When studios hired Technicolor cameras and equipment, they also hired Natalie Kalmus. During the glory days of Technicolor’s three-strip process, between 1934 and 1955, she was the colour supervisor on over 400 films, including The Wizard of Oz (1939) and Gone with the Wind (1939).
After seeing filmmakers use the earlier two-strip Technicolor process to produce “unnatural and disastrous results”, she urged filmmakers to employ “colour restraint”. Kalmus believed that colour theories used in paintings could also be used in film and encouraged filmmakers to carefully consider which colours would convey a story’s emotions and themes.
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Collection
In ACMI's collection
On display until
16 February 2031
ACMI: Gallery 1
Collection metadata
ACMI Identifier
P180331
Curatorial section
The Story of the Moving Image → Moving Pictures → MI-05. Sound and Colour → MI-05-C03
Measurements
237 x 190mm
Object Types
2D Object
Exhibition Prop
Photographic print/Pictorial
Materials
Digital print