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TECHNICOLOR
“The word ‘Technique’ appeared on the cover of the 1904 Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s year book. As a mark of respect for his old Institute, Dr Kalmus dropped the ‘que’ and replaced it with ‘Color.’”
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General Manager, Simon Wilkinson, who has been with the company three years, says the investment from Thomson has made the difference and enabled Technicolor UK to reach today’s pinnacle.
West Drayton now has four sound suites, three restoration suites, a dig- ital grading theatre and a digital online suite. Facilities on offer include Spirit 2K & 4K, Millennium, Ursa Gold, Smoke, Revival, four Arri film recorders, Avids and 40 terrabytes of storage.
Pride of place go to the custom built 30’ x 24’ Digital grading theatre,
He met and married a sales clerk, Natalie Dunfee who, although assertive and opinionated, was to become a driving force in the compa- ny. It is said, however, she made Herbert’s life hell over 50 years.
The late Freddie Young had occa- sion to remember the redoubtable Natalie. “The last reel of Victoria The Great in 1937 bursts into colour making it the first British feature to include a colour sequence,” said Freddie, who photographed the Herbert Wilcox production.
“Technicolor sent over a camera- man called Bill Skall to advise me on
Dr Kalmas dropped the “que” and replaced it with “Color”.
The company’s formative years were fascinating. Its first lab was a rail car and it was here in 1916 Technicolor Process No 1, a two com- ponent additive system was created. The following year marked the release of The Gulf Between, a two-reeler, which had its teething problems before finally being shown and acclaimed before an invited audience at New York’s Aeolian Hall.
Subsequent screenings of the film led to Kalmus abandoning the additive process and by 1922 Technicolor
The silent age was now passing but in 1928, Technicolor collaborated with Nicholas Schenk on the $325,000 musical, The Viking, its first musical, which also had sound effects. Walt Disney became an important cus- tomer of Technicolor in 1932 when he persuaded his brother Roy to use it on the Silly Symphony, Flowers And Trees, which was to win an Academy Award but also tied Technicolor to Disney on an exclu- sive basis for two years.
Each decade now produced new innovations as colour film and process- ing improved. The bulky Technicolor
which includes JBL audio monitoring, Christie 2K, and 35mm film projection. Not to be forgotten are the most
advanced film laboratories in the world, producing front end processing and bulk release printing.
A major investment has also recent- ly been opened at Perivale, where Post-Production, Anvil Sound Services, DVD Compression and Authoring and Subtitling are among facilities offered. Anvil offers top theatrical and televi- sion editorial, re-recording, Foley, ADR and mixing services.
Both sites offer digital delivery capa- bility via Sohonet and Technicolor’s own high bandwidth secure Production Network, linked to all major world-wide sister facilities. Other services include delivery via FTP, Smartjog, Digidelivery and Cypherserve.
Two further UK acquisitions for Technicolor were the prestigious Moving Picture Company in Soho, and Corinthian TV in Chiswick Park.
Founder of Technicolor, Herbert Thomas Kalmus, was born in Chelsea, Massachusetts in 1881 and studied physics and chemistry at Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
the lighting and the use of cameras, which used three negatives and were heavy and cumbersome.
“As well as Bill, who was friendly and helpful, I had to put up with Natalie Kalmus, whose title on the film was Technicolor Director. She came on to the set about twice, delivered a few disparaging remarks like, ‘I don’t like that shade of blue’, but since she was judging it without the correct lighting we weren’t very impressed with her.”
After receiving his doctorate from university, Dr Kalmus formed Kalmus, Comstock and Westcott industrial research and development council and towards the end of 1912 began the process of developing colour for motion pictures. William Coolidge, a Boston Corporate lawyer and investor, advanced the company $10,000 after viewing a test run in green and red with a camera invent- ed by Comstock.
In November 1915 Technicolor Motion Picture Corp was formed.
The word “Technique” appeared on the cover of the 1904 Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s year book. As a mark of respect for his old Institute,
Process No 2 had emerged. This created two separate relief images, which were then welded in register, dyed, dried and loaded into an especially equipped cam- era designed to let two exposures of the same scene to be made simultaneously through a single lens.
Further technical advances and an influx of money led to Technicolor’s first two- colour feature film, The Toll Of The Sea. Originally intended as a two-reeler, cameraman Ray Rennahan found the Anna May Wong starrer too good to cut and processed five reels.
Now Technicolor was beginning to be recognised amongst the Hollywood hierarchy and the critical acclaim gar- nered by The Toll Of The Sea brought Dr Kalmus and his team to the attention of such luminaries as Adolph Zukor, DW Griffith and Douglas Fairbanks.
In 1923 Technicolor’s first Hollywood lab was established, but over the next couple of years it began to dawn on the creative force that for Technicolor to reach full potential it needed the endorsement of a major star. Step forward Douglas Fairbanks with the successful swash- buckler, The Black Pirate.
cameras were phased out, development and manufacture of optical printers improved together with travelling matte.
Dr Kalmus retired in 1960 and died three years later so he was unable to witness the remarkable renaissance started in the 80s when Technicolor entered the video duplication busi- ness, responding to increased market demand for high quality digital product. After a merger with Nimbus CD Intl in 1998 it became the world’s largest independent producer.
Technicolor was sold in 1988, to Michael Green’s Carlton Communications, but its under the current owners, Thomson, that the company has experienced a massive world-wide expansion.
It has acquired premier post production houses all over the world, grown its lab facilities and extended its film, video and audio post-production services worldwide.
Technicolor might be 90, but it still has a glorious future. ■ JOHN WILLIS
Photos l-r: Roger Beck, MD Technicolor Creative Services; various digital intermedia facilities; Kishor Ladwa, Feature Sales Executive
16 • Exposure • Fuji Motion Picture And Professional Video