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World's First Color Moving Pictures Discovered

Posted by timothy on from the with-or-without-a-u dept.

BoxRec writes "The BBC is reporting newly-discovered films made by pioneer Edward Raymond Turner from London, who patented his colour process on 22 March 1899." When Turner invented his process, though, existing projection systems weren't up to it; to see the discovered footage, British archivists digitized the film for computer playback. When you're used to old films being both black and white and jerky, it's amazing to see it in color and (relatively) smooth.

9 of 105 comments (clear)

  1. And when you're used to modern video... by jeffb+(2.718) · · Score: 5, Interesting

    ...it's jarring to see a still image stamped with "this content is not currently available for your device". Nice illustration of 113 years of progress, BBC.

  2. Why are you surprised? by 140Mandak262Jamuna · · Score: 4, Insightful

    They have digitized it for the computer. They might have also fixed the transition and jerkiness. They should digitize the old black and white footage and apply the same techniques to see if the (relative) smoothness is a side effect of the digitization or not.

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  3. Re:Incredible by EvilSS · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Looking at the clip it appears to use black and white film, but with a rotating color wheel front on the projector similar to DLP projectors today. I assume one was used in front of the camera as well. I would guess that syncing issues were probably what killed it.

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  4. Much Better Video Available by eric2hill · · Score: 5, Informative

    YouTube has a much better video than the one linked in the article that contains the process they went through and talks about the capture and projection intended by the inventor.

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  5. copyright? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Wait its only been 113 years? Can I view that content without worrying about being sued by MPAA?

  6. The process was patented... by lurvdrum · · Score: 4, Insightful

    if this had been in 2012, he wouldn't have patented a film process but instead followed Apple (and others) by patenting "The idea of colour moving pictures displayed to an audience" and his descendents would now be suing Hollywood for 15 gazillion dollars.

    1. Re:The process was patented... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

      You know the reason Hollywood is in Hollywood? The film industry went as far away from Edison as they could in order to violate his motion picture patents.

  7. Re:Incredible by omnichad · · Score: 4, Informative

    Sync is a problem because the objects are moving! The only way around it with B&W film is to have three simultaneous cameras shooting through color filters.

  8. It wasn't just "investigated".... by Ellis+D.+Tripp · · Score: 5, Informative

    It was actually ADOPTED as the official US color broadcast standard by the FCC from 1950-1953.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Field-sequential_color_system

    The main limitations of the CBS field-sequential system were the requirement for a rotating color filter wheel more than 2X the diameter of the picture tube. TV sets larger than 10" screen size or so became absolutely HUGE. The system was also incompatible with existing monochrome sets, which already had a substantial installed base by then.

    Once RCA developed the all electronic system that eventually became "NTSC", the field sequential systems were relegated to niche applications such as the color cameras that flew to the moon on the Apollo landings. And yes, a similar system forms the heart of modern color DLP projectors.

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