Color Motion Pictures - The Earliest Days: 1922 (Video)

Kodak ^ | 8/30/2010 | Kodak

[Dallas59]

Video Linky

"In these newly preserved tests, made in 1922 at the Paragon Studios in Fort Lee, New Jersey, actress Mae Murray appears almost translucent, her flesh a pale white that is reminiscent of perfectly sculpted marble, enhanced with touches of color to her lips, eyes, and hair. She is joined by actress Hope Hampton modeling costumes from The Light in the Dark (1922), which contained the first commercial use of Two-Color Kodachrome in a feature film. Ziegfeld Follies actress Mary Eaton and an unidentified woman and child also appear.

George Eastman House is the repository for many of the early tests made by the Eastman Kodak Company of their various motion picture film stocks and color processes. The Two-Color Kodachrome Process was an attempt to bring natural lifelike colors to the screen through the photochemical method in a subtractive color system. First tests on the Two-Color Kodachrome Process were begun in late 1914. Shot with a dual-lens camera, the process recorded filtered images on black/white negative stock, then made black/white separation positives. The final prints were actually produced by bleaching and tanning a double-coated duplicate negative (made from the positive separations), then dyeing the emulsion green/blue on one side and red on the other. Combined they created a rather ethereal palette of hues."

[Larry Lucido]

Cool!

[unkus]

Neat. Thanks.

[EveningStar]

ping

[Dallas59]

90 years ago. Whatever will the people of 2098 think of our videos? Wild or tame?

[cynwoody]

Color photo of Leo Tolstoy, taken in 1908 by Sergey Prokudin-Gorsky:

Prokudin-Gorsky self portrait, 1915

[Borges]

Seems ancient in terms of technology but Film was already quite advanced artistically. ‘Nosferatu’ was made the year before these photos were taken and still seems very modern.

[Daffynition]

Thread from a few days ago ....The Empire That Was Russia; The Prokudin-Gorskii Photographic Record Recreated

[I still care]

Wow. In color the acting looks more contrived that it does in black and white. Amazing the difference color makes. People just look so much more real.

The Russia thread from a few days ago was absolutely fascinating. People from 1909 - more than 100 years ago. I kept looking at the children in it, thinking they have all lived out their lives and are gone now.

[fieldmarshaldj]

We’ll all be divided into Morlocks and Eloi by then...

[Daffynition]

Excellent thread!

[DollyCali]

oh my. I love where we are NOW in cinema. Interesting to see the journey. Thanks for ping ES

(are you still visiting TRR?)

[dbehsman]

Thank you for posting that link!

I honestly was surprised that color film footage from the 1920’s even existed.

Just incredible!

[rabidralph]

I was flipping channels a few months back and AMC had a movie about some guy in England, named Greene(?) who experimented with celluloid thickness to make the first film stock. He had read Edison's patent for the film camera and took off from that. It was a great piece of history to watch this guy experiment and devote his time to figuring out how to shoot on usable film. He was a still photographer by trade and he gave up his business to devote his time to making film.

I'm sorry I don't remember the guy's name but he's on Wikipedia and I highly recommend the movie.

[rabidralph]

Here's the guy. William Friese-Greene.

[Borges]

That was the first ever film made in Three Strip Technicolor.

[Old Teufel Hunden]

I did not realize that they had such excellent color photographs in that era. That is really good quality color when you consider it is more than 100 years ago.