Most film pictures shown upon the screen are at present of the black
and white variety, and colour films are sometimes spoken of as being
generally impracticable. The main item which is the cause of the
non-general appearance of these films in natural colour is the question
of cost. Experiments have been highly successful, but the necessary
standard of apparatus has to be secured to produce the colours of
nature in reality, and this is the reason why natural colour films have
been slow in receiving commercial recognition. The items entering into
consideration are--extra equipment and extra help.
A colour-film has to be very realistic, and to secure its real market
value its ascendancy over the ordinary black and white film has
to be proved. If the “projector” required it to be elaborate, the
stage effects to be in unison, its chances as a commercial venture
are greatly reduced on account of the high cost of film rental. The
various expensive processes of production have greatly retarded its
progress--hence its rarity.
Colour films are usually accepted as natural colour films, whereas, in
reality, natural colour sometimes does not exist. A great number of
these natural colour films are hand painted, mostly produced in France,
where this subtle art of colour deception is practised to advantage.
Films are tastefully and artistically coloured, requiring excessive
patience and skill from hundreds of workers; for it is no easy task to
paint these miniatures, measuring one inch by three-quarters of an inch.
This process of painting is carried out by stages. One scene is gone
through, taking a single character--a house, background or foliage
in its various shades. The process is tedious and there lurks the
ever-present danger of making mistakes which would spoil the whole
effect.
Photography plays an important part in the reproduction in natural
colours, and the fact that dyes and chemicals can be used for this
purpose is overlooked by many people--red, orange, green, yellow,
violet and blue, when mixed in varying degrees, produce any shade known
to the human eye.
The earliest attempt at a natural colour process for the film was
made in 1907; the combined efforts and experiments of an Englishman
and an American. Their efforts were very successful, the pictures
being particularly clear and realistic. An improved process has been
developed which reproduces objects, whether stationary or in motion,
bringing forth the natural colours to be found in nature at her best.
It is to be regretted that the colour films cannot be cheapened in the
process of production, for nothing delights the hearts of patrons more
than to see before their eyes scenes and places with which they are
familiar; every object of still life (plants), or the living animals
roaming amidst their natural-coloured surroundings.