Colour in cinema Literature review Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Colour in cinema - Literature review Example ram (2008) argued that the use of colour in cinema has become a preferred and more acceptable part of the viewing audience as against the use of monochrome. In line with the acceptability that has been attached to the use colour in cinema, several theories and concepts have been developed about what different forms of colour represents and how these can best be used to send the right meanings to the viewing audience. This literature review therefore attempts to answer the critical question of how best the multiplicity of colour can be managed in cinema to send the right meaning to audience. Street (2012) noted that the history of colour in motion picture in Britain can be traced as far back as 1899 when Edward Raymond Turner patented a colour additive system in England. However, it was not until 1902 that the additive colour system was tested. This shows that the very first cases of colour in motion pictures in Britain started in the form of additive colour when colour was externally created by mixing the light of two or more different colours (Katz, 1991). The first additive colour system by Turner was regarded by many as complex and so a more simplified version was created by George Albert Smith, which saw commercial success in 1909 (Bordwell & Kristin, 2004). In the study by Street (2012) however, her emphasis was on how the concept of colour in motion pictures was embraced in its early forms in Britain. This is because according to her, the idea of black-and-white films had been with the people for long and was considered superior and natural in state than the earl iest forms of colour films. However, with time, film makers and the audience saw colour films as a way of developing the unique British aesthetic (Jamilla, 2008). It is not surprising that by 1930, there had been several innovators and inventors who had produced films that demonstrated remarkable experimentation and quality through the use of colour (Street, 2012). As colour films have become a part