Motion Picture News (Jan - Mar 1914)

THE MOTION PICTURE NEWS 21 Color Cinematography By M. H. Schoenbaum THE first article on color cinematography was more a review of facts and documents than the statement of a process by means of which colors may be obtained. The color motion-picture problem being one of the most important in the industry, it seemed worth while to take the trouble to encourage the young generation to set to work and increase the army of searchers. The field is large enough for all, and opportunities are greater than anywhere else. It was also thought that in same time those who are interested in colors should be guided to their own profit by their predecessors' experience. It is only by learning what others have done that the errors they commit and the success they sought for be attained. Therefore the reader has been supplied with those facts and references which he wanted and could not obtain, because in most instances he would not know how or where to otain them. A clear description of the present state of colors, as applied to motion pictures existing on the market, is the purpose of this article. THE actual industrial color-producing methods may be divided into two principal families : (1) The mechanical pattern or stencil process; (2) The natural color or synthetical method. The modern stencil process derives from the plain brush coloring, which was the only method at hand some fifteen years ago, at the beginning of commercial cinematography. The results obtained to-day are far different from those of fifteen years ago. The old pictures could not be seriously shown to the public now except as a mere curiosity of the past — a superseded phase in the growth of the art. Colored films, as shown to-day by most of the exhibitors, consist of an ordinary black-and-white film on which pigments have been applied by mechanical means. In order to tint every important part of the image in colors as near to those of nature as possible, one has to determine the number of pigments he intends to use. If, for instance, a rose and a green leaf have to be represented in a blue vase, four copies, at least, of the same film will be necessary. In one of the four films, the image of the rose will be cut out at its periphery and the part of celluloid, or whatever material the film is made of, bearing the image of the rose will be separated from the film; in other words, instead of an image there will be a hole in the film. The same operation is repeated with the second film, in which the green leaf alone is cut out. In the third film the vase only is cut out. The above three copies are sacrificed for the sake of the fourth one, which will be the only one bearing the images with their various colors. This will be the only utilized film. IN other words, the cost price of a mechanically colored film must include not only the cost of the exhibited film itself, but also the expense incurred by spoiling those copies that are intended to become patterns or stencils, and which, when once cut out, can no more be utilized as films or other patterns. The pigments are successively applied to the final film through each particular pattern. Thus, the rose color will be applied through the pattern in which the rose was cut out, and the color, together with the photographic shades which Editor" s note. — This is the second article on color motion photography, in which the author traces the development of the art through the two and three-color processes of the present day, taking up the '"stencil " and " natural color " methods. His prediction for the future is most significant the film already possesses, will give the illusion of a real rose. The next pattern or stencil to be used will cover the rose and other details of the picture, but when properly superposed the hole representing the green leaf will permit the green pigment to be applied exactly on the space of the green leaf on the final film. The third operation will be the final one; the vase will be colored in blue, just as the rose and green leaf received their own colors before. Sometimes, before any pigment is applied through a stencil, the final film is stained in one particular color, which may represent that of a table, wall, or some other object, or which will simply cause the other colors to harmonize in a better way. The number of colors to be successively applied on a standard film varies between one and eight, very seldom more. A S explained above, motion-picture coloring seems to be difficult, the work being tedious to the extreme, as the slightest microscopical error will immediately be remarked on the screen by even an unskilled person. In view of the demands of the present-day motion-picture follower, pictures produced by primitive means would have no chance of success ; and, besides, their price would be high enough to make them prohibitive to the market. The intervention of machinery has saved the situation by enabling the manufacturer to produce colored pictures as nearly perfect as possible and at reasonable prices. Only two machines are necessary to accomplish the work : a stencil-cutting machine and a coloring machine. All other tools used for black-and-white films may be employed. The first and yet most simple mechanical cinematographic stencil cutter was invented by a watchmaker several years ago. The patent which covers the invention has been prepared and filed by the inventor himself, though it may be regarded as one of the very few patents taken as models and in which new ideas and elegant solutions are exposed with great simplicity. Since the patent in question has been published a crowd of inventors have applied for other patents, more or less different from the original one, and some of which have been allowed. Whatever the other patents may claim as new and useful, they all describe means by which a cinematographic film is mechanically cut out in order to form a stencil for the purpose of coloring other films. HpHE original patent disclosed the idea of a machine in -1 which a sharp tool received a very rapid alternate movement. This tool was connected to a pantograph. The image of the film was projected on a small screen on which the operator guided the drop-point of the pantograph at the same time the cutting tool operated by percussion on the film where the cutting was effected. There are also machines, and patents that cover them, for the proper marking of the films after they have been prepared to be used as stencils, since before the stencils are made use of they are separated from their gelatine. In other words, they are plain strips of celluloid bearing holes for the purpose already explained. Several types of coloring machines are actually in use by