User:Carol.G.Higgins/Color motion picture film

Physics of light and color
A three-color theory of combination, which informs that all colors are created by combining the three main hues of red, blue, and green, was first established by Thomas Young and Hermann von Helmholtz, in the early 1800’s.

These principles on which color photography is based were first proposed by Scottish physicist James Clerk Maxwell in 1855 and presented at the Royal Society in London in 1861. By that time, it was known that light comprises a spectrum of different wavelengths that are perceived as different colors as they are absorbed and reflected by natural objects. Maxwell discovered that all natural colors in this spectrum as perceived by the human eye may be reproduced with additive combinations of three primary colors—red, green, and blue—which, when mixed equally, produce white light.

Between 1900 and 1935, dozens of natural color systems were introduced, although only a few were successful.

Psychological and theoretical uses of color in film
Color psychology is an essential aspect of the film industry. Hermann Von Helmholtz began investigating the physiological responses to color in the mid-1800s. His and other research changed the way filmmakers approach color in their productions, which prompted standards in technology and aesthetics for the use of color in the film industry. The film-making process involves color choices, which can have a significant impact on how the audience perceives a story. The perception of color is influenced by various elements, such as the context in which each color is observed, the material properties they exhibit, the cultural framework in which they are presented, as well as each individual viewer's subjective response.

The film industry recognizes the impact of color on human psychology as it plays a key role in filmmaking by creating the right mood, directing attention, and evoking certain emotions from the audience. Filmmakers use different color combinations to communicate various emotions to the audience. The moods and psychological states of characters are often conveyed by colored lights, while object colors, in conjunction with the colors attributed to characters costumes, hair, and skin tones, establish relationships or conflicts.

The way that light affects our perception of color can be defined by the principles of additive and subtractive color. Additive color theory states that colors come from the addition of light, while subtractive color theory states that colors are created by the absorption of light. Hermann von Helmholtz's theories support this, as they inform that the colors we perceive are determined by the combination of object colors, the colors interactions with light, and their color temperature and spectral properties.

Additive color
The first color systems that appeared in motion pictures were additive color systems. Additive color was practical because no special color stock was necessary. Black-and-white film could be processed and used in both filming and projection. The various additive systems entailed the use of color filters on both the movie camera and projector. Additive color adds lights of the primary colors in various proportions to the projected image. Because of the limited amount of space to record images on film, and later because the lack of a camera that could record more than two strips of film at once, most early motion-picture color systems consisted of two colors, often red and green or red and blue.

The pioneering three-color additive system was patented in England by Edward Raymond Turner in 1899. It used a rotating set of red, green and blue filters to photograph the three color components one after the other on three successive frames of panchromatic black-and-white film. The finished film was projected through similar filters to reconstitute the color. In 1902, Turner shot test footage to demonstrate his system, but projecting it proved problematic because of the accurate registration (alignment) of the three separate color elements required for acceptable results. Turner died a year later without having satisfactorily projected the footage. In 2012, curators at the National Media Museum in Bradford, UK, had the original custom-format nitrate film copied to black-and-white 35 mm film, which was then scanned into a digital video format by telecine. Finally, digital image processing was used to align and combine each group of three frames into one color image. As a result, these films from 1902 became viewable in full color.