New-York tribune., 1921-06-05
Tintingg Film Plays
With Natures Color
is No Easy Matter

Nearly every man who is interested
in motion pictures is interested in
color in motion pictures. From their
inception the far-sighted producer has
known of the tremendous asset which
nature held and has tried to reproduce
her colors on the screen. At first he
was forced to tint and tone scenes by
hand to relieve the monotony of black
and white pictures. Later the colcr
was produced on the screen by pro-
jecting the picture through rapidly
moving red and green screens, and re-
Gently it has been possible to actually
get the color in the film itself. Each
method, however, has had it's draw
backs and no one has so far claimed
perfection. "Colorcraft" is the new
est corporation to produce colored pic
lures. The owners and inventors of
this method promise that all the other
faults which have marred the perfec-
tion of the colored films shall be elm
mated in Colorcraft pictures.
Life of Film
Is Longer
Following are some of the reasons for
their claim: Colorcraft photographs
colors as they actually exist and repro
duces them on the curtain without any
complications or additions to the pres
ent equipment. A Colorcraft subject
can be added to any black and white
reel, replacing any scene or any part of
the play. 1t is not necessary for the
producer to sacrifice any fast action,
close-ups or combinations of colors when
using this process, as everything is
photographed the same as it is set be-
fore the camera. Colorcraft not only
| reproduces nature or artificial settings,
but prints can be manufactured with
the same accuracy as black and white
prints and the life of the film is greater
than the average black and white film.
W. H. Peck, inventor of the new meth
cd, says: "Colorcraft film can be as
sembled in any reel and projected in any
theater without the operator knowing
that it is going to be projected until he
sees the picture on the curtain. The
| light is the same, and it is not necessary
to make a single change to assist the color
projection. The older method has an
, additional disadvantage which a great
many people call prismatic, technically
known as fringe, which makes it impos-
sible to take any fast action when same
is close to the camera and which in.
stantly eliminates such a method for
dramatic production or any close-ups
where there is movement. By the Color
craft method we can take just as fast
action as is taken in black and white,
with absolutely no fringe. The color
blending is exactly the same under fast
action as it is when photographing still
objects.
No Blurring of
The Colors
"Optical principles used in the Color
craft laboratory are patented in prin-
ciple, but the kind Of glass and actual
! calculations of these optics are kept
secret. AS the optics for color photog-
raphy have never been successfully
mastered by others we found it not
only necessary to design our own color
optics, but to train men to properly
make same, as no one could be found
to do this work with proper skill. Our
printing methods are radically differ
ent from others, and in this way it is
possible to register our color values in
the film so accurately that there is no
blurring or overlapping of colors in
the finished product. Our printing
methods are purely mechanical, and it
does not require extra skilled help
The dyeing method, which selectively
picks UP the proper dyes to reproduce
natures colors, is purely mechanical
and automatic and requires no special
handling. For this reason we can turn
out duplicate prints without any ap-
preciable variation. Our dyes are fixed
in the film in proper position, just as
permanent as dye figure in silk or
other cloth. Our colors have been
selected for their stability, so there
will be no fading or reduction Of
brightness due to light.
ITO get commercially perfect
process it is necessary to handle each
part of the work in keeping with opti-
cal and chemical laws and with meth
ods and processes that are so simpli-
fed that each step fits in with every
other, and can be duplicated indea-
nitely. This is the reason Colorcrs TT
has come forward with a workable
process in advance of any other and
is now opening up wide gates Of oppor-
tunity to every one in any way con-
nected with the film industry"