Cinecolor
From Biocrawler, the free encyclopedia.
Cinecolor is an early subtractive color-model two color film process, based upon the Multicolor system of the 1920s. It was developed by the Cinecolor Corporation, and was in use from 1930 to 1938 as a competitor to Technicolor.
Like early Technicolor processes, Cinecolor uses two strips of film: a vermillion (red-orange) strip and a teal (blue-green) strip to produce color tones. While Cinecolor could produce vibrant oranges, blues, and flesh tones, it was notorious for not being able to properly replicate bright greens (rendered grey) and purples (rendered black). Nevertheless, Cinecolor was used extensively by the film industry, particularly in animation, where Walt Disney held an exclusive contract to use three-strip Technicolor from 1932 until the end of 1935. Among the notable animated short subjects series made in Cinecolor were Ub Iwerks' Comicolor cartoons, the Fleischer Studio's early Color Classics, a number of late-1940s Warner Bros. Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies, and many of Famous Studios' late-1940s Popeye the Sailor cartoons.
Cinecolor was also prominently employed in Paramount's educational Popular Science shorts. Hal Roach began making all of his product in Cinecolor in the late-1940s, becoming the first Hollywood producer to make all of his output in color.
In 1948, Cinecolor developed a three-strip process called Super Cinecolor, which was used on films such as those of Abbott and Costello. Super Cinecolor utilized the newly developed Eastmancolor negative for principal photography. After the color negative was edited it was separated into three B&W negatives. These separations were used to make the three color prints in a complex process that added two colors on one side of the copy and the third color on the opposite side. The dual emulsion prints had vivid dyes that didn't fade but were grainier than Technicolor copies due to the generation loss when making the pre-print.
The Cinecolor Corporation went out of business in 1954, and its assets were purchased by competitor The Technicolor Corporation.
External link
- Cinecolor History at The American Widescreen Museum (http://www.widescreenmuseum.com/oldcolor/cinecolor2.htm)
