Color toning film

[Luisa Ehrich]

I'm working on a 16mm project, finishing on print, and trying to explore my options for adding color tone to my prin. The project focuses on the human form so I'm hoping to attain an organic feeling with the color toning.

 

I have a good grasp on going through this process with my B&W footage but am wondering what my options are for color footage. I've considered using various inks or dyes and then sending the film through the optical printer, which is an option, but I'm also wondering what I can do with the timer at the lab. Any suggestions? Or any references for work where this has been done?

 

Thanks!

[Andres Pardo aka Gral Treegan]

I'm working on a 16mm project, finishing on print, and trying to explore my options for adding color tone to my prin. The project focuses on the human form so I'm hoping to attain an organic feeling with the color toning.

 

I have a good grasp on going through this process with my B&W footage but am wondering what my options are for color footage. I've considered using various inks or dyes and then sending the film through the optical printer, which is an option, but I'm also wondering what I can do with the timer at the lab. Any suggestions? Or any references for work where this has been done?

 

Thanks!

 

Hi Luisa!

if i understan well youre gonna paint the negative? or wanna add color grading when printing?

 

around 1904 Porter (the grate train robbery) research a system to add colour to the film called "pochoir", the result were good but the color dont have long life in this films.

 

http://library.ucsc.edu/oac/exhibits/trianon/cp.htm

 

if youre thinking in grading at the print just think that this colour adding can be done and workslise a telecine window.

 

hope the link helps.

bye!!

Treegan

[David Mullen ASC]

If you are printing b&w onto color print stock, it's easy to add a color bias or tint -- the hard part is trying to print for a neutral greytone actually. Shifting the printed image towards a color is easy.

 

It would be harder to tone the blacks (I believe old-fashioned b&w print tinting affected the highlights and toning affected the blacks) - that would require making a new dupe color negative that was flashed with colored light and then cut into the master negative.

 

See:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Film_tinting

[Christian Appelt]

This lab specialises in recreating tinting & toning of silent films:

 

Haghefilm website

 

They just did the restauration of the 1920s silent version of HAMLET starring Asta Nielsen using their own process.

 

In theory, tinting should be easy, the recipes and formulas are available in numerous books on photography, and tinting can be done in a film processing machine. Shorts lengths can be processes in a processing tank using Tetenal or Colorvir chemistry sets.

 

I wouldn't go the way of tinting/toning and printing to a color dupe. The T/T colors usually cannot be replicated and tend to change in printing, if you just want tints, talk your lab into doing a test from b/w negative to color positive, creating the tinting by changing printer light settings. I had this done for a commercial with color neg & b/w neg intercut, and the monochrome parts in the answer print looked quite psychedelic... ;)

[David Mullen ASC]

It should be quite simple to add a faint (not pyschedelic) color tint to b&w printed onto color print stock (it's hard not to get a color tint actually). I believe his project had a mix of color and b&w footage, so it probably will all get printed to one color print anyway.

 

The look of toning would be harder to replicate without creating a new color dupe neg, but again, there's no reason why the results should be garish or psychedelic -- your lab must have screwed up something. Being subtle with color tints over a monochromatic image should be simple.