Brewster Color
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Brewster Color was an early subtractive color-model film process.
A two color process was invented by Percy Douglas Brewster in 1913, based on the earlier work of William Friese-Greene.{{Cite book |title=Silent Cinema |last=Cherchi Usai |first=Paolo |publisher=British Film Institute |year=2000 |page=35}} It attempted to compensate for previous methods' problems with contrast.{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NrYaytLfSJYC&pg=PA127 |title=The Way of All Flesh Tones: A History of Color Motion Picture Processes, 1895-1929 |last=Nowotny |first=Robert Allen |pages=127–129 |date=January 1, 1983 |publisher=Garland Pub. |isbn=9780824051099 |accessdate=May 29, 2015}} Brewster introduced a three color process in 1935, in an unsuccessful attempt to compete with Technicolor.
Two color process
In his first patent application, filed February 11, 1913, American inventor Percy Douglas Brewster described a new color film process:
{{quote|The exposure is made through a ray filter, preferably light yellow in color and adapted to cut off all the violet and ultra-violet rays of light. The green and blue light with the addition of some yellow, after passing through the ray filter, acts upon the panchromatic emulsion on the front of the film, while the red and orange light with some yellow passes through the film and acts upon the panchromatic emulsion on the back of the film. The color that the transparent emulsion is stained prevents the passage of a substantial amount of blue and green light through the film to act upon the panchromatic film on the back.{{cite web |url=http://zauberklang.ch/filmcolors/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/Brewster_Brewster_US000001191941A.pdf |title=Patent 1,191,941 - Color Photography |publisher=United States Patent Office |date=July 25, 1916 |accessdate=May 29, 2015}}}}
Over the next eight years, Brewster filed a series of further patents pertaining to photographic film,{{cite web |url=http://zauberklang.ch/filmcolors/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/Brewster_Brewster_US000001145968A.pdf |title=Patent 1,145,968 - Photographic Film |publisher=United States Patent Office |date=July 13, 1915 |accessdate=May 29, 2015}} film development,{{cite web |url=http://zauberklang.ch/filmcolors/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/Brewster_Brewster_US000001145968A.pdf |title=Patent 1,410,884 - Differential Development of Color Cinematographic Films |publisher=United States Patent Office |date=March 28, 1922 |accessdate=May 29, 2015}}{{cite web |url=http://zauberklang.ch/filmcolors/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/Brewster_Brewster_US000001563959A.pdf |title=Patent 1,563,959 - Printing Color Cinematographic Films |publisher=United States Patent Office |date=December 1, 1925 |accessdate=May 29, 2015}} color cinematography,{{cite web |url=http://zauberklang.ch/filmcolors/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/Brewster_Bi-pack_US000001222925A.pdf |title=Patent 1,222,925 - Film For Color Cinematography |publisher=United States Patent Office |date=April 17, 1917 |accessdate=May 29, 2015}}{{cite web |url=http://zauberklang.ch/filmcolors/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/Brewster_Brewster_US000001359025A.pdf |title=Patent 1,359,025 - Apparatus For Color Cinematography |publisher=United States Patent Office |date=November 16, 1920 |accessdate=May 29, 2015}}{{cite web |url=http://zauberklang.ch/filmcolors/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/Brewster_Brewster_US000001359024A.pdf |title=Patent 1,359,024 - Method For Color Cinematography |publisher=United States Patent Office |date=November 16, 1920 |accessdate=May 29, 2015}}{{cite web |url=http://zauberklang.ch/filmcolors/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/Brewster_Brewster_US000001752477A.pdf |title=Patent 1,752,477 - Camera For Color Cinematography |publisher=United States Patent Office |date=April 1, 1930 |accessdate=May 29, 2015}} and various improvements to the process.{{cite web |url=http://zauberklang.ch/filmcolors/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/Brewster_Brewster_US000001508916A.pdf |title=Patent 1,508,916 - Color Photography |publisher=United States Patent Office |date=September 16, 1924 |accessdate=May 29, 2015}}{{cite web |url=http://zauberklang.ch/filmcolors/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/Brewster_Brewster_US000001537524A.pdf |title=Patent 1,537,524 - Coloring or Dyeing Photographic Images |publisher=United States Patent Office |date=May 12, 1925 |accessdate=May 29, 2015}} In 1917, a patent for a method of "Coloring or Dyeing Photographic Images" was issued to Hoyt Miller, chief chemist of the Brewster Color Film Corporation, and assigned to the corporation.{{cite news |url=https://newspaperarchive.com/science-clipping-mar-26-1916-3191347/ |title=New Color Photography Process Perfected; Two Young Inventors Make Pictures in Natural Hues and Take as Many Prints as They Desire from One Exposure |work=The New York Times |pages=80, [https://newspaperarchive.com/science-clipping-mar-26-1916-3191339/ 81] |date=March 26, 1916 |access-date=2022-04-29 |via=NewspaperArchive}}{{cite web |url=http://zauberklang.ch/filmcolors/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/Miller_Brewster_US000001214940A.pdf |title=Patent 1,214,940 - Coloring or Dyeing Photographic Images |publisher=United States Patent Office |date=February 6, 1917 |accessdate=May 29, 2015}}{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xUCNBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA346 |title=History of Color Photography |last=Friedman |first=Joseph Solomon |publisher=American Photographic Publishing Co. |page=346 |year=1944 |accessdate=May 29, 2015}}
=Use in motion pictures=
Brewster's process was used for the first color animated cartoon, 1920's The Debut of Thomas Cat.{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HjmNAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA46 |title=A/V A to Z: An Encyclopedic Dictionary of Media, Entertainment, and Other Audiovisual Terms |last=Kroon |first=Richard W. |publisher=McFarland |year=2010 |isbn=9780786444052 |page=46}}{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2TEEaCrPiWsC&pg=PT326 |title=Robertson's Book of Firsts: Who Did What for the First Time |last=Robertson |first=Patrick |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |page=326 |date=November 11, 2011 |isbn=9781608197385 |accessdate=May 29, 2015}} However the production company, Bray Pictures, deemed the process to be too expensive, and did not employ it again.{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yaeJFVTedysC&pg=PA160 |title=Before Mickey: The Animated Film 1898-1928 |last=Crafton |first=Donald |publisher=University of Chicago Press |pages=160–161 |isbn=0226116670 |date=December 15, 1993 |accessdate=May 29, 2015}}
As other color processes became available, Brewster Color continued to be preferred by some filmmakers due to its relatively low cost and greater availability for small production runs. It began to fall out of use in the late 1920s, in favor of the Prizma process.{{cite web |url=http://issuu.com/nontheatrical/docs/motion_pictures_not_for_theaters |title=Motion Pictures – Not For Theatres |last=Krows |first=Arthur Edwin |work=The Educational Screen |page=152 |date=April 1941 |accessdate=May 29, 2015}}
In April 1944, a syndicate was formed to purchase the rights to the Brewster Color process and use it to produce films at studios in New York and Washington, D.C.{{cite news |url=https://archive.org/stream/filmdail85wids/filmdail85wids_djvu.txt |title=Erect First Studio Here To Make Tele Color Pix |work=Film Daily |date=April 10, 1944 |accessdate=May 29, 2015}}{{cite news |url=https://archive.org/stream/motionpicturedai55unse_0/motionpicturedai55unse_0_djvu.txt |title=Form Syndicate to Buy Color Process |work=Motion Picture Daily |date=April 7, 1944 |accessdate=May 29, 2015}} Stanley Neal, member of the syndicate and owner of its laboratory, was mainly known for the production of industrial films and advertising shorts.{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=byQ8BQAAQBAJ&pg=PA90 |title=Product Placement in Hollywood Films: A History |last=Segrave |first=Kerry |publisher=McFarland |pages=90–91 |isbn=0786419040 |date=July 13, 2004 |accessdate=May 30, 2015}}
Three color process
In 1935, Brewster introduced a three color process which added yellow tinting. Though demonstration films received praise from members of the Royal Photographic Society for their "remarkable steadiness" and "extraordinarily good reds", this method failed to meet with commercial success.
''Brewster v. Technicolor''
Brewster filed a lawsuit against Technicolor, Inc. and Technicolor Motion Picture Corporation on April 1, 1941. It sought $100,000 in damages and an injunction, stating that they had infringed on patents for a "method and apparatus for color cinematography."{{cite news |url=https://archive.org/stream/motionpicturedai49unse_0/motionpicturedai49unse_0_djvu.txt |title=Technicolor Sued Over Color Patent |work=Motion Picture Daily |date=April 2, 1941 |accessdate=May 29, 2015}} On October 7, 1941, the judge overruled defense objections to some of the plaintiff's interrogatories. This procedural decision has been cited in some subsequent cases, as "2 F.R.D. 186, 51 U.S.P.Q. 319".{{cite book |title=Federal Rules Decisions |volume=2 |page=186}}
No further public filings were made by Brewster, suggesting that the case may have been settled out of court.
See also
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- [http://zauberklang.ch/filmcolors/timeline-entry/1229/ Brewster at Timeline of Historical Film Colors]
Category:Film and video technology