What was the first color film ever?

Color is an important aspect of modern-day filmmaking. Of sunny pastels Jacques Demy’s hilarious romances and funky musicals To dark monochrome Tim Burton’s gothic tales, such as his masterpiece Edward Scissorhands Color plays a crucial role in setting the mood and tone of a film. We know that films were not always in color, as this technology was developed later. But when exactly? It’s hard to pinpoint because there are a lot of different definitions of the first color film, depending on how you look at it – from shorts to documentaries to animated films.

Until the advent of color creation techniques, cameras were only capable of producing black and white images. Although filmmakers had previously been able to play with shadows in visually exciting ways — such as the haunting presence of Count Orlok in “Nosferatu” or the towering future society in “Metropolis” — they were finally able to tell visual stories in color, opening up to filmmakers Completely different. Of creative expression.

Many moviegoers mistakenly assume that early Technicolor live-action films, such as “The Wizard of Oz” from 1939, are the first ever color films, but the use of color in film has a longer and more complicated history. Now considered an all-time motion picture classic, “The Wizard of Oz” It was one of the first films to be shot specifically in Technicolor. Technicolor requires a special camera that separates three black and white negatives for each of the primary colors to create one full-color film strip. The filmmaking technology features vibrant and detailed colors, making everything really jump off the screen.

The Wizard of Oz is about the power and beauty of that powerful color. When Dorothy opens the door to her tornado-ravaged home, leaving behind a drab, sepia-toned world, we are completely awestruck by the vibrant, rainbow-hued Land of Oz, with its bright yellow brick road and sparkling Emerald City. While the use of this new technology was astonishing and would sweep Hollywood in the coming decades, animation had been using Technicolor, and even other forms of color, for some time already.

Walt Disney Studios pioneered a change by using Technicolor in their animated films, starting with their short film “Flowers and Trees,” about a forest romance and rivalry, and then the full-length film, “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.” “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” was Disney’s biggest box office gamble Because the studio executives were skeptical of all the elements that would ultimately make it so revolutionary. In the documentary “The One That Started It All” from the Diamond Blu-ray and DVD edition of the film, animator Ward Kimball shares what worried the bigwigs in Hollywood:

“It was fine, six or seven minutes, like shorts, but an hour and a half, impossible! The main reason was that you ran out of funny things to do, and you had to laugh for a minute. And the bright colors would hurt your eyes, and everyone would get up and walk out.” “

Not only was the story completely captivating, taking us from the creepy horrors of the forest to the gentle, lovable dwarves who bonded with the princess, but the colors were eye-catching and gorgeous to look at. We all remember the shot of the bright red apple dripping with green poison in the shape of a terrifying skull. The rich colors were perfect for the main character whose beauty, with her porcelain skin, ruby ​​red lips, and shiny black hair, made her the most beautiful of all.

Disney will continue to use Technicolor for other animated classics like “Pinocchio” and “Cinderella.” Saturated paintings became the standard for feature films during the mid-1950s, both live-action and animated. However, there were other color processes before Technicolor, which allowed color to appear in films as early as the beginning of the 20th century.

Many early short films were originally shot in black and white, but were converted into color films by manipulating the film stock – either by hand-drawing each frame or applying tints. Early color copy of “A Journey to the Moon” by Georges Méliès in 1902, one of the best space films ever made. Color is used to make the cosmic adventure seem even more fantastical, bathing the gods among the stars in bright pink and turquoise. Likewise, “La Vie et la Passion de Jésus Christ” from 1903 features the same hand-painting technique, where only certain elements are colored to emphasize their importance in the biblical story, such as the bright yellow star above Jesus Christ’s manger.

Technically, A Visit to the Seaside from 1908 was the first film produced in color, but it is only eight minutes long. A group of young ladies in swimsuits or stately couples strolling down a boardwalk are photographed in a new process called Kinemacolor. Kinemacolor is a special camera tool used to apply red and green filters to black and white film. The stunning colors made the scenes pop and be as close to real life as possible. Of course, to our modern eyes, the first thing we notice is the limited range of colors, where only red and green are noticeable. Kinemacolor also requires a special projector, which has many issues. In 1912, the documentary With Our King and Queen Across India also used Kinemacolor, to depict the coronation and victories of King George V and Queen Mary of Teck. It must have been exciting for viewers to see real images of their leaders captured on screen, with color used to highlight their royal importance.

Given the most common definition of film as a complete narrative, 1914’s The World, the Flesh, and the Devil can be considered the first color film. Produced in Kinemacolor, the 50-minute drama revolves around an elusive woman who conspires to swap the children of rich and poor families. Unfortunately, all footage of this film has been lost. While Kinemacolor technology paved the way for future color processes and was less difficult than other methods, it still had many kinks to work out before Technicolor could continue to revolutionize filmmaking.

It’s incredible how far we’ve come with color in movies and how much it’s changed the way we see movies. Looking back, we can understand how early color techniques transformed films beyond the black and white films that came before them. The history of color and its role in cinema is as rich and diverse as the color wheel itself, and is worth exploring more in books like “Color in Motion: Chromatic Explorations of Cinema” by Jessica Nebel and Sofia Serrano.