blacknarcissus deborahkerr michaelpowell emericpressburger kathleenbyron powellandpressburger technicolor davidfarrar hollywood jeansimmons oldhollywood rumergodden vintage 1940s 1950s 1960s blacknarcissusmovie deborahkerractress esmondknight florarobson goldenage goldenera goldenhollywood oldhollywoodglamour silverscreen star blacknarkis interactive emericpressburger
Another hugely influential and groundbreaking visual movie was Black Narcissus (1947), shot by maverick Jack Cardiff BSC. Technicolor was the proprietary color cinematography system of they day (this was before color negative was widely adopted) and it was a closely guarded format by the Technicolor Corp. There were tons of rules you had to adhere to, enforced by Technicolor, to be allowed to shoot in the format. Things like light ratios, exposures, colors of costumes, sets - all highly regulated by them to ensure that the films looked ‘correct’. In fact, each production had a “color consultant” sent out from Technicolor to ensure the DP’s and production followed the rules. Jack Cardiff pretty much ignored all this for Black Narcissus, and exposed the film like he would have perhaps done with a B/W negative, going for a ‘color noir’ look. They got into huge fights and as I recall Technicolor wanted Jack fired and complained to the production. In the end, by not following the rules, the film won Oscar for best cinematography and changed not only color cinematography, but also put an end to Technicolor’s control of how films should look. So don’t follow rules, is the moral here!—————Case Study: Take a look at first photo. This is in itself a masterclass in cinematography. You can clearly see here how Jack Cardiff creates separation in an predominantly white-on-white environment by slightly lighting the wall behind the standing nun, to create subtle separation, rather than backlighting her (although she has a very light backlight, too). It also focuses the eye towards subject. This is not a new technique by any means - painters have done it for centuries - but very often underused. Separation, if any is needed, is far too often achieved with a lazy backlight in my opinion (I touched upon in earlier posts how backlight can cheapen a scene), rather than this way. Contrast light with darkness, without lighting the subject itself, or as I sometimes call it, Oreo-lighting (because how the cookie alternates dark with light).———-Don’t miss the film - it’s excellent. @bscine #technicolor #blacknarcissus #jackcardiff