How Technicolor changed movies

What was "glorious Technicolor?" It was a groundbreaking technology - but it was more than that, too.
Find an extra commentary video here:
• Producer commentary: H...
To learn more, check out:
The George Eastman Museum: eastman.org/
Eastman's Technicolor Online Research: www.eastman.or...
Barbara Flueckiger’s Timeline of Historical Film Colors: filmcolors.org/
Follow Phil Edwards on Facebook: / philedwardsinc1
In this episode of Vox Almanac, Phil Edwards explores the history of Technicolor: both the technology and the company. Many people recognize Technicolor from The Wizard of Oz, but the technology existed long before then. Two strip Technicolor and three strip Technicolor both revolutionized the film industry and shaped the look of 20th century film.
But Technicolor also influenced movies through its corporate control of the technology. People like Natalie Kalmus shaped the aesthetic of color films, and directors redesigned their sets and films based on the Technicolor look that the company - and viewers - demanded.
Though the process we traditionally recognize as Technicolor is no longer in use (the company does continue), the look remains influential even today.
Subscribe to our channel! goo.gl/0bsAjO
Vox.com is a news website that helps you cut through the noise and understand what's really driving the events in the headlines. Check out www.vox.com to get up to speed on everything from Kurdistan to the Kim Kardashian app.
Check out our full video catalog: goo.gl/IZONyE
Follow Vox on Twitter: goo.gl/XFrZ5H
Or on Facebook: goo.gl/U2g06o

[@ldchappell1]

We were color deprived when we saw "The Wizard Of Oz" on TV in the 60s. We only had a black and white TV. When Dorothy opened the door...alas nothing changed. lol

[@thetillerwiller4696]

😭

[@ldchappell1]

@@thetillerwiller4696 If that wasn't bad enough, Judy Garland died a few days after I saw "The Wizard Of Oz" for the first time. 🙁

[@vixxxenfoxxx3660]

My grandma said her & her sisters would use green and red clear wrap.

[@xander1052]

and over here (UK) first viewings of the Wizard of Oz on TV could be on old 405 line systems (though by the 60s we had switched the infrastructure over to 625 line colour ofc)

[@mduke2k]

I was born in 1981. I watched Wizard of Oz as a child. I used to think the world used to be black and white before I was born. I didn't know why I believed this until today when I was telling someone about this movie. 😂

[@donaldscott3921]

As a former Color photo instructor, I remember being nonplussed when I saw The Aviator for the first time - the color was not right. Then, about 1/3 of the way into the film, it hit me - Scorese and his photo director had purposely shot the parts of the film that were set in the two-color Technicolor era in two-color Technicolor. As soon as the 3-color process era began, the color was "right." Brilliant, understated.

[@paulbrennan3816]

However, the GP thought there was an error as it was not explained, as it should have been.

[@ldchappell1]

I always wondered why "The Aviator" has that sort of teal colored atmosphere in the beginning. It was really noticeable in that swanky night club scene. It's a great film and it changed my opinion of Leonardo DiCaprio. Thanks for the explanation.

[@RYSEproductions]

Another example of colorists being incredibly underrated. Those looks you talk about weren't just "a click". They were a result of weeks and weeks of a colorist adjusting, correcting, tweaking and masking every single shot, sometimes frame by frame. It's the same level of attention, just a different method.

[@cats-hv2lm]

After all, you guys ever use a paint program’s fill tool? It ain’t perfect!

[@ManiacalBlueberry]

Honestly just an easier way to say that an IDEA clicked not the effort

[@Mochrie99]

That transition from the sepia to full blown over-the-top Technicolour in The Wizard Of Oz is still one of the most amazing moments in cinema ever.

[@totesmygoats-bq8mk]

When I was a child I thought that the world evolved into color in the fifties and that before it was somehow all black and white. I also thought when you turned off the television the program you were watching would stop and wait right where it was until you got back. Ah childhood.

[@AlejandraRamirez-bv2ie]

d.j Harden that first part about thinking the world used to be black and white, that legit used to be me too lol

[@SuperSquirtle1]

d.j Harden same here! Finally someone who had the same thought

[@Killinemkid]

Barry Celtic OH MY GOD! I was just thinking about that too! Really goes to show how film shapes children's perceptio of the world.

[@totesmygoats-bq8mk]

Alex Davenport that's an excellent point!

[@UmbaLumba11]

Barry Celtic, kinda like me too.

[@hebneh]

Something he didn't mention, which is also interesting, is that when "Wizard" was being made, there were only a few Technicolor movie cameras in existence and they were all owned by the Technicolor company. The film studios were only able to rent these cameras, and the Technicolor company required their own technicians to transport the cameras and operate them. Because there weren't many cameras, the movie studios had to arrange to rent them well in advance of when the shooting on a particular film would begin. And every night the Technicolor employees would physically take the camera back to their office to take them apart for servicing and lubrication.

[@Daniel-ht4wr]

My grandfather told me that when the Wizard of Oz came out everyone was super stocked to see a film in colour, but when it began it was in black and white everyone in the cinema was pissed off lol

[@ElfriedeRose]

Daniel Tracey for a birthday party we watched young frankenstein but one of my friends didnt want to watch it in black and white so we promised her that it goes to color at the end.

[@AHHHHHHHHHHHHl]

I can't imagine how amazing it must've felt when Dorothy entered the Land of Oz, but I can imagine how pissed the people who saw it in the cinema must've been when it was broadcast through one of the early television sets that could only display black and white.

[@philgiglio9656]

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid was begun in sepia...the lady behind me in the theater was pi88ed that it wasn't color: she wanted to see Paul's baby blues.

[@colephelps6202]

Wow! You go waay back. I only saw that film 2nd run at the drive-in with my parents!

[@moirbasso7051]

I grew up watching this movie only in black and white (on TV). I literally pushed back away from the screen into my movie chair seat, when, at 18, I saw the film for the first time... in color. The witch was GREEN!?!? Scared me just as much at 18, as when I saw her in B/W, at six. LOL

[@RealEngineering]

This was really well explained. Jealous I wasn't the one to cover it!

[@FireFly-kz2te]

Can you make a video about it? (Second comment here)

[@NiffirgkcaJ]

Third~

[@filmishit]

Silence, verified

[@FireFly-kz2te]

@@filmishit He's a engineer what do you mean?

[@it1970]

do your own version

[@HansonJ]

Apparently people complained and got up out of the theatre when it started in black and white. The start really put people off and made them think it was false advertising.

[@Benjaminaq16]

I’m colourblind, so this video was an 11 minute reminder

[@austindrake2758]

What type?

[@tonedeaf_film]

Protan for me

[@eruyommo]

This comment was meant to prevent people from clicking a link shared by a fake account passing as Vox. By now, it shouldn't be a problem within this video. Anyways, be careful and only click links if shared by the official account of the channel. You can know if an account is official because it has a distinctive margin around its icon.

[@AlexRolandHuszar]

he means a bot in the chat with the same username and pic but fake, not the video, they are like in every comment section nowadays

[@hexonxonx]

colorblind people can still see color

[@tommoncrieff1154]

I knew Oz was not the first full length colour film as my Dad always told me the first colour film he saw was the Adventures of Robin Hood and it was a sensation in 1938. When we watched it on TV he also told me Olivia de Havilland was still alive, which to a child of 10 seemed incredible. That was in 1970. I'm 60 now and she's STILL living and it's still a fantastic film, never bettered by any subsequent Robin Hood!

[@corocorascringechannel6330]

"So here´s a scene of some Lego people who are apparently... worshipping Lawrence of Arabia" I never tought I would hear those words in that very specific order and tone combined.

[@jacobmartin8332]

Sire Leumas Clark: The thing I noticed was the fact that it was off-brand Lego.

[@onerva.]

I laughed at that for a solid 20 second. priceless.

[@jazmynemapstone8549]

Ye

[@kunalcs5079]

Yes

[@Trygve84]

Looks like Duplo, a product of the Lego company.

[@Siptom369]

When you think about the fact that this wasn't even that long ago and now we have those small computers in our hands which can show us this video in almost hd quality is honestly pretty amazing

[@DeadlyDan]

Not that impressive really. They were doing this nearly 100 years ago!

[@Danyel615]

Can we take a moment to appreciate how clever artists had to be in order to make ""special effects" in those days? That sepia-into-color trick with the two actresses and a very discreet swap behind the camera is genius!

[@PandoraKyss]

Honestly, this makes me want to watch the film 'Pleasantville' again. Seeing how color was used in that movie, it was like seeing colors for the first time. It gave a different level of appreciation, similar to the 'Wizard of OZ' scene.

[@danjberg]

Ha! Watched Pleasantville (again) just the other night. Great movie!

[@JustinY.]

The world was just in black and white before technicolor was a thing, duh.

[@schmobot]

Nope, it was sepia. Didn't you watch the video?

[@alexolas1246]

WHO ARE YOU WHAT ARE YOU

[@rrcalidguid2225]

LOL. One, the title isn't a question. Two, it's not "what technicolor changed in movies." Using the word how refers to the manner and processes of the evolution and change, not just what is the change from B&W, Sepia. to Colored. And three, producing technicolor moving pictures is a lot complicated beyond the surface value, so learning the history of the technology and the techniques used is quite interesting. That's why stating that "duh" from not colored it turned to colored is an inadequate response imo and seeing a couple comments like yours is also why I felt the urge to create a lengthy reply. Have a good day.

[@JustinY.]

It's a joke I'm not serious Enn Spiral

[@FeyTheBin]

Of course it's a joke, everyone knows the world was a giant book before the invention of television. Check your facts next time.

[@billdirlam744]

Even when the Wizard of Oz was viewed on a B&W TV set you could still be impressed by the look of Oz when Dorothy steps through that door. The Oz art direction and movie sets were amazing. As a kid of the 1960s I didn't get to see the Wizard of Oz in color until around 1965 or so when we got our first color TV. But color TVs of that era weren't really up to the challenge of faithfully reproducing Technicolor movies. One had to wait until Sony made the Trinitron color TV sets of the 1970s to really enjoy color TV programing. Now High Definition television sets just blows me away. Movies I had seen in a top notch theater look better on a modern day Hi-Def TV screen, that's how good the technology has become.

[@yosiefrezene4141]

Here's a question, why is toothpaste mainly mint flavoured?

[@valerio2259]

Yosief Rezene it feels fresher?😂

[@OverUnity7734]

I would guess it is to mask the fluorine that is put in it. Fluorine is best used once a year as an enamel strengthener. When used more than that it causes animals to be come more docile. Very useful if a corporate controlled government were to want to control a populous.

[@Mikewee777]

OverUnity7734 , that explains why I failed boot camp.

[@OverUnity7734]

Yes, there are many non harmful choices to use in the place of commercial toothpaste . I prefer baking soda mixed with hydrogen peroxide.

[@SonOfFurzehatt]

Foil hats on, everyone!

[@room34]

Clever asbestos reference… one of my favorite (but dark) bits of trivia about The Wizard of Oz is that the "snow" was asbestos flakes.

[@Bioniking]

What's interesting is that back in the day, movies in technicolor would be considered less serious and more fancifu,while black and white was considered the mark of a "realistic/serious" filml. Most musicals and fantasies were filmed in technicolor, while more dramatic films (ie film noir, horror, dramas like On the Waterfront) were in black and white. This changed more or less in the 60s.

[@amateurbarnaby]

i kind of like how Gone with the Wind which was released the same year as the Wizard of Oz is in technicolor but has serious themes. Kind of sad that no one is talking about the film despite it being such a craze back in the day.

[@averycomer9229]

I can’t tell if this guy is old or young.

[@mrjbexample]

He's 79 according to google. Seriously though, his LinkedIn profile suggests he's 32-34 since he started college in 2002. I think his gray-looking hair makes him much older than his face normally would.

[@jaredmclaren5571]

He's yould

[@sosidecop64]

He is both and neither.

[@OlviMasta77]

*technicolor intensifies*

[@OlviMasta77]

He's Schrödinger's Filmhistorian :P

[@dingdongism]

The things that the narrator calls lies are just misunderstandings. I get that it’s a dramatic device but it distracted me a lot for some reason.

[@Scripture-Man]

I found the video to be pretentious, including its use of the word "lie". The tone of the video was self-important.

[@howtubeable]

Yes, this is just another example of the Radical Left re-writing history to support its false narratives.

[@abbyfisher8079]

@@howtubeable Wha... how? It was just a pretentious video about colour, and most of the video was correct, just overly dramatic.

[@KnakuanaRka]

Howard Wiggins No, the information was accurate, it was just told in a very self-important manner,

[@gabrielaviannawerneck7513]

Howard Wiggins Tf

[@areyouthicc9947]

Can’t believe the world was in black and white in the old days

[@Cythil]

I believe you are mistaken. The world was in sepia tone before.

[@Cythil]

Don't fall for the false Vox link.

[@joellaz9836]

Stormy Revolvers I literally use to think that when I was a kid.

[@creepystares9853]

Its amazing that they could enjoy life without color before the early 1910's. So much lost! Never saw a cuttle fish in all its glory

[@AvailableUsernameTed]

There was colour when I was born in 64 but my parents were too poor to afford it. So we lived in B&W until my Dad got a promotion.

[@ethanl886]

when he said “what are all these dust particles” I was about to comment “ASBESTOS, IT’S ASBESTOS”, but then he answered his own question lmao

[@stevenbaumann8692]

Sweet. Thanks. The uniforms in Star Trek were picked because of the advancement in color. That’s why they didn’t make any sense. They wanted the color to pop.

[@LimeyLassen]

So that's why the redshirts die, they stick out

[@stevenbaumann8692]

Limey Lassen 😂👍🏻

[@Novusod]

Red means death and danger. Blame Natalie Kalmus for all the red shirts dying.

[@gregfeneis609]

If your name was "Ensign Johnson" and you beamed down to a planet before the first commercial break, you're pretty much a goner, no matter what color your uniform.

[@stevenbaumann8692]

Greg Feneis 😂👍🏻

[@JP_Wu]

Wow, "Flowers and Trees" was the first commercial film to be produced in full-color three-strip Technicolor process? I used to watch that film on a videotape when I was little and it was one of my favorites. For so long I was missing it, I think I'm going to watch it again.

[@supercyberfunk]

I can only imagine the awe and wonder that swept over the audiences at the time this movie was released in theaters. I wish I had a time machine to go back and experience other peoples' reactions during that famous scene.

[@digitaljefftv]

Finally something I love. Do more of these.

[@deeyannie2339]

There's always that one guy.

[@Rudenbehr]

Cameron Bell “Less politics I don’t agree with”

[@commentmachine1457]

"finally"?

[@okidokii85]

They've made stuff I agree with but Vox is always at its best when it's apolitical

[@hadriangonzalez607]

They always will do whatever they do, they have different people that specialize in different things.. see something u don't agree with, don't click on it.. what is this a dictatorship?

[@andy.m265]

I was a cinematographic contact printer at Technicolor London back in the eighties, i swear if i close my eyes i can still remember the “lace up “ path of every single one of the 30 or so different printing machines, that we used . I loved the job and took great pride in telling everybody that I belonged to an exclusive club of only around 80 or so people in England that actually did that job ! Happy memories.

[@yipperdeyip]

Someone needs to make a playlist full of interesting Vox videos

[@Dani92670]

funny. i just found vox videos (in earnest) this very evening and am actually compiling quite a list as i take a breather to type this, as a response to your comment i happened to have just my eyeballs land upon, for whatever random reason! i am an addict to the core and once i find something i like i have to have all of it, or does that make me more of a greedy, insatiable pig than an addict? whatever the case, i am making a list : )

[@yipperdeyip]

Danielle Marin Thank the Gods your eyeballs landed upon my comment! I've saved the playlist you made and it's massive! :D Can't wait to watch it, thank youu! Ps. We live in a culture where we binge on everything as everything is dopamine filled and bingable pretty much... I even wait for shows I'm interested in to completely finish, so that I can bingewatch it all when I want to (instead of waiting a year for the next season)... 😅 Maybe we are addicted binge pigs indeed. Oh well...

[@cattysplat]

Minus the videos of all the liberal politics of course.

[@Brandonian]

The wizard of oz is still to this day one amazing film. It’s amazing. Vox also is a amazing channel here on the KZbins.

[@jsfbr]

Technicolor is EVERYTHING! Those paint-dripping saturated colors of my youth still live in my memories! So gorgeous, and it seems that nothing comes close the 3-wtrip, die-transfer technology, even today. Those red were just amazing!

[@erictaylor5462]

That was a good one Vox, Thank you

[@helvera]

Technicolors last film suspiria 1977

[@moon-cf2vw]

helvetia wild and the colors were so vibrant in that movie

[@collegeman1988]

I immediately knew that the statement “The Wizard of Oz is the first feature length film in Technicolor” was wrong. Gone With The Wind was in color and was released in 1938.

[@Tmanaz480]

collegeman1988 ... Becky Sharp. 1935.

[@kennethconnally4356]

Nope, December 1939, months after The Wizard of Oz.

[@Nuhuhuhuhu]

Both movies are from 1939, Wizard of Oz is from August 25, and Gone with the Wind is from December 15. Ergo the Wizard is the oldest, but actually Becky Sharp was the first color film, but still wrong answer in the context of Technicolor, as there were three strip color layout and not the same technique. The novel (Gone with the Wind) is from 1936, and written by Margaret Mitchell.

[@Nuhuhuhuhu]

So you immediately thought were a smartass, but in reality you just remembered wrong.

[@hebneh]

"Becky Sharp" was NOT "the first color film". It was the first FEATURE film in 3-STRIP Technicolor. As this video states, the first 3-strip Technicolor film was "Flowers and Trees", which of course was not a feature. And there had been numerous 2-strip Technicolor feature films before "Becky Sharp".

[@Type3Toys]

No joke i literally started writing my paper on how the Wizard of Oz helped change the film industry this morning. Thanks Vox

[@mc7playatease]

Well done! My grandfather was one of the Technicolor folks (with his name listed in the opening credits of 136 films from the 1940s and 50s) such as mentioned at 6:21 . My great-grandfather had been one of the early Technicolor investors, staying on through the Depression until a profit came in, and that was how his son got a job there originally, working his way up diligently to become Director at Universal. And it is very true what you said about Mrs. Kalmus 7:52 , who sometimes took the credit for movies she did not touch, without listing those who did. Her daughter was a sweetie!, playing Bonnie Blue Butler in Gone with the Wind, and she was a humble and WITTY non-Hollywood sort. Thank you for your wonderful explanation of the very complicated process used during cinema's Golden Age.

[@3p1cand3rs0n]

It also worked wonders on Joseph's Dreamcoat. ...I'll see myself out.

[@3p1cand3rs0n]

@piggyponcho - glad to help, restoring faith in humanity is my specialty!

[@glossygloss472]

Are you talking about the movie, “Joseph, King of Dreams”?

[@VinchVolt]

*+HelloKittyFan 26* It's a reference to an Andrew Lloyd Webber musical called "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat."

[@joshuanesbit]

Phenomenal

[@HelloKittyFanMan.]

Harr... HARRR!

[@oldschoolel]

"Is this asbestos?" You know, I asked myself this when I watched that show. Always a captivating view into the things of this world - thanks!

[@t_mac41603]

Their life in technicolor was so good their feet won't touch the ground

[@aerofpv2109]

One of the best edited informative episodes ever made on KZbin. We thank you for this masterpiece.

[@Crushenator500]

Should have used Suspiria instead of Godfather, it came a few years later and is just gorgeous.

[@sarpsarp8987]

Inferno (1980) has the smilar look to Suspria (1977), which is the second movie in the series.

[@JessssssssJesssss]

And before this,the whole world was colourblind and only saw siepa! Amazing what movies do!

[@patrickmike2524]

I guess that makes Dorothy going through the doorway the most watched version of the cowboy switch. That’s really flawless. I love those in camera tricks that they had to figure out back then

[@smartalek180]

I had never heard the term "the cowboy switch" before. Thank you for the edumacation. [bows in gratitude]

[@AllanHytowitz]

Watch the video of the "Making of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy." To create the scenes they wanted on their limited 1981 budget they filmed the actors in front of a "green screen" and played that film on an illustrated matte background. It literally was the first commercial TV use of a Green Screen.

[@snowkiss888]

Love this. Love knowing more about old films and the technical aspects about them. Does anyone know of such a channel like that? Like Almanac?

[@ElfriedeRose]

Ryan Brisentine crash course is doing a series about film production, they did one about film history.

[@annaclares3318]

I will repaste a comment here that I had above... sorry for how long it is lol. Keep in mind that I wrote it to somebody who was talking about how they loved to learn about stuff like this.. Anyways, here it is: Hiya! Since you said you love learning about this kind of stuff, might I suggest "The Nerdwriter" and "Every Frame a Painting" to you? "Every Frame A Painting" has a ton of videos like this, ranging from everything from director's influence on the "feel" of a film to the unmemorable music of Marvel to the beauty of different cameras. He unfortunately doesn't make videos anymore, but the stuff he did is still amazing and totally relevant to watch. "The Nerdwriter" does videos that cover a wide array of topics, but he has some EXCELLENT videos on technical aspects of movies and music and scores in film, and personally, I find him to be even more intriguing than Vox because he usually tries to talk about how choices (like filming in technicolor) impact the theory of film itself. I've included some of these men's best works below, but if you truly want to learn about the technical aspects of movies and music, I would recommend both of them over Vox since they don't have a load of distracting edits made to them, nor do they ignore the effects on film that things like Technicolor had/have (not to hate on ya Vox, you're still great in other ways ^_^). "Every Frame A Painting" Music in Marvel: kzbin.info/www/bejne/bafJop6srLxlnNU How to do Visual Comedy: kzbin.info/www/bejne/aXeyq3dqiMual8k Michael "Bayhem": Layered Visuals in Hollywood Blockbusters kzbin.info/www/bejne/aIWrh6mpndukZrM "The Nerdwriter" The Iconic Visuals of Darth Vadar: kzbin.info/www/bejne/r2axmXt4n959m5Y How Casey Neistat Captures Eyes: kzbin.info/www/bejne/gJPMe6SKd6iEq9k Moments v Scenes in Batman v Superman: kzbin.info/www/bejne/aWmmqpKHoc1qjK8 These two men completely changed the way I see film, and I think that they will change it for you too. Hope you enjoy! Let me know how you like it :)))

[@loynjuryllgulpany4778]

Watch RocketJump :)

[@smartalek180]

@@annaclares3318 Thank you so much for those rec's! You are a far more reliable curator than the KZbin algorithms! (Tho -- credit where it's due -- those YT algorithms have been getting way better for me lately; they give me something I actually like almost 1% of the time now; an *immense* advance over the previous sad state of affairs.)

[@lactyl4890]

Omg finally a channel that actually talks about what the title says. Not some misleading video.

[@katowo6521]

Ohhhhh I'm a failure because I haven't got a brain

[@danjberg]

I have a buddy who worked for Technicolor and the process of color production is amazing. You missed “O Brother Where Art Thou” - color was one of the main actors!

[@SujitKumar-tr1kz]

I want this host to be my bed time story teller.

[@Dive-Bar-Casanova]

I grew up in Hollywood and neighbors were editors and technicians that worked for Tecni color. Incredibly complicated process and amazing they did it, and even more amazing they did it so well.

[@iquemedia]

It gave movies color, duh

[@Aaa-ho3sq]

Not only colour, but it gave movies life as well.

[@rrcalidguid2225]

LOL. One, the title isn't a question. Two, it's not "what technicolor changed in movies." Using the word how refers to the manner and processes of the evolution and change, not just what is the change from B&W, Sepia. to Colored. And three, producing technicolor moving pictures is a lot complicated beyond the surface value, so learning the history of the technology and the techniques used is quite interesting. That's why stating that "duh" from not colored it turned to colored is an inadequate response imo and seeing a couple comments like yours is also why I felt the urge to create a lengthy reply. Have a good day.

[@saarlevy9891]

I think you missed the point of the video, it changed the entire production process.

[@Aaa-ho3sq]

Enn Spiral, stop trying to be smart or something. The video talks about how technicolour changed movies, simply put, technicolour gave movies colours, that is how movies changed. It doesn't need to be a question. The title doesn't have to refer to the process of technicolour changing movies, it can also refer to how movies were effected by technicolour, in the title it can be translated to "in what way technicolour changed movies'. And also, it was obviously just a joke, this could be inferred by the 'duh', how oversimplified their answer was, etc.

[@jaycorbin6145]

Technicolor was the basis of the RGB scale, which is what is used in every color screen even today.

[@markspencer8800]

Another aspect that would make Technicolor films more breathtaking to watch would be the fact that they were printed on nitrate stock, which I understand is something to behold. Nitrate stock was discontinued because it was extremely flammable.

[@nbrewer667]

As we learned in Tarantino's Inglorious Basterds (and before that, Alfred Hitchcock's Sabotage).

[@summerheightshighsecret9936]

_fun fact about me:_ _when I was like 6 i once asked my mum_ *_‘back in the olden days, could you only see black and white?’_* *i’m **_so_** smart!*

[@KRAFTWERK2K6]

Something that should also be considered is that during the era of shooting films like "Gone with the Wind" or "the Wizard of Oz" the director of cinematography could not look through the camera while shooting. Only prior to shooting, pulling the focus & setting the right f-stop. Once set, they shot blind. That prism reflex viewfinder system only came much later, invented by Arnold & Richter (ARRI) Cine Technik in Germany, with the famous Arriflex system.

[@imsomewhatcertain1024]

Even though The Wizard of Oz wasn’t the first colored movie, that scene where Dorothy steps into Oz marked the beginning of a new era in movies.

[@bighands69]

It was the first major production that was on wide scale release.

[@FlOrHM]

Why in the 50s there were still films in black and white? was it because technicolor wasn't affordable?

[@Yzyenthusiast]

Flor Rangel Schindler list was released in the 90s in black and white

[@FlOrHM]

Yeah I mean obviously it's for aesthetic and other cinematic porpouses, but if that was a trend back then I guess filiming in color was like a big deal. I read somewhere it was kinda difficult and expensive, that's my question.

[@nosidezero]

The process and the cumbersome camera might be the reasons why. Cost as well.

[@Tmanaz480]

Even though the 3syrip camera was unnessary, Color was still more expensive. Only the "A" pictures got it. Or... Some directors wanted it.

[@TechnologicallyTechnical]

Flor Rangel Filming in color was still the more expensive option in the 50's/early 60's

[@pcallas66]

There was really a lot of thought and time that went into this, but it was definitely worth it. Thank you for sharing.

[@zohaibkazi4105]

Short summary for those who should probably be studying. Movies were not in color before, than they became in color so they look nicer.

[@Rilumai]

*"than they became in color so they look nicer."* Are you implying that black and white films don't look nice?? Because they look gorgeous.

[@seanodonnell429]

I know we've come a long way since three-strip technicolor, but once I understood the science behind the color absorption and combinations, I couldn't help but think how genius this technology was, especially for the time. I know that the actual process was tedious and time consuming, but the basic concept is so simple and yet so incredibly brilliant.

[@natalijaj3309]

Imagine learning things like this in school. I just purely enjoy watching these. So amazing

[@danidejaneiro8378]

There were NOT evil trees in the Wizard of Oz. There were trees who were appropriately miffed at some random entitled white girl who physically assaulted them to satisfy her own urges and who then shamed the victims into complicity. Or something.

[@Jackson-sr7ms]

Well okay then

[@JeffDeWitt]

Well.. the trees weren't evil, they were just grumpy.

[@allrock1238]

"Oren Lions on the Wizard Of Oz" (a well respected first nations leader in the haudenosaunee nation) speaks upon some of the understory root angles.. nature was portrayed as the enemy by the writer as well as charters in the story representing figures in our world. have independently confirmed these intensions by the story writer..

[@marcpeterson1092]

PC much?

[@BlaBla-jj6sh]

@@marcpeterson1092 Sarcasm.

[@GrahamGibby]

I really enjoy Phil's style - careful, not fast, and at a conversational volume level.

[@stylus59]

I think Walt Disney's Flowers and Trees inspired Cuphead.

[@shoepixie]

stylus59 in part, yes! Cuphead was inspired by all the old animations of that period and style.

[@shrimpbisque]

It got more inspiration from Max Fleischer's stuff, I think. Watch "Swing, You Sinners" and you'll see what I mean.

[@MattMcIrvin]

A lot of things inspired Cuphead. It's definitely 1930s style animation.

[@jaredmclaren5571]

Hahaha it made me immediately think of the flower boss from Cuphead as soon as I saw it

[@KRAFTWERK2K6]

@ Stylus59: Yes, partially. It was ONE of the animations which inspired the creators of Cuphead. Especially a lot of the 1930s Fleischer Studios cartoons.

[@karlbroderickmusic]

ive also envisaged how this scene from b & w to colour affected audiences at the time. It still makes me hold my breath and savour every second.

[@wyohman00]

This is the first time I've ever heard anybody say, "Sigh-n". I've always heard it as "Sigh-Ann". Anyone?

[@embott1]

I finally understand the black and white key layer. Thank you!!!

[@AudieHolland]

Even with all the additional information about the famous doorway shot, I think that scene is pure movie magic.

[@amondhawes-khalifa1949]

Answer: It added color to them. Where's my medal?

[@provingyouwrongdaily8795]

Amond Hawes-Khalifa Damn son you genius

[@daffidavit]

"Forbidden Planet" was filmed in Technicolor. The cartoon type visual special effects were created by at least four "borrowed" artists from Walt Disney. You can see their credits after the film. What was amazing about "Forbidden Planet" was not just the beautiful and uniquely creative special visual effects, filmed in Technicolor, but also the fact that the movie had no "music" during its score. Of all the sounds you hear during the movie, none were created by musical instruments. Louis and Bebe Barron, a husband and wife team experimented with electronic circuit boards by inducing an overload of electric current into them. They took circuit boards with tubes, capacitors, and resisters and other electrical components and hooked them up to an oscilloscope and an audio receiver. Then they would overload the boards until they "fried" them and caused "electronic tones" as a result which they were able to record. They placed their recorded "Electronic Tonalities" into a tape recorder and manipulated the sounds the got. They cut an pasted the tape recordings so many times it took them eight months just to create the "electronic tonalities" score we hear from the beginning until the end of this most groundbreaking movie. The sounds became later the basis for the Moog Synthesizer. It's quite possible I've gotten some of my facts wrong. So if anybody is interested, there is a KZbin video with Bebe Barron explaining how she and her husband created the "electronic tonalities" for the "Technicolor" movie entitled "Forbidden Planet". Here is a short link for a sample of their "music". kzbin.info/www/bejne/p5uZnYh5a7BnjLM&start_radio=1

[@davmar9923]

You are basically correct about "Forbidden Planet", but the discourse about the soundtrack is completely off topic for this page.

[@daffidavit]

@@davmar9923 We frequently go "off topic". After all, this is YT, not a sophisticated source of intellectual exchange, which btw was the impetus for the internet. But I digress by going "off topic". That's the beauty of TY. We can say what we want when we want to. Anybody who wishes to have a TY diatribe must have the skin of an alligator,, otherwise, they will not survive using this medium.

[@totaltjefflamorker]

Hey, that's duplo

[@Vox]

As I was editing this video, I knew this would come up and I was kicking myself the entire time. Then I quietly wept while playing with my Duplo friends. -Phil

[@driverisaac4806]

#AFOL #TRIGGERED

[@AwesomeVidzChannel]

Duplo is made by LEGO, so it technically is a LEGO man.

[@MgarrKid]

10:32 holding on to the song for a few seconds more would've been the perfect ending and done this magnificent documentary justice....

[@kennhern]

All I remember about this is watching it with Dark Side of the Moon playing in the background.

[@bobbyslater1198]

LOL, we watched it to Jethro Tull's "Think As A Brick".

[@michaelwatson113]

In the 1950's just as Technicolor was declining in popularity, along came colour television. David Sarnoff at RCA used much of the theory and practice for the colour tv camera.

[@mumiemonstret]

Please drop the "Screen blend mode" thing you seem to love that makes all the still images look like my monitor has severe burn-in! Extremely disruptive to otherwise excellent content.

[@Shaurya_Pant]

So which movie would actually be considered as first Technicolor film?

[@artistmac]

Full-length would be RKO's "Becky Sharp" (1935)

[@nightfly2893]

4:18 These films look like they were made yesterday. Crazy.

[@karinam3475]

I didn't even watch the video yet and I liked it. 😂 Y'all should make a video about languages

[@sorenbros5672]

This is a much needed video!

[@sirpsychosussy]

Do you know, I've never understood why people never like watching a TV show or a film in black and white or sepia. For me, it adds to the film. I think it makes it look a bit more charming.

[@viteksvoboda]

The outro? Nice. Amazing video, thanks

[@Robin_Glader]

I tought 1977's Susperia was the last technicolor film.

[@CapitainBeefhartfanO]

It was, but in America, The Godfather part 2 was their last Technicolor processed movie

[@mksabourinable]

What I find kinda neat is that a style that's really popular in digital art right now is where you make it look like your piece's colours have been poorly lined up. Like the greens, reds, and/or blues are just slightly off from the main linework/imagery. (Just using red and blue is the most popular, and it's usually just that the dark tones have a slight red shadow on one side, and blue on the other.) This is usually used for dark subject matter, because the piece itself often ends up having high contrasted imagery. This is often evoking the aesthetic of old worn out recordings, especially tv broadcasts. I just find that interesting that even in our modern age where clean and accurate colouring is extremely simple and easy, people just _like_ the aesthetic so much that they purposefully go out of their way to make their work look like that. (If you want an example of a non-still piece/work that does this, the anime Servamp uses this effect A LOT.)

[@wolzie8075]

When I said I want a camera I meant I want that beast camera

[@unclemarksdiyauto]

Very interesting and well thought out video! Thanks for all the hard work!

[@purrbox7514]

I love the technicolor look those old movies look so warm and full of character, it's amazing that technicolor still lives on today thanks to filters in apps such as instagram.

[@SRBAnimate]

1:10 OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH OHHHHHH OHHHHHHHH! OOOOOHHHHHH!!!!!

[@frankprovasek5394]

It's useful in understanding that Technicolor is a PROCESS to point out that the cameras used 3 reels of black and white film.

[@sorenkair]

shoulda mentioned pleasantville. god that movie was great.

[@harrisassment8937]

Yeah. But it had nothing to do with technicolor...

[@GamingMuchTerry]

Vox really is an amazing channel. You always inform and educate me - even though I was one of the people who knew The Wizard of Oz wasn't the first colour film :) But after seeing this film almost 100 times, I had no idea it hadn't gone from BW film to colour and I'm really glad I learned that today.

[@garyking4032]

I find it interesting that some of those old movies are so saturated, yet the trend for most modern movies is more of a desat look (except anything from Micheal Bay!). Nowadays there's a distinctly different 'video' (saturated, sharp, contrasty) and 'cinematic' look (generally the opposite and with more dynamic range). I wonder how that came about?

[@lobsterbark]

Its probably one of those stupid Hollywood memes. Its such a tiny, insulated community that many ideas stick around for a long time for no reason other than nobody gets exposed to anything different. Sorta like the shakey cam effect. Everyone hates it and it only makes sense to contrast against films that don't have it, but its still in basically every movie of the last decade or two.

[@Axel230]

That's actually because of the switch to digital cameras in place of film. The digital cameras capture and output the widest range of shades and colors possible in raw format in order for editors to have more control over the color range of the final product in production. Unfortunately, most of the time instead of choosing a more narrow and defined color range they end up just using the raw footage and thus things look grey and murky (Or "gritty"? You know, so people take their job more seriously, after all dark=artsy! Right?).

[@garyking4032]

I disagree. Anyone's who's at a high enough level to use raw footage will be grading it, and even if they're not using a specialist grading package, they'll definitely be using one of the standard editors... All of which have simple contrast/saturation sliders along with the more detailed grading tools. I think it's more to do with trying to make things look 'cinematic' - traditionally cinema wasn't particularly sharp, and the use of a projector adversely affected the ability to have high levels of contrast or saturation. The black levels on film were generally higher (because film can fade), and had an organic grain in the shadows. So now everyone's trying to emulate that - just look at work from someone like Philip Bloom - you'll see raised black levels, added grain, a film-like colour space, and often an aspect ratio designed to mimic cinema as opposed to 4:3 or 16:9... After all, a lot of those old films were shot with anamorphic glass, and everyone's trying to recreate those old looks even at the lower budgets (check out Tito Ferrandis youtube stuff and the Amorphot adapters.

[@whatwedointheshadows3349]

what? consumer dslrs shoot in raw.

[@annaclares3318]

Gary King Ah, Michael Bay fascinates me! Here's an interesting video about why his film style is so unique: kzbin.info/www/bejne/aIWrh6mpndukZrM It's called "What is 'Bayhem'?" and it talks about how Bay sets up and shoots scenes in such a way that makes them BIGGER and more *dramatized* and whatnot (not to say that I'm a fan of that style, I just find it interesting how it happens).

[@onyx8231]

During the color reveal, if you look at the size of the doorknob you can get an idea of how HUGE that door actually was.

[@gotisc]

My brother-in-law first saw this film on a black and white TV. He didn't know what he missed until he was an adult.

[@wackywong]

Only seceded 200 years ago from Britain and already writing "colour" without an "u". You Americans are such rebels.

[@xyd1231]

wackywong blame webster

[@jslasher1]

... and stupid. No Webster, no switching the knife and fork, no Fahrenheit, no month/day/year, no fall for autumn, no circumcision. Get it?

[@Blahbevava]

Hey we said F*** "U" and we meant it! lol

[@2adamast]

There was some logic where messing up _couleur_ to _colour_

[@ZZ-sb8os]

Vox your production values are second to none. Outstanding

[@Scripture-Man]

The video contained some interesting trivia, but I found the editing and delivery somewhat pretentious and self-important.

[@AnjayKm]

Great video Vox!

[@ron101346]

For dramatic color, the best 3-strip Technicolor movie was The Adventures of Robin Hood a year earlier than Oz (1938) . For comparison, check out the best 2-strip Technicolor movie, the fully restored King of Jazz (1930).

[@commentfreely5443]

now i know what the opposite of red is.

[@FlyAVersatran]

Really, really good. Thanks, Paul.

[@robinpratt1516]

The unnecessary and endless music track is totally annoying.