Technicolor
     
 
This exercise teaches:
 


● How to transition seamlessly from gray scale to color images
● How to time shots by setting exposure, brightness, contrast, & saturation levels
● How color makes the “climate” of a Technicolor movie
● How Technicolor differed from earlier color systems such as tinting

(Instructions for Windows Movie Maker are here).
 
 
Sister Ruth: Black Narcissus
     
  1. Download these 4 shots, rendered silent here, from Black Narcissus. You will adjust them as a colorist might. Import black1.mov, black2.mov, black3.mov, and black4.mov into iMovie.  
  2. Create a new standard iMovie project. Call it "Color." Drag black1.mov into the project. Change the emotional climate using colorizing video filters. Among other filters, try this one:  
  Select>Inspector>Video Effect>Heat Wave>Done.

  
 
Rembrandt and Jack Cardiff
Belshazzar's Feast, Rembrandt (1635)
 Black1.mov with Heat Wave filter
   

  3. Drag black2.mov into the project after black1.mov. Split it into two roughly equal clips. (Control Click>Split Clip).  
  Covert the first new black2.mov clip into black and white. (Inspector>Video Effect>Black and White>Done).  
  Transition from black and white to color. Between the two new segments of black2.mov drag a 0.8 second Cross Dissolve. (Inspector>Duration>0.8).
  
  4. Drag black3.mov into the project after black2.mov. Change the emotional climate of black3.mov by modifying exposure, brightness, contrast, and saturation levels. Experiment with these settings:  
 
  (Inspector>Video>Exposure).
(Inspector>Video>Brightness).
(Inspector>Video>Contrast).
(Inspector>Video>Saturation).		  
 
  Continue experimenting with video settings in the Inspector. Modify red gain, blue gain, and green gain. Your color settings interpret and contextualize the action.  
 
Black Narcissus: Technicolor
Exposure 216%
 Exposure 234%
Brightness -37%
Contrast 55%
Saturation 200%		 Brightness 24%
Contrast 100%
Saturation 200%
Red Gain 200%
Green Gain 198%
Blue Gain 196%		 Exposure 124%
Brightness -8%
Contrast 26%
Saturation 200%
Red Gain 0%
Green Gain 40%
Blue Gain 179%
     
  5. Simulate the look of pre-Technicolor tinting.  
  Drag black4.mov into the movie after black3.mov. Apply the Dream video effect. (Inspector>Video Effect>Dream).  
  Using the Inspector, apply these settings to black3.mov:  
  Exposure 152%
Brightness 38%
Contrast -1%
Red Gain 200%
Blue Gain 194%		  
 
 
  You're done! Now colorize footage that you shot yourself to influence what viewers see in it.