British Colour Cinema Companion

British Color Cinema Companion is one of the outcomes of a major project on color and British cinema. This project was one of the last opportunities to gain an insight from surviving practitioners who worked with film color in one of the most fascinating periods of its history, when black-and-white film was cheaper and more all-pervasive. Created as a companion volume to a major history of color in British Cinema (Color Films in Britain: A History, also by Sarah Street), British Color Cinema Companion is a richly illustrated book based on a series of unique interviews conducted by Sarah Street and Elizabeth I Watkins with practitioners who worked in the UK with Technicolor and/or Eastmancolor during the 1930s-1950s. The book charts a highly significant period of film history, at a time when working with color frequently involved experimentation of the highest degree. Working with color was expensive and difficult, not least because of having to negotiate with the Technicolor Corporation, and adjusting to new systems also required ingenuity and resourcefulness. All of the practitioners featured in the book provide a rich resource of experience and reflection on these challenges. Street and Watkins talk to figures who were renowned for their innovative work with film color - and who provide first-hand accounts of working with major directors including Michael Powell and John Huston, and also with celebrated art directors and special effects teams. Many of the films discussed by interviewees have acquired special interest in recent years with the advent of DVD and the restoration of many color film classics. In recognition of this development, the book's final section also features interviews people involved in film preservation and restoration, and asks ethical questions of how best to prepare new prints for today's audiences. As well as covering film production, post-production and preservation and restoration, this final section features selected contributions from theorists, historians and academics who work with color from a range of different perspectives.