Using the original tinting or toning
technique on modern print stock.
Finally a film could be reproduced in exactly the same chemical manner that
was used for the original tinting and toning. A film produced in the mid 1920's
might have from 3 to 9 different colours or colour combinations [and a maximum
of 18 has been recorded].
Reproducing a film by tinting or toning in the original manner requires that
the positive print be broken down into sections and each section treated separately.
After tinting and toning, the film is then reassembled. This is all perfectly
practical but as far as the authors are aware has never been done to a long
feature film since the processes ceased to be used commercially.
TINTING AND TONING USING MODERN MATERIALS
Most archives and some laboratories have experimented with tinting and
toning using the old methods and new black and white print stocks. The results
are often dramatic and tend to demonstrate that some of the colours seen in the
cinema in the first 30 years were far stronger and more dazzling than at first
thought, but have faded considerably. Because of these experiments the
following important factors have been established:
- 1. Modern film stocks can
still be used to carry out all the old techniques, although there is no
way of being certain that the results are the same. Different
manufacturers film stocks behave differently to some dye techniques.
- 2. Copper toning modern film
stocks is sometimes unsatisfactory as the emulsion is severely softened
[exactly as described in some old manuals!].
- 3. Uranium toning, which was
used extensively as a red-brown or orange-red tone after copper ceased to
be used [and as a mordant for dye toning], is impractical today. Uranyl
nitrate is prohibitively expensive [about £5 per gram] and safety concerns
over it's toxicity and minute radioactivity have made it's use difficult.
- 4. Many of the old dyes are
no longer available but some are. Some are impractical due to toxicity or
inflammability, but enough are available to repeat many of the original
tints and dye tones. Some dyes are no longer available but can still be
made to special order. However, the dyes used always did vary in
concentration [and to some extent hue] and this is still true today. All
the old manuals recommended testing to see what concentration was needed
and this is still true today.
- 5. Tinted and toned films and
all early films were originally printed, processed, coloured and then the
prints cut and joined to make the release prints. In modern parlance, they
were "pos cut" not "neg cut". This requires that each
scene be printed at least a frame longer than the final scene length as a
frame was lost at each end in order to join it to the next. This requires specialised
printing techniques today since all the prints and negatives available in
archives are in a single roll and there is no extra frame available to be
wasted. The only way out of this is to print each scene with extra frames
at head and tail, or to make two prints of a film and use alternate scenes
from each print for colouring.
Some tinting has been done by hand brushing dyes onto the new copy, frame by
frame, but this is costly, often uneven and very time consuming. Spraying dyes
from a modern spray or air brush may also be practical and will reproduce
similar effects to tinting but is unable to copy toning.
THE BOOKSHELF
ORIGINAL TINTING
AND TONING TECHNIQUES AND THEIR
ADAPTATION FOR THE RESTORATION OF ARCHIVE FILM. / by Paul Read
RECORDING AND
REPRODUCING THE ORIGINAL TINTS AND TONES OF "QUO VADIS" 1912 - A TECHNICAL CASE STUDY / by Paul Read, Bob Mabberley with assistance from Sonya
Snoek