Handschiegl color process
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The Handschiegl color process (U.S. Patent 1,303,836 , App: Nov 20, 1916, Iss: May 13, 1919) was a stencil color technique used on motion picture film to give the effect of real color. Using the process, aniline dyes are applied to a black and white print using gelatin imbibition matrices.
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[edit] History of the process
The process was invented in 1916 for Cecil B. DeMille's production of Joan The Woman (1917) by engraver Max Handschiegl and partner Alvin W. Wyckoff, with assistance from Loren Taylor. All three were technicians at the Famous Players-Lasky Studio, where the film was shot. The system was originally advertised as the Wyckoff process, referred to in publicity as the DeMille-Wyckoff process.
The process, for a time, was strictly a Paramount Studios item, but once Handschiegl and Wyckoff left Players-Lasky, the color process became known as the Handschiegl Color Process and aside from Pathé's stencil process Pathéchrome, was the most widely used form of hand-coloring in motion pictures of the 1920s.
[edit] Overview of how the process worked
Handschiegl described the invention as such: A separate, black and white print for each color to be applied was made. Using an opaque paint, portions of the image where color was to be applied were blocked out. A duplicate negative was made from the painted print, developed in a tanning developer which hardened the gelatine layer where it had been exposed and developed. Those areas corresponding to the blocked out areas on the print remained relatively soft, and capable of taking up dye. This dyed matrix film was brought into contact, in accurate register, with a positive print, to which the dye transferred in the appropriate areas. The print made several passes through the dye transfer machines, in contact with a separate matrix for each color. Usually, three colors were applied at the most.
Surviving examples of the process show that this technique was not always used-- in some examples, stencils or simple hand coloring were employed. The process used most likely depended on variables such as speed and budget.
[edit] Later years
The Handschiegl process was incorporated as part of Kelley Color in 1927 when Handschiegl and William Van Doren Kelley formed the company. Kelley Color was, in turn, bought by Harriscolor in 1928. Technicolor later put the imbibition process to use with the Technicolor natural color process.
[edit] Known examples of Handschiegl color
- Joan the Woman (1917) - Red and yellow were used to give the scene of Joan of Arc burning at the stake a hightened dramatic effect.
- Roman Candles (Yankee Doodle, Jr.) (1920)
- A Blind Bargain (AKA The Octave of Claudius) (1923) - A party sequence had soap bubbles imbibed with several prizmatic colors.
- Red Lights (1923)
- The Ten Commandments (1923) - The crossing of the red sea had a blue tone and red Handschiegel technique on the masses crossing it.
- The Big Parade (1925) - A shot of an ambulance stuck in the mud had its red cross colored appropriately.
- Greed (1925) - Erich Von Stroheim's original 4-hour cut of the film was to have all items gold colored a brilliant yellow.
- The Lights of Broadway (1925)
- The Merry Widow (1925)
- The Phantom of the Opera (1925) - The title character's flowing robes on the rooftop of the Opera House were dramatically colored red.
- Seven Keys to Baldpate (1925)
- The Splendid Road (1925)
- The Flaming Forest (1926)
- The Greater Glory (1926)
- Irene (1926) - The fashion show sequence
- Mike (1926)
- Volcano (1926)
- Sally (1929)
- Hell's Angels (1930) - Hues of red and yellow hightened explosions during mid-air dogfights, including the explosion of a Zeppelin.
