The use of colour in early filmic images

From cinema’s very origins, colourhas always been a key feature, appearing inboth the first moving pictures produced forentertainmentwith pre-cinema devices and early film. Images were initially colourised by applying colour directly to eachindividualframe, whether ofpaper, glass,or celluloid film(Mannoni and Pesenti Campagnoni, 2009).Over time, thesecolour images have come to bear inestimable value due to their uniquestatus as the output of themost amazing technical and artistic experiment ever made. Colour–produced using a variety of mediums from pigment to digital technologies –has fulfilledmultiplerolesthroughoutthe history of cinema. For example, colour plays an important part in the narrative dimensionof filmbyoffering viewersan additionalcode forinterpretingthe content and space-time location of a givenscene. Early colour productions include Pauvre Pierrotfrom1892 and Autour d'une Cabine from1894, both made by Émile Reynaud,the French pioneer of animated film. In the same period, leading early filmmakers,includingthe brothersAugusteand Louis Lumière, Georges Méliès,Thomas Alva Edisonand thePathéFrères,were among the first to make colour movies. These films require carefulconservation, which is difficult to maintain over the long term. It has become crucial to digitize valuable early works as our conservationstrategy going forward.