Eastman Colors

The problem of making talking movies in natural colors is not yet solved, but last week Lloyd Ancile Jones of Eastman Kodak Laboratories told the Society of Motion Picture Engineers that Eastman had evolved a process for tinting whole scenes of talkies.

For salability, the Eastman tinting is described as giving scenes ''colors conforming to their emotional content." Two makes of talkies (R.C.A. and Western Electric) have their sound records on the edges of the films. Hitherto, if a film was tinted it interfered with light passing through the sound track, distorted the sound. Experiments were made with tinting only the visual portion of the film. The method was successful, but expensive. Then efforts were bent to securing tints that would not affect the light passing through the sound record. This has been achieved so that there is hardly any perceptible difference between the sounds coming through films having different tints.

Talkies will now be available in the following mood-colors worked out at the Eastman Laboratories: 1) Rose Dorce ("sensuousness and passion . . . amorous, romantic and exotic"); 2) Peachblow (''feminine beauty . . . the glow of life"); 3) Afterglow ("dawn and sunset scenes, interiors of luxury"); 4) Firelight ("intimate home relationships, mild affection"), 5) Candleflame ("mild mood reactions . . . feelings of coziness, comfort . . . peace and plenty without opulence"); 6) Sunshine ("mildly stimulating"); 7) Verdante ("youth, freshness, unsophistication, innocence . . . only slightly warm, but definitely not cold"); 8) Aquagreen ("cool lakes in the northwoods"); 9) Turquoise ("peace, tranquility . . . calm tropical seas'"); 10) Azure ("sedate, reserved . . . slightly gloomy"); 11) Nocturne ("night shadows, despair, underworld"); 12) Purplehaze ("pronounced cooling effect"); 13) Fleur-de-lys ("pomp, dignity"); 14) Amaranth ("approaching sensuality and abandon"); 15) Caprice ("hilarious pink, carnival moods"); 16) Inferno ("burning buildings, panic, anarchy"); 17) Argent ("grey, everyday life").