Take a look at this shot from the trailer of John M. Chu’s upcoming $145 million adaptation of the Broadway musical Wicked.
Now, let’s compare this to Victor Fleming’s 1939 classic and Technicolour feat, The Wizard of Oz.
Following the release of the long awaited Wicked trailer, many people on the internet have flocked to criticise the way the shots come off as flat and dull, with Charlotte O’Sullivan from BBC describing Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande as looking like “undercooked pancakes”. It is understandably difficult to follow up the expectations of the 1939 film’s saturated colour palette emphasised as Dorothy steps out of her sepia filtered Kansas home into the vibrant Land of the East. However, the Wicked trailer had just added yet more fuel to the unrelenting discourse surrounding the way modern films more often than not come off as grey sludge.
Knowing Your Roots: Technicolour
One of the main reasons The Wizard of Oz manages to create such a magical and dreamlike atmosphere is due to the use of Technicolour, a process widely used during the Hollywood New Wave of cinema in the 20th century. Prior to this, filmmakers achieved colour in film by merging red and green negatives, through a process called Kinemacolor. However, this was eventually replaced by Technicolour, as it had one thing Kinemacolor did not: blue hues.
Still from A Visit to the Seaside (1908), the first successful film in colour
Achieving three-strip Technicolour was a difficult process, as an image was shot through a prism of red, blue and green negatives. Then, the negatives were printed onto matrix film, which were soaked in the negatives’ complementary colours on the CMYK colour model (cyan for red, magenta for green, and yellow for blue).
This process was revolutionary, as it allowed filmmakers to achieve bold and saturated colours for their movies, creating a lively atmosphere when needed, and enhancing the grittiness of a scene when required.
Still from Singin’ in the Rain, 1952
Still from The Godfather, 1972
The Death of Technicolour
Shooting in Technicolour meant that the sets had to be lit extremely bright to accommodate the film, with The Wizard of Oz’s set having rumoured to be over 100 degrees fahrenheit. In addition to this, running three strips of film at a time ended up making the filming process very loud, requiring the crew to soundproof the camera. The expense for the process eventually became too much, and more readily available forms of shooting movies in colour became more widely used. Eventually, the dye transfer plants for Technicolour film shut down, with Francis Ford Coppola’s The Godfather I and II (1972 and 1974) becoming two of the last major films produced in Technicolour.
Colour Grading Post Technicolour
The term “colour timing” or what is more widely known as “colour correction” in filmmaking is often done in the post-production of a movie by a colourist to create a consistent tone for the movie’s visuals. This could either be stylised, like The Matrix’s futuristic green hues, or naturalistic, like Sicario.
Early techniques of colour timing were done physically, as colourists would physically apply chemicals to film negatives to alter its colour. As technology surrounding filmmaking evolved, digital cameras eventually overtook film cameras as the choice of camera used to shoot movies. This happened for many reasons, since use of digital cameras meant production teams did not need to wait for film to develop, as well as the added bonus of digital cameras’ ability of capturing higher speed, leading to a better sensitivity to light. However, a downside of digital cameras working better in low light environments meant that the images produced were incredibly flattened, creating low saturation and contrast.
Bring Back Gaffers!
Perhaps the introduction of digital cameras and their sensitivity to light helped filmmakers easily create dark yet visible shots during night time scenes. This meant that their scenes could be more naturalistic, and they no longer needed to add unnatural light to the set in order to make their subject visible. An example of this is a comparison of two night time shots, one from Ridley Scott’s 1982 Blade Runner, and one from Denis Villeneuve’s sequel Blade Runner 2049. The front lighting which is angled directly on Harrison Ford’s face illuminates him, allowing the audience to clearly see his character’s facial expressions. The shadow created by this lighting creates depth in the frame, adding to the tension and grittiness of the film’s atmosphere. Compare this to the 2017 sequel, where although the lack of distinct lighting may seem more naturalistic to the scene, it makes it more difficult for viewers to see any details within the shot, including the character’s expression. In an age where realism seems to dominate the movie industry, Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner reminds us that a film can adhere to some non-realistic choices yet still remain gritty and serious, especially if those non-realistic choices are what makes movies special.
The shot on the left clearly distinguishes each colour from the other, contrasting each hue to create a dynamic frame, whereas the shot on the right seems much more desaturated and muted. Although that is the case in this shot of the 2017 sequel, many scenes do prove themself to be more vibrant and in line with the 1982 original.
Still from Blade Runner, 1982
Still from Blade Runner 2049, 2017
The Importance of Contrast
In Patrick (H) Willems’ video essay titled Why Do Marvel's Movies Look Kind of Ugly?, the youtuber mentions the importance of pure black values in films, and why it could be a reason behind many modern digitally produced films seem like grey sludge. When colouring in comic books, a process called “inking” is carried out, where the shadows of each picture is emphasised through ink. This meant that the other colours added on afterwards would contrast the pure black values of the drawings, enhancing the dramatic tone of the comics.
A quick look at the two Blade Runner stills from above and it is clear that the shot with a clearer pure black value (the bottom left of the frame) meant that the rest of the colours in the shot to pop and intensify the scene.
Flat Camera for the Flat Screen
Several major blockbusters these days fall victim to the same criticism: lack of colour. While it is true that the same flamboyance that Technicolour had achieved decades prior is impossible, it is disheartening to see the progression of colour grading degrade after Technicolour instead of building on a revolutionary technology. Although filmmakers such as Sam Levinson turn back to use 35mm film to create projects such as Euphoria, which are applauded for their aesthetics, directors such as Guillermo Del Toro and George Miller make it evident in their films Pacific Rim and Mad Max: Fury Road that it does not require shooting on film to create vibrant movies, but merely dedication and artistic vision in post-production. One can only hope that in the future, major film companies invest a higher percentage from their $100+million budget films into ensuring their films look less lifeless and more like a culmination of the incredible feats of movie making.
Willems, Patrick (H) “Why Do Marvel’s Movies Look Kind of Ugly? (video essay)” Youtube 17 Nov. 2016, https://youtu.be/hpWYtXtmEFQ
O’Sullivan, Charlotte “Why The Trailer for Blockbuster Musical Wicked Has Been Slammed” BBC 13 Feb. 2024, https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20240212-why-the-trailer-for-blockbuster-musical-wicked-has-been-slammed
Vox “How Technicolour Changed Movies” Youtube 1 Dec. 2017, https://youtu.be/Mqaobr6w6_I
Heckmann, Chris “What is Technicolour? Definition and History Explained” Studiobinder 22 Aug. 2021, https://www.studiobinder.com/blog/what-is-technicolor-definition/
St. James, Emily “Colors: Where did they go? An investigation.” Vox 10 Jan. 2022, https://www.vox.com/culture/22840526/colors-movies-tv-gray-digital-color-sludge
Urban, Sasha “Don’t Adjust the Brightness: Here’s Why TV and Movies Are So Dark Now” Variety 12 Mar. 2022 https://variety.com/2022/film/news/why-movies-so-dark-hard-to-see-batman-1235195535/
Comments