The History and Science of Color Film Pt. 1

What is color?  What principle did James Clerk Maxwell discover? How was color used in early filmmaking?  What were the two major types of colorizing film?

    Color is our psychological reaction to a narrow band of electromagnetic radiation on the spectrum called light; the visible colors ranging from red to violet, with all colors put together creating white. The way that we perceive light is through cones in our eyes which are able to detect varying amount of red, blue, and yellow light. The principle that James Clerk Maxwell discovered was that spinning colors on a top revealed that the true primary colors were red, green, and blue. He then applied this theory to photography, using different colored films in order to create the first, permanent, color photograph. In early filmmaking, color was added in during post production through a process called "hand tinting," which involved painting each frame of the film itself. As film grew, it a technique of using stencils was developed called "Pathecolor." When films became too large for these processes, tinting and toning film became common practice. Tinting colored the entire film whereas toning recolors the dark parts. Color was used in these past films to enhance the mood or fit the location. Two major types of colorizing film are additive color and subtractive color. Additive color is the process in which primary color lights are added together, with all three being used to make white and this type is used most commonly for screens. Subtractive color is where primary colors are subtracted from white light, subtracting all of them creates black.