Seraphim Arlievsky
- New York University
Escape from the Kingdom of Shadows: Color in Silent Film (78 min)
In 1896, following a presentation of the Lumiere cinematograph, the Russian writer Maxim Gorky described the moving images he saw as a “Kingdom of Shadows,” representing “not life but its shadow,” a world of “ashen grey” that “invade(s) your mind and your consciousness begins to wane and grow dim…” Theorists as varied as Eisenstein, Bazin and Metz agreed that the basic material of the cinema was an impression of reality, the point of discussion centered on how the material is to be treated. But it was a grey shadow of reality, as Gorky noted, its mystique stemming from the uncanny valley effect of this filtered mirror. Film captured the rays of light at a particular moment in time, and so reconstructed an impression of a specific moment. The art of the cinema constitutes an effort to expand and construct a sequence from these moments, the raw material being transformed into a meaningful work. With montage and other effects, the uncanny valley can be filled. Gorky’s “Kingdom of Shadows” is separated from reality by a plurality of factors, but chief among them are the two-dimensionality of the cinema (the fact that if one turns away for a moment the illusory nature of the film image becomes obvious), the lack of sound, and the lack of color.
Since the technology for virtual reality was too far in the future, the silent era saw numerous attempts to incorporate sound and color into film. While much has been said about the use of music and sound effects in silent film, the use of color in this period is not as prevalent in our cultural memory. Sound appears to have been the most important of the three aforementioned aspects, as, when synchronized, it closely ties the image to a soundscape and a specific reality, even without color or a third dimension. However, color can be played with if the image is not tied to an audial reality. Indeed, color in silent film often exacerbates the uncanny valley, and creates a more mysterious, esoteric cinema. Without a voice, the screen images gain a surreal, ghostly feeling. After all, color is completely subjective, depending entirely on lighting, but sound is more easily measured. Lack of sound gives film a surreal, ethereal quality. Color in this context creates a unique aesthetic that is not often seen.
This program presents a number of silent films which represent various methods of incorporating color into film and display an uncanny, mystical effect stemming from silent color films. Development of methods for creating color film, from hand-painting individual frames to the more modern dye system later adopted, can be traced through these short films, as well as color’s thematic engagement; elevating the magical elements of a fantasy, heightening the documentation of important locales, and amplifying a call to war.
La fee carabosse (1906), a typically creative short from the French magician Georges Melies, exhibits one of the earliest attempts at film colorization. Each frame was painstakingly hand-painted by workers in Melies’s studio, the bright colors augmenting the fantastical elements on screen. Melies was not concerned with color as a property of reality, but as a way of extending the theatricality of his work, which features a witch casting spells, fairy-tale monsters and ghosts amongst other such elements. Aesthetically, the sets and backdrops look artificial, and are typical of theatrical productions. Colorization in this case comes not from manipulation of the photograph, but from the medium of paint, being more in tune with the theatricality and intentional artificiality of the film. Melies’s films are grounded in the traditions of fine arts (especially as incorporated into theatrical arts), and this dictates how he employs color.
Der Heimat Schutzengraben (1916) would not be considered to be a color film in the usual sense, but color plays an important role. This German propaganda film, dating to the First World War, urges its audience to buy war bonds. Exemplified here is a standard utilization of color in the silent era; that is, the tinting method. Film reels would be stained, tinting the image a particular color. Films would often switch from black/white to sepia, green, white, blue or yellow. At times, a director would intentionally tint certain segments a certain tone (Abel Gance’s Napoleon, for instance, contains a finale which, as originally conceived, would have three projectors running against three screens, each projector loaded with film of a different tint, so that the triptych seen by the audience would resemble the French flag in its colors). But many films have not been consistent in their tinting across prints. Nevertheless, it was the main way in which color was used throughout much of the silent era, and this short piece represents the typical ways in which color shifts were experienced in film of the time.
[Sujets Suissess Pathe-Revue. Suisse-Berne-Fribourg.] (1920) is an authorless nonfiction vignette depicting “Swiss Themes,” showing historical and tourist sites of Switzerland. The colorization process used here marked an advance from previous methods, employing stencils to tint certain parts of the screen specific colors. Allowing for colors that corresponded more closely to reality as we perceive it, this specificity of color was a shift that pulled film out of its shadowy world, with the possibility that it could reflect reality even more closely.
Etude de la lumiere (1923) is an experimental film by Maurice Audibert, an early example of film using a trichrome method for color. According to the Cinematheque Francais, its current parent, it used a method that captured three images through three primary color filters, which were then conflated to create a color image. Audibert was an automobile manufacturer, but became interested in the potential of color film. Ultimately, a tri-color system using dyes was adopted as the standard, but the filter method used in this film was important in that it marked a shift from hand-painting and tinting to capturing the natural colors on the celluloid itself. Etude is short and non-narrative, acting as a vehicle for showing off the new technology. The colors are darker and less defined as the standard colorization process of later years, capturing the colors of the most important shapes in the frame, but shrouding the rest in darkness.
Father and Kid NYC (c. 1940s), the final entry in this program, is an example of the color film that is familiar to us. While it shows the finale of the progression traced here, it is also unique as a silent film. Home movies were silent for many years after sound became a major component of professional motion pictures. Father and Kid shows the aesthetic of silent color film continuing years after the silent era is generally thought to end. Indeed, any evaluation placing the end of silent film in the late 1930s ignores decades of amateur home footage. The arrival of home movies was a revival of the aesthetic of early silent film, in which the ghostly nature of the shadowy reflection gave mundane, everyday subjects a captivating, mysterious quality. As we watch family life in 1940s New York City, this banal subject becomes surreal and ethereal. Their lack of a voice makes them curious, and provides a tinted window into a world long gone.
Films:
1906 (13 min)
Cinematek Royale de Belgique
1916 (8 min)
Deutsche Kinemathek
1920 (14 min)
CINÉMATHÈQUE SUISSE
1923 (27 min)
Cinémathèque française
c. 1940s (16 min)
Museum of Modern Art (NYC)