American Cinematographer - December 1950 - 10

New Technicolor System Tested By
Directors Of Photography
New color filming system put to rigid tests
in five major Hollywood studios. Gains in
economy and photographic quality seen.
By LEIGH ALLEN

FIRST IMPORTANT photographic tests made of the
new Technicolor system were filmed at M.G.M. by
Charles Rosher, A.S.C. (left), under direction of George
Sidney (right), using keylight of 150 foot candles.

ing to Arnold, was to develop a system
that would enable studios to photograph
Technicolor interiors entirely with lowlevel, unfiltered incandescent light in¬
stead of arc light.
This led first to a revision by Techni¬
color in the emulsion characteristics of

OLLOWING the general announcement

by Technicolor Motion Picture Cor¬
poration of its new low light level photo¬
graphic system, a demonstration of some
of the tests photographed by five Holly¬
wood studios with the new system was
given before members of the American
Society of Cinematographers on Novem¬
ber 6th. The test footage screened was
photographed by director of photography
Charles Rosher, A.S.C., at MetroGoldwn-Mayer studios; by Arthur Arling, A.S.C., director of photography
at 20th Century-Fox studios; and by
Charles Boyle, A.S.C., director of pho¬
tography at Universal-International stu¬
dios. The tests photographed at Warner
Brothers and at Paramount studios were
unavailable for screening at this meeting.
Initial photographic research on the
system began at MGM, under the di¬
rection of John Arnold, A.S.C. One of
the largest single users of Technicolor,
this studio considered it to their interest
to explore the possibilities of materially
reducing photographing costs when film¬
ing in color, a substantial item of which

the film used in the camera, a step
which led naturally to the next-an im¬
portant technical change in the optical
system of Technicolor cameras. The
final major step involved changes and
improvements in the Technicolor film
processing procedure. Thus, the whole
new process involves and depends upon
a chain of improvements, each dependent
upon the other.

of lighting units normally used. The
"old" method of Technicolor photog¬
raphy demanded a working illumination

tion is that filtering through the win¬

were extinguished, the keylight dropped

no more light than is generally used for
black and white pictures. To accomplish
this would mean that MGM, and other
studios, would be able to produce more

to 30 foot candles in the closeup of the
girl. At all times the illumination is
adequate, well distributed, and obviously
carries to the depths required by the set.

pictures

terially adding to production costs. The

The second set was a low-key church
interior. The girl is kneeling before the

main objective at the beginning, accord¬

altar

ma¬

AMERICAN CINEMATOGRAPHER

(Continued on Page 4.24.)

dows from out of doors. The keylight
for this set was 100 foot candles. With
regular Technicolor it would have been
400 foot candles. When the room lights

of around 400 to 500 foot candles.
The objective was to find a means for
shooting Technicolor, using if possible

without

According to Rosher, he began these
tests on a purely experimental basis; he

The tests photographed by Rosher
consisted of three sequences of scenes
staged and directed by George Sidney,
and utilized three different sets. The
first was a bedroom scene in which a
girl enters, bids her escort goodbye at
the door, then retires, turning out the
room lights so that the only illumina¬

Technicolor

The third set was a full day exterior
of a garden with the girl singing- first
in closeup, then in medium and long
shots as she alternated between dancing
then sitting on the garden wall. Keylight for these shots was 100 foot candles
with cross lights of 125 foot candles.

For the director of photography, the
new Technicolor system involves no im¬
portant change in procedure other than
the use of incandescent instead of arc
light, as at present. Most of those
present during screening of the test films
expressed the view that the new Techni¬
color system rendered a more pleasing
overall tone, less harsh than the current
Technicolor system.

involves the lighting and set operation
time required to place the great number

alternates between closeup and medium
shot. Keylight for this sequence was 75
foot candles. A marked pictorial effect
was that of the vari-colored light from
the stained glass windows falling on
floor of the church behind the girl.

and

facing

the

DECEMBER, 1950

camera.

Camera

"OUR INITIAL tests," said
raphy Arthur Arling, A.S.C.
a need at this time for a
for set illumination for the

Fox's director of photog¬
(behind camera), "prove
good 1000-watt CP lamp
new system."

American Cinematographer - December 1950

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