By: Deeba Mehr
Technicolor, perfected in 1932, is a method for colouring film used to record video in the 20th century. By using a beam-splitting cube inside the camera combined with the lens, the incoming light was split into three coloured beams, similarly to how a prism refracts white light into many colours. These three beams (red, green, and blue) were captured on three separate film strips. The strips were then dyed using the complementary (opposite) dyes: cyan for the red strip, magenta for the green strip, and yellow for the blue strip. All of these film strips were then combined to create a broad colour spectrum.
One characteristic feature of Technicolor is the colour saturation and the high contrast. When we compare Technicolor movies to modern-day movies, the colours appear more vibrant and candy-like, though less natural. That being said, the vibrancy of the colours is also one of the reasons why some of the films are so visually appealing.
Technicolor was very compatible with Hollywood movie musicals of the 1950s and 1960s. Part of the appeal for musicals is the lack of realism — nobody watches a movie where people start singing out of nowhere because they want to watch reality. Therefore, directors could go all out with the colours in the sets and costumes without worrying too much if things were unrealistic; people were expecting that already.
An American in Paris (1951)
An American in Paris, directed by Vincente Minnelli and choreographed by Gene Kelly, won the Academy Award for Best Colour Cinematography and Best Art Direction in 1952. Reviews of this movie repeatedly praised the use of Technicolor. The whole movie is a delight for the eyes, culminating in the 17-minute-long ballet at the end. The ballet uses Technicolor to its ultimate capacity, as the dancers come out of French Renaissance paintings with corresponding sets and costumes. This movie took maximum advantage of Technicolor and it was absolutely worth it.
Singin’ in the Rain (1952)
The year after An American in Paris, Gene Kelly worked again to direct and choreograph Singin’ in the Rain, seen by contemporary critics as one of the best movie musicals ever produced, though not given ‘legendary’ status until years after its release. While the most iconic scene includes the titular song, Singin’ in the Rain, the Broadway Melody ballet scene (pictured above) is a very artistic scene both in design and choreography. This scene does not really take place in the context of the main plot — one can assume it takes place in the character’s imagination. Because of this, the colour was intentionally saturated more than other scenes in the movie to help convey the message that this scene is external to the action of the story.
The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (Les Parapluies de Cherbourg) (1964)
The Umbrellas of Cherbourg is a French romantic drama. All of the dialogue is sung in a recitative fashion, with the constant music in the background contributing to its popularity. Its intensely coloured sets and costumes are another reason for its lasting impact. Damien Chazelle, who directed La La Land, was partially influenced by the aesthetics of this movie, and some of the inspiration for the set design can be traced back to it.
Despite the whole movie being sung and accompanied by an orchestra, the main theme melody is called I Will Wait For You. The scene in which this song is sung has rather dark, earthy colours that contrast with the vibrant colours seen in the image above. This contrast is appropriate, however, as the song’s melancholiness suits the muted colours more than the bright tones of other scenes.
The Wizard of Oz (1939)
The Wizard of Oz is often mistakenly touted as the first full-length feature to use Technicolor. While this isn’t actually true, it is an understandable misconception given the transition of the sepia-toned opening scenes into full Technicolor as Dorothy goes from Kansas to Oz. Technicolor truly brought this movie to life with the yellow brick road, the Emerald City, and the ruby slippers, which previously would have all been down to the audience’s imaginations. Now, viewers could see it all in front of them. The famous red slippers were originally silver; they changed the colour mid-production to further showcase Technicolor’s abilities.
The iconic song, Over the Rainbow, is very appropriate for this movie—a song with this name would have been quite out-of-place if Technicolor and its full colour spectrum hadn’t been used.
Honourable Mention: La La Land (2016)
La La Land is an example of how Technicolor’s influence has lasted over the decades. While it wasn’t actually filmed in Technicolor, it was filmed using 2.55 Cinemascope—a format that isn’t used anymore, but was very popular in the 1950s. According to the director, this also adds to the dreamy, not-fully-real effect of the movie, as digital cameras would have captured the set too realistically for the intended effect.
The scene pictured above is accompanied by the song A Lovely Night. The ‘lovely night’ the characters are singing about refers to the sunset and the scenery behind them. This is one of, if not the most iconic scene in the whole movie. It is depicted in its posters and generally the most well-known shot. Part of this is due to the contrast between the purple hues of the background and Mia’s yellow dress— similar to the high contrast which helped Technicolor come to life.
La La Land is simply one of those movies that you could pause at any moment and the frame would be beautiful. In terms of colour usage, the Someone in the Crowd and Epilogue scenes are also stunning and both accompany some wonderful music reminiscent of the Golden Age musicals.
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