‘Unnatural Colours’: An introduction to colouring techniques in silent era movies

FiRe 2 : An Online Database for Photographic and Cinematographic Film Technical Data

“…One of the most tangible and rapid changes has been the continuous introduction of new coloring techniques: indeed, since the invention of film, one of the great hurdles has been adding color to black-and-white motion pictures. Attempts to color films have been numerous and various during the years and many different techniques and dyes have been used [7,8,10,12]. Every (motion or still) picture is the result of the interaction of different cameras, film stocks (with their specific emulsion, dyes, and sensitivity), printing machines, and projection technologies.…”

Meteorology and British film studios: an article of the London fog

“…It is ironic that a film such as The Lodger (1927), subtitled A Story of the London Fog, began shooting in March 1926, at the tail-end of the fog season, the atmosphere of which was recreated to dazzling effect using blue tones and amber tints to mimic the distinctive hues of a London particular. 96 The Lodger was, of course, made at Islington, a building on which thousands of pounds had been spent to keep out exactly the kind of industrial fog that it helped produce during its previous incarnation as a power station. Similarly ironic is the fact that whereas most filmmakers saw fog in the studio as a threat to a production's finances, The Runaway Bus deliberately deployed billowing clouds of artificial fog to hide its miniscule budget: according to its star, Frankie Howerd, fog machines were deployed to obscure the 'patent phoniness' of its cheap sets and painted backcloths.…”