Chromatic Cinema
A History of Screen Color
1. Edition April 2010
240 Pages, Hardcover
Wiley & Sons Ltd
ISBN:
978-1-4443-3239-1
John Wiley & Sons
Chromatic Cinema
Color permeates film and its history, but study of its contribution to film has so far been fragmentary. Chromatic Cinema provides the first wide-ranging historical overview of screen color, exploring the changing uses and meanings of color in moving images, from hand painting in early skirt dance films to current trends in digital color manipulation.
In this richly illustrated study, Richard Misek offers both a history and a theory of screen color. He argues that cinematic color emerged from, defined itself in response to, and has evolved in symbiosis with black and white. Exploring the technological, cultural, economic, and artistic factors that have defined this evolving symbiosis, Misek provides an in-depth yet accessible account of color's spread through, and ultimate effacement of, black-and-white cinema.
List of Plates ix
Acknowledgments xi
Introduction 1
1. Film Color 14
Coloration in Early Cinema, 1895-1927 14
The Rise of Technicolor, 1915-35 25
Chromatic Cold War: Black-and-White and Color in Opposition 29
"Technicolor Is Natural Color": Color and Realism, 1935-58 35
Chromatic Thaw: Hollywood's Transition to Color, 1950-67 41
2. Surface Color 50
Color in European Film, 1936-67 50
Chromatic Ambivalence: Art Cinema's Transition to Color 57
"Painting with Light": Cinema's Imaginary Art History 65
Unmotivated Chromatic Hybridity 68
Monochrome Purgatory: Absent Color in the Soviet Bloc, 1966-75 77
3. Absent Color 83
Black-and-White as Technological Relic, 1965-83 83
Black-and-White Flashbacks: Codifying Temporal Rebirth 89
Black-and-White Films, 1967-2007 97
Nostalgia and Pastiche 111
4. Optical Color 117
Cinema's Newtonian Optics 117
White Light: Hollywood's Invisible Ideology 122
Darkness Visible: From Natural Light to "Neo-Noir," 1968-83 132
Cinematography and Color Filtration, 1977-97 139
Case Study: Seeing Red in Psycho 147
5. Digital Color 152
Crossing the Chromatic Wall in Wings of Desire 152
An Archaeology of Digital Intermediate, 1989-2000 155
Digital Color Aesthetics, 2000-9 164
Conclusion: Painting by Numbers? 179
Notes 181
Bibliography 195
Index 210
Acknowledgments xi
Introduction 1
1. Film Color 14
Coloration in Early Cinema, 1895-1927 14
The Rise of Technicolor, 1915-35 25
Chromatic Cold War: Black-and-White and Color in Opposition 29
"Technicolor Is Natural Color": Color and Realism, 1935-58 35
Chromatic Thaw: Hollywood's Transition to Color, 1950-67 41
2. Surface Color 50
Color in European Film, 1936-67 50
Chromatic Ambivalence: Art Cinema's Transition to Color 57
"Painting with Light": Cinema's Imaginary Art History 65
Unmotivated Chromatic Hybridity 68
Monochrome Purgatory: Absent Color in the Soviet Bloc, 1966-75 77
3. Absent Color 83
Black-and-White as Technological Relic, 1965-83 83
Black-and-White Flashbacks: Codifying Temporal Rebirth 89
Black-and-White Films, 1967-2007 97
Nostalgia and Pastiche 111
4. Optical Color 117
Cinema's Newtonian Optics 117
White Light: Hollywood's Invisible Ideology 122
Darkness Visible: From Natural Light to "Neo-Noir," 1968-83 132
Cinematography and Color Filtration, 1977-97 139
Case Study: Seeing Red in Psycho 147
5. Digital Color 152
Crossing the Chromatic Wall in Wings of Desire 152
An Archaeology of Digital Intermediate, 1989-2000 155
Digital Color Aesthetics, 2000-9 164
Conclusion: Painting by Numbers? 179
Notes 181
Bibliography 195
Index 210
"Chromatic Cinema provides a much-needed technological
history of machines and techniques for producing moving images in
color, as well as a cultural history of color films."
(BRIAN R. JACOBSON, Technology and Culture, July 2012)
"An invigorating critical intervention into the history,
theory and aesthetic analysis of colour in the cinema."
(JENNIFER M. BARKER, Screen, August 2012)
"Chromatic Cinema provides a wealth of information and of
examples of different approaches to colour in cinema and stimulates
enough thoughts and reflections to be a worthy addition to any
library on colour in cinema." (NICOLA MAZZANTI,
Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television, April
2012
"Chromatic Cinema is an excellent critical history of screen colour
by Richard Misek, who teaches at the University of Bristol, near
which, as I recall, is a plaque to mark the birthplace of William
Friese-Greene, the somewhat unfortunate British movie pioneer, one
of who patents was for his own colour system." (Times Literary
Supplement, 25 November 2011)
"The book touches on most of the important aspects of color
cinema-from history to technology to ideology-and serves as an
orientation course for a complex subject. It's a gateway read,
neither intimidating nor frustrating. For a beginner (like me), it
presented a smattering of philosophical ideas, a grounding in the
why and how progression of color use, and a primer on the science
of color technologies." (MUBI, September 2010)
"This remarkable manuscript opens new vistas on what cinema is, how
it works, and what it can mean, with a deep historical perspective
and an unobtrusive but effective deployment of film theory. It is
bound to be a major intervention in an exciting and growing field
of film studies, and a significant contribution to technology
studies." Sean Cubitt, author of The Cinema Effect
"Drawing on optical theory, art history, and film technology,
Richard Misek rejects conventional distinctions between color and
black-and-white, arguing instead for a 'chromatic cinema' which
sees color everywhere. Original, thought-provoking,
and sure to be controversial." Richard Koszarski, Rutgers
University
"In this important and surprising study of cinema's most
central, seemingly simple, and notorious opposition--black and
white versus color--Misek upsets the usual categories for
understanding the development of cinema as technology and aesthetic
practice. Chromatic Cinema should change the way we understand the
so-called evolution of film style as the triumph of realism."
Brian Price, Oklahoma State University
"The best color history with examples from Hollywood, the
European Art Film, Asia and Eastern Europe, Chromatic Cinema
moves from the early period to the advent of the digital, by
arguing that the use of black and white must be discussed in the
context of an ever-changing chromatic image. An indispensable text
from the introductory to the advanced level, Richard Misek
dialogues with art history and philosophy, with cultural history
and economics." Angela Dalle Vacche, Georgia Istitute of
Technology
history of machines and techniques for producing moving images in
color, as well as a cultural history of color films."
(BRIAN R. JACOBSON, Technology and Culture, July 2012)
"An invigorating critical intervention into the history,
theory and aesthetic analysis of colour in the cinema."
(JENNIFER M. BARKER, Screen, August 2012)
"Chromatic Cinema provides a wealth of information and of
examples of different approaches to colour in cinema and stimulates
enough thoughts and reflections to be a worthy addition to any
library on colour in cinema." (NICOLA MAZZANTI,
Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television, April
2012
"Chromatic Cinema is an excellent critical history of screen colour
by Richard Misek, who teaches at the University of Bristol, near
which, as I recall, is a plaque to mark the birthplace of William
Friese-Greene, the somewhat unfortunate British movie pioneer, one
of who patents was for his own colour system." (Times Literary
Supplement, 25 November 2011)
"The book touches on most of the important aspects of color
cinema-from history to technology to ideology-and serves as an
orientation course for a complex subject. It's a gateway read,
neither intimidating nor frustrating. For a beginner (like me), it
presented a smattering of philosophical ideas, a grounding in the
why and how progression of color use, and a primer on the science
of color technologies." (MUBI, September 2010)
"This remarkable manuscript opens new vistas on what cinema is, how
it works, and what it can mean, with a deep historical perspective
and an unobtrusive but effective deployment of film theory. It is
bound to be a major intervention in an exciting and growing field
of film studies, and a significant contribution to technology
studies." Sean Cubitt, author of The Cinema Effect
"Drawing on optical theory, art history, and film technology,
Richard Misek rejects conventional distinctions between color and
black-and-white, arguing instead for a 'chromatic cinema' which
sees color everywhere. Original, thought-provoking,
and sure to be controversial." Richard Koszarski, Rutgers
University
"In this important and surprising study of cinema's most
central, seemingly simple, and notorious opposition--black and
white versus color--Misek upsets the usual categories for
understanding the development of cinema as technology and aesthetic
practice. Chromatic Cinema should change the way we understand the
so-called evolution of film style as the triumph of realism."
Brian Price, Oklahoma State University
"The best color history with examples from Hollywood, the
European Art Film, Asia and Eastern Europe, Chromatic Cinema
moves from the early period to the advent of the digital, by
arguing that the use of black and white must be discussed in the
context of an ever-changing chromatic image. An indispensable text
from the introductory to the advanced level, Richard Misek
dialogues with art history and philosophy, with cultural history
and economics." Angela Dalle Vacche, Georgia Istitute of
Technology
Richard Misek is a film-maker and Lecturer in Screen Studies at the University of Bristol, UK. He has been published widely in film journals, and his short films have been shown at festivals including Cannes, Raindance, and Clermont-Ferrand, and broadcast on BBC2 and Channel 4.
