The Reproduction of Colour is already used as a basis for lectures in universities and specialist institutions and continues to be an essential resource for scientists, engineers and developers needing to appreciate the technologies of colour perception.
My interest was first drawn in 1897 to experimentsthat were being made by Mr. J. D. Batten, who for two yearspreviously had attempted, and partially succeeded in making, a printfrom wood and metal blocks with colour mixed with glycerine anddextrine, the glycerine being afterwards removed by washing theprints in alcohol. As the Japanese method seemed to promise greateradvantages and simplicity, we began experiments together, using asour text-book the pamphlet by T. Tokuno, published by the SmithsonianInstitution, Washington [Ed.note], and the dextrine and glycerinemethod was soon abandoned. The edition of prints, however, of Eve andthe Serpent designed by J. D. Batten, printed by myself and publishedat that time, was produced partly by the earlier method and partly inthe simpler Japanese way.
Colour And Methods Of Colour Reproduction Ebook
Familiar as everyone is with Japanese prints, itis not generally known that they are produced by means of anextremely simple craft. No machinery is required, but only a fewtools for cutting the designs on the surface of the planks of cherrywood from which the impressions are taken. No press is used, but around fiat pad, which is rubbed on the back of the print as it lieson the blocks. The colours are mixed with water and paste made fromrice flour. The details of the craft and photographs of the toolswere given in full in the Smithsonian Institution pamphlet alreadymentioned.
Further encouragement was given to the work by theinstitution, a little later, of a class in wood-cuts in colour undermy charge, at the L.C.C. Central School of Arts and Crafts, which forseveral years became the chief centre of the movement.
On a merely superficial acquaintance the Japanesecraft of block-printing may appear to be no more than a primitivethough delicate form of colour reproduction, which modern mechanicalmethods have long superseded, even in the land of its invention; andthat to study so limited a mode of expression would be hardly of anypractical value to an artist. Moreover, the craft is under thedisadvantage that all the stages of the work, from making the firstdesign to taking the final impressions, must be done by the artisthimself - work which includes the delicate cutting of line andplanning of colour blocks, and the preparation of colour and paper.In Japan there were trained craftsmen expert in each of thesebranches of the craft, and each carried out his part under thesupervision of the artist. No part but the design was done by him. Sothat the very character of the work has an essential difference.Under our present conditions the artist must undertake the wholecraft, with all its detail.
Simple as the process is, there is, from first tolast, a long labour involved in planning, cutting and printing,before a satisfactory batch of prints is produced. After severalattempts in delegating printing to well-trained pupils I have foundit impossible to obtain the best results by that means, but thecutting of the colour-blocks and the clearing of the key-block afterthe first cutting of the line may well be done by assistantcraftsmen.
In my own opinion there is an element that alwaysremains foreign in the prints of the Japanese masters, yet I know ofno other kind of art that has the same telling value on a wall, orthe same decorative charm in modern domestic rooms as the wood -block print. A single print well placed in a room of quiet colourwill enrich and dominate a whole wall.
The modern vogue still favours more expensivealthough less decorative forms of art, or works of reproductionwithout colour, yet here is an art available to all who care forexpressive design and colour, and within the means of the largepublic to whom the cost of pictures is prohibitive. In itspossibility as a decorative means of expression well suited to ourmodern needs and uses, and in the particular charm that colour haswhen printed from wood on a paper that is beautiful already by itsown quality, there is no doubt of the scope and opportunity offeredby this art.
But as with new wine and old bottles, a newcondition of simplicity in furniture and of pure colour in decorationmust first be established. A wood-block print will not tell well amida wilderness of bric-a-brac or on a gaudy wall-paper.
From another and quite different point of view,the art of block-cutting and colour-printing has, however, a specialand important value. To any student of pictorial art, especially toany who may wish to design for modern printed decoration, no workgives such instruction in economy of design, in the resources of lineand its expressive development, and in the use and behaviour ofcolour. This has been the expressed opinion of many who haveundertaken a course of wood-block printing for this objectalone.
The same opinion is emphatically stated byProfessor Emil Orlik, whose prints are well known in modernexhibitions. On the occasion of a visit to the Kunstgewerbeschule ofBerlin, I found him conducting a class for designers for printeddecoration, in which the Japanese craft of block printing was madethe basis of their training. He held to the view that the primitivecraft teaches the students the very economy and simplicity upon whichthe successful use of the great modern resources of colour-printingdepend, yet which cannot be learnt except by recourse to simplerconditions and more narrow limitations before dealing with thegreater scope of the machine.
You do realise they are used extensively in pre production with heads of department to give you something to film, and then polished on set, and graded in post to accentuate, pull back or manipulate the colour palete decided upon in pre production
Jason, I think you've done a great job of pulling a load of colour-related ideas together. Thankyou.One area where I struggle when colour correcting - e.g. using a colour balancing effect - is knowing what colour to add/emphasize to the current colour to achieve my desired colour. If I were mixing paint I could use one of the readily available colour wheels (cardboard rotating things which show you what you get if you add one colour to another). But I don't think this works for an RGB screen. Do you have any ideas on this - ever seen some kind of app which might help reduce the amount of trial and error I have to go through?
Colour Theory in film is used to make decisions, sometimes you will go against the colour theory sometimes you will directly use it, sometimes you will create your own meaning through the events of the film for different palettes. But as a tool to tell to communicate the story colour theory and colour palettes are an invaluable tool for a director to communicate a idea or for department heads to interpret ideas.
Colour Psychology is a psuedo-science it's comparable to pre-formulated dream interpretations. You cannot assign meanings to colours which are textual abstractions not mathematical facts, its called the pathetic fallacy, in which humans attribute emotions to inanimate objects or things in the natural world (it was actually a form of art criticism developed by John Rushkin around Romanticist art). Doesn't mean we cannot evaluate colour and lighting as a poetic material just means you have to connect it to everything else and make a synthesis. I would say most of the craft regarding colour comes from intertextual research (other films, art works, specific cinematographic/photographic looks and effects) by the DIR/DOP/Poducer etc & investment/trust in the the COLOURIST who is actually doing this very nuanced job. Moreover there are just the limits of the technology that the film was made with that will be factors i.e. certain film stocks made in the 80s shot on old anamorphic lenses with certain lens coatings, with certain lights and paints from that era, telecined into oblivion, rediscovered re-scanned and re-coloured. see how deep the rabbit hole goes. 2ff7e9595c
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