The Three Strip Camera - Technicolor 100
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- čas přidán 21. 01. 2015
- The introduction of Technicolor’s three-color camera in 1932 represented a major advancement in motion picture technology. The camera required an entirely new design, although it utilized many of the same principles already developed for two-color photography, such as a beam-splitting prism. The camera captured crisp, vibrant colors that were then recombined in printing.
The Technicolor three-strip camera captured separate color records onto three strips of film. Light entered the camera through the lens and was divided by the beam-splitting prism into two paths. One strip of film recorded the green record onto black-and-white film, while the other two records were exposed onto two black-and-white film strips in “bipack” (sandwiched together); the front film was blue-sensitive only, while the back film was sensitive to red.
This video was produced by George Eastman House as part of the eastmanhouse.org/technicolor100 website that celebrates 100 years of Technicolor through highlights from related collections at the museum.
This project was made possible in part by the Institute of Museum and Library Services grant number MA-10-14-0234-14. www.imls.gov - Zábava
When the original 3 negatives are used to make a new digital master the results are amazing.
Three strip Technicolor was extremely cumbersome, but it was the most gorgeous and magical looking process to this day. I just saw a few frames once from an old projectionist who "stole" a few frames from reel changes. It was decades old at the time and still looked as brand new. It took (IMHO that is) until the late 1970s for single strip color negative and prints to look decent. We got about two decades of mostly muddy brown and some washed out cyan. That's what was possible at the time. My personal number 2 is Kodachrome reversal. Of course it was not used for 35mm (and larger) feature films.
No , I worked at Technicolor during the 1990's & we rebuilt 1 camera so that it would just move the film within it for SHOW bringing back Dye Transfer for a short period , because of the cost it ended .
You couldn't even use computer imaging to duplicate the effect more precisely?
interesting, and nice to finally know why the "colour by: Technicolor " is on every credit strip on every movie ever made in this era.
Even after the 3-strip cameras were no longer used, Technicolor’s printing process was used to make prints well into the 70s using regular color negative films that replaced 3-strip. For example, the last Disney animated film printed by Technicolor was Robin Hood in 1973/4
@@roaringmousegraphics Ah I was wondering about that Movie! So they did use IB prints for Robin Hood. Did the UK/Italian prints of "Winnie the Pooh" or "The Rescuers" in 1977 have any IB prints made btw?
Another point: I believe that Disney used successive exposure cameras to record the primary animation up to the " Little Mermaid" in 1989( the first Disney animated feature to use colour film for its primary animation) If so "Robin Hood" would be the last true Technicolor IV feature?
Well done! The best overview of three strip Technicolor I've heard. Ive also heard that audience interest in Technicolor's two strip process was waning until the more natural three strip process arrived.
The animated infographics totally bring this relic back to life - love showing this video to my students. Thanks for this!
Fascinating stuff! I've been watching "Doctor X" from 1932 for a future review, and it was filmed with a "two strip" process, which was the predecessor to this technology. So cool to learn about this.
MY girlfriend and I saw the actual technicolor camera that filmed the Wizard of Oz at the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C.
She wanted to know how three rolls of black and white film can film the movie when it was in color. When we got home, I explained how you can use color filters with black and white still pictures.
When light strikes a b&w film, it darkens. The more the light, the darker it becomes. Different colors reflect different amounts of light, and that's where you get your different shades of gray. But for some reason I don't know, b&w film is very sensitive to the color blue. So when you take a picture of a scene with a blue sky, the negative film will darken a great deal. In the positive image, you'll have a very pale gray sky, almost white. And if there is clouds, they won't show up too well, or not at all. But if you place a color filter on the lens, say a yellow, the yellow will filter will hold back some of the blue light from the sky, and the negative film won't be as dark in the sky area. In the enlarger, more light can pass through the area of the sky and will darken more on the paper. Hence a gray sky. The color filter will lighten it's own color and darken every other. That doesn't mean every other color will be black. The colors will darken in proportion.
Now the iconic bowl of fruit in color, in b&w with no filter, and the bowl of fruit with different color filters. Each picture will look different.
So the three strips of b&w film in the technicolor camera are exposed through three different color filters RED, GREEN, and BLUE. Then developed, and go through a process. The three strips of b&w film don't turn into color, they are used in the process to make three color strips using dyes (I think?) I don't fully know the process, but at the end, you have one roll or reel of color film.
So, here's how it worked. Before hitting the 3 strips of film, the initially unfiltered light bouncing off of the actor(s) and the set would hit a prism which would split apart the green portion of the spectrum from the red and blue portions. The green portion would continue through to the strip of black-and-white film immediately behind the prism. The prism would simultaneously reflect the mixture of the red and blue portions of the spectrum sideways, first through a magenta filter, which would filter out any bits of the green portion of the spectrum (as magenta is green's complimentary, or opposite, color) that the prism may have failed to split from the red and blue portions, and them onto an orthochromatic strip of black-and-white film. 'Orthochromatic" means that, due to its chemical composition, a strip of black-and-white film can only record certain portions of the spectrum. In this case, this orthochromatic strip could only record the green and blue portions, but because the green had already been mostly split away by the prism with the remaining bits filtered out by the magenta filter, the orthochromatic strip would only record the blue portion. The red and blue portions of the spectrum would then continue onto the 3rd strip of black-and-white film, this time an ordinary panchromatic (meaning able to record all 3 portions of the spectrum) that was pressed against the red-blind orthochromatic strip of black-and-white film. However, on the surface of the 3rd film strip, between it and the 2nd film strip, was a removable chemical coating that was colored red-orange, thus rendering the strip only able to record the red portion of the spectrum. So, after production on the movie had wrapped, the negatives would be sent to Technicolor's processing lab. First, they'd be treated with special chemicals in a dark room to deprive them of their light sensitivity, so as to ensure that light wouldn't ruin them. Then, they'd press each negative reel onto a positive matrix reel. When a negative is pressed onto a positive matrix the matrix duplicates the image on the negative but reverses the darkness (which was the parts of the negative that had received the most light) and lightness (which was the parts of the negatived that had received the least light). Prior to Technicolor being around (or even color photography of any kind being around) this was commonly done. However, these matrix reels were special ones made of gelatin, in which lightness (which had been darkness on the negative) would repel dye and darkness (which had been lightness on the negative) would absorb dye. Now, when flipped in the matrix, the darkness represents where you'd want the least amount of the color that the matrix's parent negative had recorded, yet it was also the most dye absorbent. So, each matrix would be dyed the color that was complimentary to the color that its parent negative; the red-record matrix would be dyed cyan, the green one magenta, and the blue one yellow. Then, they'd take a blank piece of positive print film meant for movie projectors. First, they'd print the soundtrack optically on the edge of the print reel (I'm not sure how they got it synchronized with the actor's mouths but they managed somehow). Then, a black-and-white image derived from flipping the green-record negative into a positive would be printed on the blank strip to help align things and amp up the contrast. Then, they'd treat the strip with a mordant, which kept dye that got onto the strip in place (preventing it from migrating and/or coming off). Finally, each dyed matrix would be pressed onto the strip, allowing its dye to transfer onto the print reel permanently. The process (with the exception of the actual cinematography, obviously) was then repeated until enough prints were available for each theater that the movie had been assigned to.
Very love old camera 💗💗
Thanks for the video! I am a camera enthusiast.
That's pretty creative, using tinted film stock itself as the color filter for the 3rd color. I wonder if that made that 3rd color slightly blurry, being it's slightly further away from the focal point, and because the light has to pass through the first film layer.
A camera that weighed over 300lbs WoW.. and to think of all those great tracking and crane shots that were part of many technicolour films. Have to say they were fantastic technicians of their day.
Its just amazing how that technology (as shown in the video) actually worked. Certainly would not have liked been the person who mistreaded the film(s) Tech. looks surperb in HD. There were great people...
Obviously there were no three strip projectors. The black-and-white camera negatives were used to make what were called "imbibition matrices" which could be made to absorb differing amounts of the complementary colors (cyan, yellow, and magenta). These matrices were soaked in the proper color and then used to make the positive print by adding, one on top of the other, the cyan, yellow, and magenta. (Much like your newspaper prints a color photograph today--three colors added on top of each other to make the final full-color copy).
A great example of British color cinematography is the movie "Black Narcissus" directed by Michael Powell and photographed by John Cardiff.
The picture of the film crew shown after the statement 'you rented from Technicolor' is of actually Powell and Cardiff, as well as Christopher Challis - who was Cardiff's assistant and went to be a great cinematographer in his own right.
And The Red Shoes
And Olivier's HENRY V -- since he shot it during WWII, he convinced the British Government that shooting it in Technicolor would add to its morale-bossting value.
He also reportedly ignored the Technicolor Advisor he was stuck with, and pushed some of his night shots to get the colors of characters lit by campfires and torches.
Technicolor is the most beautiful film look ever. Has anyone come up with a plugin yet that mimics it perfectly?
Yes but it's never exactly like technicolor.
I'd imagine you would need some sort of special lens, and possibly a whole special camera.
EPICOLOR is the most beautiful plug-in on the market. It's subtler than Technicolor, but it achieves a comparably beautiful aesthetic for contemporary technology.
Save your money...Epicolor looks NOTHING like this Technicolor 100 movie.
Jesse Waugh Cuphead
Trully amazing....im....glamoured again...lol.
Very interesting - nicely put together short. Too bad we had Eastmancolor after technicolor
Costs are always a thing to consider. Eastmancolor used only one strip of film which cut cost of film stock to third and process was not as regulated as it was with Technicolor.
I love technicolor, modern films cant capture the magic
Yep. I agree.
Nas primeiras décadas da tecnologia technicolor, mais precisamente na década de 30, vemos como era fascinante a paleta de cores apresentadas nas cenas. Cores vivas. Os filmes mais pareciam pinturas. Podemos buscar como exemplo os clássicos: O Mágico de Oz de 1939; As Aventuras de Robin Hood de 1938 e E o Vento Levou de 1939.
English translation of the above: _In the first decades of technicolor technology, more precisely in the 30s, we see how fascinating the color palette presented in the scenes was. Bright colors. The movies looked more like paintings. We can take as an example the classics:_ The Wizard of Oz _of 1939;_ The Adventures of Robin Hood _(1938) and_ Gone with the Wind _(1939)._
Interesting that only so few cameras were made. I would have guessed a much higher number.
If Tarantino is going to go out with a bang, his last film should be shot on 3 Strip.
Just curious, aside from show old technicolor films on color tv, what is the process that color tv uses? To me, the colors of color tv are brilliant.
Color television used a similar process. The camera contained a beam splitter prism and 3 black and white image tubes which separated the red, blue and green. The tv screen in your home had separate dots or pixels for each color.
I would've hated to load the film into this camera.
No, you can't. That's the whole beauty of Technicolor. At best, you can do some clever maths with the channels and it will give an approximation of the colors resulted from the 3strip process, but it will not come very close.
I want to HEAR IT
In one case the consultant was wrong. Rhapsody In Blue was one example, it looks Irish, everything green.
When I adjust color temperature to a value, where all the faces doesn't look red, the green turns to blue, but I heard, that Technicolor laboratory didn't shift the 2 used colors to blue and red, so the result was quite strange.
Another example is about a 2 color process with no consultant. It's the only Betty Boop color film, where they didn't do color tests. So there was a strange rainbow, two girls becoming mad by getting gray faces. There are so much examples, where two color process doesn't look like "the colors of a rusty army tank"
The "Rhapsody in Blue" you're referring to is, I presume, in the 1930 two-color Technicolor film _King of Jazz._ It should be noted that the "blue" in "Rhapsody in Blue" refers to the musical blue note, and not the color blue. The only Betty Boop cartoon filmed in color was _Poor Cinderella_ (1934), which was photographed in Cinecolor, not Technicolor.
Filming in Technicolor also required a lot of light. So the stage could get hot without air conditioning.
Tell Me The Instructions to Convert B&W Videos & Photos & GIFS to Technicolor Because I Need This Tutorial Video
Alguien sabe como digitalmente se puede hacer pasar un vídeo normal a tecnicolor
This was too short of a little video. I was just getting interested in it and it was over !
But if I'm correct or not, you don't say three rolls of black and white film exposed through three color filters: red green and blue. Then explain how when you take a still picture of a scene with the sky, the sky will come out very pale gray or almost white. Because for some reason I don't know, black and white film is very sensitive to the color blue. But by placing a colored filter on the front of the lens, you hold back a portion of the blue light. This makes the negative in the sky area more transparent (the density) So when making a print with the negative, more light can pass through this area, and hence, the sky will have a darker shade of gray. Then you can show for example a bowl of fruit in color, and the same bowl in b & w. Then the bowl shot with different color filters, and you'll see how the colors of the fruit change depending on the color of the filter in b & w.
Once this is understood, then go on to the three strip camera and explain the entire process.
Does anyone know the crew seen at 2:03? Is it Michael Powell?
Yes, it is Michael Powell. Directly behind him is famed British cinematographer Jack Cardiff.
The still is of the production staff for "A Matter of Life and Death," 1946.
Out of curiosity is there any way someone could use one of these babies today (or is there no Orthochromatic film commercially available)? I think it would be kind of cool to make a film that looks similar to "Gone with the Wind", "Wizard of Oz", and "Adventures of Robin Hood" to name a few. Thank you for taking your time to answer my question.
Ive done a similar thing with still photography. Using Ilford black and white film in my Canon T70, I took three consecutive photographs of the same scene with red, green and blue filters. After processing and scanning, I combined all three images together in Photoshop to create a full colour composite. I guess with patience, someone could use the same technique with stop motion animation (using a movie camera.)
The camera was just the first step. The actual printing was a complex process using a lab full of specialized equipment. Alas, the he last Tech. Plant closed some time ago.
corridoor crew?
Yes
Yeeee
Tell Me in the Comments below the Software Need to Convert B&W Videos & Images & GIFS So Request - How to Convert B&W Videos & Photos & GIFS To Technicolor
they should have put, lights around the lens, so the extra lighting wasn't required
Don't be silly.
@@narabdela or maybe lit up the inside of the blimp with lights
@@theproanimator8447 Can I presume that you are either joking or smoking?
@@narabdela anything to not make the room exceed 100 degrees
@@theproanimator8447 ☢
The narrator here refers to the colors used as red, green, and blue. Didn't they in fact use yellow, cyan, and magenta?
the camera recorded the red green & blue content on the strips. Once developed, the strips were essentially used like printing plates to print cyan yellow magenta as per color paper printing. In the early days the blue strip was used to highlight the black areas of the carrier film
Basically RGB were the negative colours and CMY the positive colours printed with dyes precisely on top of one another, like lithography, on blank film. Cheers
Да, это всё было первое, громоздкое. Зато сегодня видеокамера высокой чёткости может поместиться в мобильнике
Yeah you can do it digitally now.
I Don't Know to Make this Trick
I Don't have a Film Projector or A Technicolor Camera I Just have A Computer
How the fuck do these guys make shit like this happen.. I can’t invent shit to save my life
Four minutes on this is all you have?