Movie Makers (Jan-Dec 1939)

Schoeb from R. I. Nesmith and Associates 168 The sky color can be matched in the title if desired A NEW METHOD FOR COLOR TITLES How fo pol ych effects A BLACK and white title in a color film is incongruous. It breaks the color scheme of the picture and, since the title is of an entirely different quality from that of the rest of the picture, it is more conspicuous on the screen than the movie scenes. The easiest method of alleviating the difficulty is to make titles on a colored film base, blue or purple haze. But there is no opportunity to vary the color scheme to match the dominant colors of various sections of the picture. We could turn to the now seldom used procedure of metallic toning, which gives us a relatively limited range of colors. This method was employed in Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's production, The Good Earth, where the whole film was toned brown. Colors other than brown are possible, but the method, as a whole, is not very satisfactory for the amateur. Filming one's titles directly on Kodachrome stock gives an opportunity for complete color control. The only objections to this method are the cost and the necessity of lettering and coloring title cards if we are to match the color mood of the picture. If one is clever with paint and brush, or is industrious in searching out beautifully colored backgrounds, he can fit titles to color sequences very expertly. For the amateur who finds dealing with a couple of chemical solutions easier than art work, there is available a very inexpensive method of obtaining colored titles, which gives him complete freedom in expressing his originality. This is the newly perfected dye coupling method. It may be applied by any amateur either to positive title strips, which he may or may not have developed himself, or to titles on reversal film which has been processed by the film manufacturer. Practically any conceivable shade of color can be given to a title, whether it was made on positive or reversal film. You can make your own titles in black and white or you can have them made; after you study them in connection with your film, you can determine what color you would like to make them. You can give color to black and white titles that were made some time ago. The dye coupling method colors that part of the scene which is black or gray in the finished film. The whites remain white, producing a very different effect from that of tinted base or toned film. The procedure is briefly as follows: We begin with a strip of title film that has been completely processed and is ready provide romaf ic readily HOWARD C. COLTON for black and white projection. This film strip is washed in water, then it is bleached to remove the black silver; it is washed again and is immersed in a solution of dye coupler developer, which redeposits silver in the same places as it was before, but, this time, a dye is deposited along with the silver. The film then is washed for a few minutes and is dried. There is an optional second step that can be carried out if one desires to remove the silver and to obtain a pure dye image. The film is merely bleached in Farmer's reducer to remove the silver; it is then rinsed and dried. Thus, with any single dye coupling agent, the worker has immediately available two possible results, a dye image alone, or a dye image with silver — the effect on the screen being quite different. The actual steps in the procedure, which may be carried out in the light, are as follows: 1. The developed and fixed strip of title film is washed (film that has been reversed at the laboratory needs to be washed merely for a couple of minutes). Then the black silver image is removed by bleaching the film in a solution containing thirty five grams of potassium ferricyanide to a liter of water, made alkaline by the addition of a couple of drops of concentrated ammonia. Bleach the film until all of the black silver is gone. This will take about two minutes. 2. The bleached film, now containing a fairly transparent image of silver ferrocyanide, is washed thoroughly for at least twenty minutes. 3. The washed film strip is now redeveloped from one to two minutes in one of the color developers described later. The strength of color increases as the development proceeds, but the development must not be carried so far that the white areas of the film become stained by the developing solution, which gets slightly colored, itself, as development proceeds. Each batch of mixed developer from the two stock solutions should be mixed immediately before use, then discarded. Wash the film after development. 4. This step is optional. If a pure dye image without the silver is desired, the latter may be removed by immersion in Farmer's reducer until only the dye remains. The film then is washed and dried. The pure dye images are much more brilliant than those containing silver, but they are slightly less contrasty. More contrast may [Continued on page 178]