film Archive, George Huizinga Collection, item no. 10454. Film: Prehistoric Women (1951).
Credit: Harvard Film Archive, George Huizinga Collection, item no. 10454. Film: Prehistoric Women (1951).
Source: Coe, Brian (1981): The History of Movie Photography. Westfield, N.J.: Eastview Editions.
Reflection on Cinecolor print. Credit: Image courtesy of the 20th Century Fox Collection at the Academy Film Archive. Photograph by Barbara Flueckiger
Reflection on Cinecolor 16 mm print. Credit: Library of Congress. Photograph by Barbara Flueckiger

93 Images in 9 Galleries

Cinecolor additive 2 color / Cinecolour

1925

|

D. Daponte, S.J. Cox, Adam Hilger Ltd. and J.H. Dowell (Cinecolor)

Additive 2 color: Beam-splitter, substandard

Access detailed information ›

Source: Klein, Adrian Bernhard (Cornwell-Clyne) (1940): Colour Cinematography. Boston: American Photographic Pub. Co.
Source: Klein, Adrian Bernhard (Cornwell-Clyne) (1940): Colour Cinematography. Boston: American Photographic Pub. Co.

2 Images

Cinefotocolor

1948

|

Daniel Aragonés (Laboratorio Cinefoto de Barcelona)

Subtractive 2 color: Bi-pack

Access detailed information ›

Cinekrome

1919

|

(Kuz, Wheeler & Moffat Corp.)

Additive 2 color: Beam-splitter

Access detailed information ›

Cinemacolor

1934

|

Otto C. Gilmore (Cinemacolor Corporation)

Additive 2 color: Beam-splitter, sub-standard vertical

Access detailed information ›

Credit: Illustration by Sarah Steinbacher, Multimedia & E-Learning-Services, University of Zurich. A History of Motion Picture Color Technology.
Source: Ryan, Roderick T. (1977): A History of Motion Picture Color Technology. London: Focal Press.

2 Images

Colcin

1913

Additive 2 color: Simultaneous 1 strip

“The first two-colour additive method in which the two components were taken and projected simultaneously was the Colcin process, in 1913. The result of a Franco-Japanese collaboration, it was demonstrated at the International Kinematographic ...

Access detailed information ›

Source: Coe, Brian (1981): The History of Movie Photography. Westfield, N.J.: Eastview Editions.

1 Image

Color Cinema Corporation

1927

|

(Color Cinema Corporation)

Subtractive 2 color: Bi-pack, double-coated

Access detailed information ›

Credit: Geo. Willeman, Nitrate Film Vault Manager, Library of Congress.
Credit: Geo. Willeman, Nitrate Film Vault Manager, Library of Congress.

2 Images

Color Perception and Cinematography

Theory

Access detailed information ›

Color theory

1861

|

James Clerk Maxwell

Additive 3 color: Additive 3 color, still photography

“In a lecture on the theory of three primary colors, given at the Royal Institution of Great Britain on May 17, 1861, Maxwell presented the first demonstration of a photograph in color. According to the records of that meeting (Maxwell, 1890c, ...

Access detailed information ›

Source: Coe, Brian (1981): The History of Movie Photography. Westfield, N.J.: Eastview Editions.

1 Image

Coloratura

1931

|

(Pathé Exchange)

Subtractive 2 color: Bi-pack, dupitized positive, toned

“Coloratura. This is the process of Pathé Exchange at Bound Brook, N. J. Negatives are made by the bi-pack method. Prints are made on double-sided film and are dye-toned on one side and metallic-toned on the other. The double-sided film, ...

Access detailed information ›

Colorcraft

1922

|

(Colorcraft)

Additive 2 color: Bi-pack, double-coated

Access detailed information ›

Russian Ideas in Clothes! (USA 1922). Credit: UCLA Film & Television Archive. Photographs of the nitrate print by Barbara Flueckiger.

21 Images in 1 Gallery

Colorgraph / Cinecolorgraph

1912

|

Arturo Hernandez-Mejia

Subtractive 2 color: Beam-splitter, double-coated film

“The principle of the subtractive colour process was described first by Louis Ducos du Hauron in 1868. Although eminently suitable for colour motion pictures, the principle could not be applied until means were found of producing several colour ...

Access detailed information ›

Source: Ryan, Roderick T. (1977): A History of Motion Picture Color Technology. London: Focal Press, p. 67.

1 Image

Colorvision

1950

|

(Colorvision, Inc)

Additive 3 color: Beam-splitter

Access detailed information ›

Columbiacolor

1958

|

(Columbia Pictures, Hollywood)

Subtractive 3 color: Chromogenic monopack, Eastman Color

Access detailed information ›

Home

About this Project

Scan2Screen

Compare

Filter

Color Mania Book

News and Blog

Acknowledgements

Experts, scholars, institutions

Sponsors, supporters, patrons of the crowdfunding campaign

ERC Advanced Grant FilmColors

Film Colors. Technologies, Cultures, Institutions

Budget / Sponsors

Important copyright notice

Contact

Timeline of Historical Film Colors

Donate

[wp-legacy-stripe]

Search Modifiers