Kinemacolor
History
Kinemacolor was the first successful color motion picture process, used commercially from 1908 to 1914. It was invented by George Albert Smith in 1906 and promoted by Charles Urban's Urban Trading Company, which marketed the process in Europe, the Americas, and Asia. Kinemacolor was a two-color additive color system, photographing and projecting a black-and-white film behind alternating red and green filters.
Technical Details
Kinemacolor was based on a subtractive color method, a technique of creating color in film by removing certain colors from white light and then recombining the remaining colors. It was a two-color system, using red and green filters. The camera was equipped with a rotating wheel that alternated between a red and a green filter as the film was exposed frame by frame. The projector used a similar wheel to project the film. The rapid alternation of color filters during projection reproduced the original colors on the screen.
Commercial Use
Kinemacolor was used for a number of films in the early 20th century. The first public screening of a Kinemacolor film took place in London in 1909. The film, titled "A Visit to the Seaside", was the first natural color movie to be publicly shown. In the following years, Kinemacolor was used for a number of notable films, including "The World, the Flesh and the Devil" (1914), "The Miracle" (1912), and "The Clansman" (1915). However, despite its initial success, the process was ultimately short-lived due to the high cost of the Kinemacolor equipment and the advent of other color processes that offered more accurate and stable colors.
Decline and Legacy
The decline of Kinemacolor began around 1914. The process was expensive and complicated, and other color processes soon emerged that offered more accurate and stable colors. In addition, a legal case in 1914 effectively ended Kinemacolor's monopoly on color filmmaking in the UK. Despite its decline, Kinemacolor left a lasting legacy in the film industry. It was the first successful color process, paving the way for future developments in color filmmaking.
