The Prizma Color system was a color motion picture process, invented in 1913 by William Van Doren Kelley and Charles Raleigh. Initially, it was a two-color additive color system, similar to its predecessor, Kinemacolor. However, Kelley eventually transformed Prizma into a

bi-pack color In bipack color photography for motion pictures, two strips of black-and-white 35 mm film, running through the camera photographic emulsion, emulsion to emulsion, are used to record two regions of the color visible spectrum, spectrum, for the p ...

system that itself became the predecessor for future color processes such as Multicolor and

Cinecolor Cinecolor was an early subtractive color-model two-color motion picture process that was based upon the Prizma system of the 1910s and 1920s and the Multicolor system of the late 1920s and the 1930s. It was developed by William T. Crispinel and ...

Experimental

Prizma gave a demonstration of color motion pictures in 1917 that used an additive four-color process, using a disk of four filters acting on a single strip of

panchromatic Panchromatic emulsion is a type of black-and-white photographic emulsion that is sensitive to all wavelengths of visible light. Description A panchromatic emulsion renders a realistic reproduction of a scene as it appears to the human eye, altho ...

film in the camera. The colors were red, yellow, green, and blue, with overlapping wavelengths to prevent pulsating effects on the screen with vivid colors. The film was photographed at 26 to 32 frames per second, and projected at 32 frame/s. The disk used in projection consisted mainly of two colors, red-orange and blue-green, adapted to the four-color process by the superimposition of two small magenta filters over one of the red sectors and two similar blue filters over one of the blue-green sectors. ''Motion Picture News'' reported, :The results by this process are characterized by extreme delicacy of color, and subdued shades are most admirably rendered.… The blue-green element of the projecting filter appears to favor the blue rather than the green, and as a result, skies and water are well reproduced. We have not noticed anything approaching a true green in any of the subjects so far exhibited, although this is probably by reason of the fact that no prominent greens existed in the subjects photographed. Yellow is not in evidence in the current Prizma films, although a wide variety of warm tones are apparent, ranging from chestnut-brown to a deep red-orange. Colors in full saturation are hardly within the scope of this process."The Prizma Process of Color Photography", ''Motion Picture News'' (1917), p. 1890.

Prizma I (additive)

The first commercial system of Prizma was similar to Kinemacolor in that the camera took alternating frames of red-orange and blue-green colors through color filters placed within the camera's shutter. Projection involved running a colored disc again in synchronization with the black and white color record film, and through persistence of vision, the two frames combined on the screen to form a color image. The first film shown in Prizma color was the feature ''

Our Navy Our or OUR may refer to: * The possessive form of " we" * Our (river), in Belgium, Luxembourg, and Germany * Our, Belgium, a village in Belgium * Our, Jura, a commune in France * Office of Utilities Regulation (OUR), a government utility regula ...

'' at the 44th Street Theatre in New York City on 23 December 1917. General reception to the system was positive, but the rotating filter wheel technique proved impractical. To counteract the issue of having a special projector with a filter wheel, Kelley began tinting alternate frames of his film red and green. However, fringeing, flicker, and light loss were major issues which plagued not only Prizma, but also all of the other additive systems of the Kinemacolor nature. In counteracting this, Kelley had filed a patent in February 1917 which proved to be the foundation of Prizma's second color system.

Prizma II (subtractive)

On 28 December 1918, Kelley announced that Prizma would release a color film (usually a short) every week, a film which would be projectable on any standard projector. Kelley's idea was two years in the making, but was a valid one which became the springboard for all future color systems to follow — two films were filmed simultaneously with a camera of his own design. One strip was sensitive to red-orange, the other to blue-green (

cyan Cyan () is the color between green and blue on the visible spectrum of light. It is evoked by light with a predominant wavelength between 490 and 520 nm, between the wavelengths of green and blue. In the subtractive color system, or CMYK color ...

). Both negatives were processed and printed on duplitized film, and then each emulsion was toned its complementary color, red or blue. The final result was a color image that was subtractive in nature — no flicker and a bright projection. But as a result of the way the camera was designed, a constant fringe was apparent, as the strips were being recorded side-by-side. In January 1919, this new process was premiered at the Rivoli Theatre in New York City with the short ''Everywhere With Prizma''. Kelley, based in

Jersey City, New Jersey Jersey City is the second-most populous city in the U.S. state of New Jersey, after Newark.Hugo Riesenfeld and so did business with Samuel Roxy Rothafel's Roxy Theaters chain, which the Rivoli was part of. In February 1921, another Prizma film, ''Bali, the Unknown'' was premiered at Roxy's Capitol Theatre in New York. The four-reel feature garnered lukewarm reviews, but enough positive audience response that more films were produced in the system. The Prizma process only took off in 1922, when

J. Stuart Blackton James Stuart Blackton (January 5, 1875 – August 13, 1941) was a British-American film producer and director of the silent era. One of the pioneers of motion pictures, he founded Vitagraph Studios in 1897. He was one of the first filmmakers to ...

Vitagraph Studios Vitagraph Studios, also known as the Vitagraph Company of America, was a United States motion picture studio. It was founded by J. Stuart Blackton and Albert E. Smith in 1897 in Brooklyn, New York, as the American Vitagraph Company. By 1907, ...

shot his feature film '' The Glorious Adventure'' in Prizma. The film, starring

Diana Manners Diana, Viscountess Norwich (née Lady Diana Olivia Winifred Maud Manners; 29 August 1892 – 16 June 1986) was an English actress and aristocrat who was a well-known social figure in London and Paris. As a young woman, she moved in a celebrat ...

and Victor McLaglen, premiered in April 1922 to lukewarm success in the US, but much appeal in the UK. With the prestige of a Vitagraph production, Prizma was considered the apex of color photography at that point in motion picture producers' minds. Prizma sued the

Technicolor Corporation Technicolor is a series of color motion picture processes, the first version dating back to 1916, and followed by improved versions over several decades. Definitive Technicolor movies using three black and white films running through a special ...

in September 1922 on the grounds that Technicolor was infringing upon Prizma's patents. However, Prizma eventually lost the case. In April 1923,

Robert Flaherty Robert Joseph Flaherty, (; February 16, 1884 – July 23, 1951) was an American filmmaker who directed and produced the first commercially successful feature-length documentary film, ''Nanook of the North'' (1922). The film made his reputatio ...

took both a black-and-white camera and a Prizma color camera to Samoa, hoping to film part of his documentary film '' Moana'' (1925) in that process, but the Prizma camera malfunctioned and no color footage was shot. (''Moana'' became famous as the second feature film shot using

black-and-white film rather than

orthochromatic In chemistry, orthochromasia is the property of a dye or stain to not change color on binding to a target, as opposed to metachromatic stains, which change color. The word is derived from the Greek '' orthos'' (correct, upright), and chromatic (c ...

Work in 3D film

With

Harry K. Fairall Harry K. Fairall (May 14, 1882 – July 20, 1958) was an American camera operator, inventor and producer, and founder of the Binocular Stereoscopic Film Company, of Loas Angeles, California. He is known for his effort to establish stereoscopic mov ...

and Robert F. Elder's 3D feature, '' The Power of Love'', opening 27 September 1922 in Los Angeles and the December 1922 unveiling of Laurens Hammond's

Teleview Teleview was a system for projecting stereoscopic motion pictures invented by Laurens Hammond, best known as the inventor of the Hammond organ. It made its public debut on 27 December 1922 at the Selwyn Theatre in New York City, the only theater ...

system in New York City, Kelley used his Prizma camera for

stereoscopic Stereoscopy (also called stereoscopics, or stereo imaging) is a technique for creating or enhancing the depth perception, illusion of depth in an image by means of stereopsis for binocular vision. The word ''stereoscopy'' derives . Any stere ...

purposes. As his camera took side-by-side pictures, Kelley mounted a set of prisms on his rig, thus expanding his point of convergence, and utilized his red/blue color system to make an anaglyphic print of his product. His final product was the first of ''Kelley's Plasticon Pictures'' entitled ''Movies of the Future'', which was premiered at the Rivoli on 24 December 1922. The film consisted largely of shots of New York City, including Times Square,

the New York Public Library The New York Public Library (NYPL) is a public library system in New York City. With nearly 53 million items and 92 locations, the New York Public Library is the second largest public library in the United States (behind the Library of Congress) ...

, and Luna Park. Based on the success of ''Movies of the Future'', Kelley had his chief photographer, William T. Crispinel, shoot another short film entitled ''Through the Trees — Washington D.C.'' in the spring of 1923. The film was not shot with the Prizma rig — which was being used by Flaherty in Samoa — but with one designed by

Frederic E. Ives Frederic Eugene Ives (February 17, 1856 – May 27, 1937) was a U.S. inventor who was born in Litchfield, Connecticut. In 1874–78 he had charge of the photographic laboratory at Cornell University. He moved to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where ...

, a technician specializing in 3D photography. Although the short was technically shot better, Riesenfeld rejected it because it did not have the 3D gimmicks that the recent films of that nature included.

Decline

The last few years of Prizma were somewhat fruitful. Samuel Goldwyn produced '' Vanity Fair'' (1923) in Prizma, and

D. W. Griffith David Wark Griffith (January 22, 1875 – July 23, 1948) was an American film director. Considered one of the most influential figures in the history of the motion picture, he pioneered many aspects of film editing and expanded the art of the na ...

utilized the process in a couple of his films, including a scene in '' Way Down East'' (1920). ''

Flames of Passion ''Flames of Passion'' (1922) was a British silent film drama directed by Graham Cutts, starred Mae Marsh and C. Aubrey Smith. The film was made by the newly formed Graham-Wilcox Productions company, a joint venture between Cutts and producer H ...

'' (1922), directed by Graham Cutts and starring Mae Marsh and C. Aubrey Smith; ''The Virgin Queen'' (1923), directed by

; and ''

I Pagliacci ''Pagliacci'' (; literal translation, "Clowns") is an Italian opera in a prologue and two acts, with music and libretto by Ruggero Leoncavallo. The opera tells the tale of Canio, actor and leader of a commedia dell'arte theatrical company, who mu ...

'' (1923), co-starring

Lillian Hall-Davis Lillian Hall-Davis (23 June 1898 – 25 October 1933) was an English actress during the silent film era, featured in major roles in English film and a number of German, French and Italian films. Born Lilian Hall Davis, the daughter of a London ...

, were all UK productions with one reel filmed in Prizma. One of the last films using Prizma was '' Venus of the South Seas'' (1924), starring Annette Kellerman, where Prizma was used for one reel of a 55-minute film. ''Venus'' was restored by the Library of Congress in 2004. In 1928, Prizma was bought by Consolidated Film Industries and was reintroduced as Magnacolor (and later Trucolor). Kelley, who held many patents in color photography, sold his patents and equipment to

, which benefited from Kelley's advanced printing techniques. Ironically, Cinecolor was co-founded by Kelley's former photographer, William T. Crispinel.

List of films made in Prizma Color

References

{{reflist

External links

*Prizma I and II o
''Timeline of Historical Film Colors''
with primary and secondary sources, patents, and photographs of historical film prints.
List of Prizma films at the IMDb (incomplete)
* U.S. Patent
Method of Producing Colored Photographic Images
filed 1914. The patent describes systems using two-color or three-color filter wheels.broken link * U.S. Patent
Film or the Like for Color Photography
filed 1914.broken link Audiovisual introductions in 1913 Film and video technology History of film Motion picture film formats