Autochrome film / Cinécolor
Description
Several attempts were made to apply the Autochrome process invented by the Lumière brothers to motion pictures.
Transparent potato starch grains with a diameter of 15-20 were colored in the additive primaries red, green and blue. The spaces between the grains were blackened by carbon particles. This process created a colored mosaic screen through which the emulsion was exposed. By a reversal process a positive print of the film was created. As in Pointillism the color impression was formed in the eye of the viewer.
Several problems prevented the successful exploitation of the process. The starch grains tended to form clusters of the same color thus leading to an uneven formation of the pattern. When set in motion this randomized but uneven pattern became highly visible and obtrusive due to the notable changes between individual frames. Like with all the screen processes the small filters lowered the speed of the stock considerably.
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Photomicrograph of Cinécolor (20x). Credit: photomicrograph by Silvana Konermann. -
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Photomicrograph of Cinécolor (10x). Credit: photomicrograph by Silvana Konermann. -
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Credit: Cinémathèque française, conservatoire des techniques, Paris. -
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Magnification of an image area. Source: Eggert, John (1932): Kurzer Überblick über den Stand der Farbenkinematographie. Bericht über den VIII. Internationalen Kongress für wissenschaftliche und angewandte Photographie, Dresden 1931, pp. 214-222. Leipzig: J. A. Barth. -
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Source: Eggert, John (1932): Kurzer Überblick über den Stand der Farbenkinematographie. Bericht über den VIII. Internationalen Kongress für wissenschaftliche und angewandte Photographie, Dresden 1931, pp. 214-222. Leipzig: J. A. Barth. -
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Credit: Collection Gert Koshofer, Bergisch Gladbach (Germany). -
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Credit: Collection Gert Koshofer, Bergisch Gladbach (Germany). -
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Photomicrograph of Alticolor (500x). Credit: Gawain Weaver, Photograph Conservator, Gawain Weaver Art Conservation, San Anselmo, CA. -
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Photomicrograph of Alticolor (500x), cross polarized. Credit: Gawain Weaver, Photograph Conservator, Gawain Weaver Art Conservation, San Anselmo, CA. -
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Photomicrograph of Cinécolor (5x). Credit: photomicrograph by Silvana Konermann. -
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Source: Eggert, John (1932): Kurzer Überblick über den Stand der Farbenkinematographie. Bericht über den VIII. Internationalen Kongress für wissenschaftliche und angewandte Photographie, Dresden 1931, pp. 214-222. Leipzig: J. A. Barth.
Secondary Sources
Alt, Dirk (2011): “Der Farbfilm marschiert!” Frühe Farbfilmverfahren und NS-Propaganda 1933-1945. München: Belleville, on p. 39. (in German) View Quote
