Date: 14/06/2020 13:24:31
From: dv
ID: 1573346
Subject: Kinemacolor

Kinemacolor was the first successful colour film process. It was invented by Englishman George Albert Smith, who started out as a stage hypnotist and something of a charlatan. His initial interest in photography was in showing brief moving picture segments at the end of his shows, but through correspondence with the great George Melies, Smith became quite adept at the mechanics and chemisty of motion photography.

By 1906 he had perfected his Kinemacolor methodology. Films were shot on a single reel using alternating red and green filters, and then projected similarly, at twice the normal rate (ie at 32 fps). Given that this was only a two-colour, not three-colour, process, this was not a full hue system. Reds, oranges, browns, greens, flesh-tones were well represented but yellows were not great, and blues and purples came out as green and murky red respectively. Also, the fact that the red and green frames were alternating meant that you could see a bit of colour mismatch when movements were rapid.

The first test film was Tartans of Scottish Clans (1906) then Woman Draped in Patterned Handkerchiefs (1908), which together run for about 2 minutes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IbWtviN4BG0

Perhaps the first publicly shown colour film was A Visit To The Seaside (8 minutes long), displayed at trade fairs. Here’s a segment:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akRm4EsXcgk

The first full length film in Kinemacolor was With Our King and Queen Through India, a documentary shot in 1911 and first shown in 1912 at the Scala Theatre in London. Here’s a snippet.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4VCpkplKUf8

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Date: 14/06/2020 13:31:42
From: Peak Warming Man
ID: 1573348
Subject: re: Kinemacolor

Well red works.

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Date: 14/06/2020 13:40:21
From: dv
ID: 1573355
Subject: re: Kinemacolor

Peak Warming Man said:


Well red works.

Probably good for that Delhi Durbah. Lots of red jackets and brown horses.

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Date: 14/06/2020 13:45:33
From: Michael V
ID: 1573357
Subject: re: Kinemacolor

Interesting. Thanks.

:)

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Date: 14/06/2020 15:49:32
From: Bubblecar
ID: 1573393
Subject: re: Kinemacolor

Ta.

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Date: 14/06/2020 15:53:33
From: sibeen
ID: 1573394
Subject: re: Kinemacolor

Bubblecar said:


Ta.

No worries.

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Date: 14/06/2020 21:03:45
From: dv
ID: 1573526
Subject: re: Kinemacolor

Looking at the projector and camera design, it seems to me ot would be easy to upgrade to full 3 colour

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Date: 14/06/2020 21:14:35
From: esselte
ID: 1573528
Subject: re: Kinemacolor

What colour is an orange projected in Kinemacolor?

Brown; color is weird

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