Chromatic Cinema: A History of Screen Color

251 Pages·2010·12.546 MB·English

by  Richard Misek

Chromatic
Cinema
A History of Screen Color
Richard Misek
A John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., Publication
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Chromatic Cinema
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99778811444444333322339911__11__pprreettoocc..iinndddd iiii 11//2222//22001100 1100::1144::2299 AAMM
Chromatic
Cinema
A History of Screen Color
Richard Misek
A John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., Publication
99778811444444333322339911__11__pprreettoocc..iinndddd iiiiii 11//2222//22001100 1100::1144::2299 AAMM
This edition first published 2010
© 2010 Richard Misek
Blackwell Publishing was acquired by John Wiley & Sons in February 2007. Blackwell’s publishing
program has been merged with Wiley’s global Scientific, Technical, and Medical business to form
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Misek, Richard, 1971–
Chromatic cinema : a history of screen color / by Richard Misek.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-4443-3239-1 (hardcover : alk. paper)
1. Color cinematography–History. 2. Colors in motion pictures. I. Title.
TR853.M57 2010
778.5′342–dc22
2009037084
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
Set in 10.5/13pt Minion by SPi Publisher Services, Pondicherry, India
Printed in Singapore
01 2010
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To Marcus, for the motivation
To mum, for everything else
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Contents
List of Plates ix
Acknowledgments xi
Introduction 1
1. Film Color 14
Coloration in Early Cinema, 1895–1927 14
The Rise of Technicolor, 1915–35 25
Chromatic Cold War: Black-and-White
and Color in Opposition 29
“Technicolor Is Natural Color”: Color and Realism,
1935–58 35
Chromatic Thaw: Hollywood’s Transition to Color,
1950–67 41
2. Surface Color 50
Color in European Film, 1936–67 50
Chromatic Ambivalence: Art Cinema’s Transition
to Color 57
“Painting with Light”: Cinema’s Imaginary Art History 65
Unmotivated Chromatic Hybridity 68
Monochrome Purgatory: Absent Color in the Soviet Bloc,
1966–75 77
3. Absent Color 83
Black-and-White as Technological Relic, 1965–83 83
Black-and-White Flashbacks: Codifying Temporal Rebirth 89
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