Category Research
Colour and Realism in Hammer’s Fanatic (1965)
by Paul Frith An often over-looked offering from Hammer Film Productions, Fanatic (AKA Die! Die! My Darling: 1965) holds a unique position in the studio’s history as it represents the first, and only, of their 1960s cycle of psychological thrillers to be shot in colour. The film stars Tallulah Bankhead in her final screen […]
Richard Williams: The Artistic Animator’s Vision
by Dr Carolyn Rickards, Research Associate. A review in Kinematograph Weekly from early 1959 heralded the release of a new British animated film: ‘three little men go to an island – their names are Truth, Good and Beauty. They argue, the film enters the realm of the fantastic as they try to impress each other. […]
Jack Cardiff, Prism and solarized effects in The Girl on a Motorcycle (1968)
By Sarah Street, Principal Investigator Prism, a new play by Terry Johnson (Hampstead Theatre, London, 6 Sept-14 Oct 2017), is based on legendary colour cinematographer Jack Cardiff (Robert Lindsay) towards the end of his life, when past and present become intertwined through the effects of Alzheimer’s disease and as he struggles to write his autobiography. […]
For Better, For Worse? Special Effects and Colour in the Early Eastmancolor Era
by Keith M. Johnston, Co-Investigator on The Eastmancolor Revolution Project Special or visual effects have been a crucial part of cinema over the last 120 years, including George Melies’ spectacular fantasies, the stop motion animation of King Kong (1933), the motion controlled action of Star Wars (1977), and the current use of computer generated imagery […]
INNOVATION AND EXPERIMENTATION Pt.4: FANTASTIC DESIGNS
by Paul Frith, Post-Doc Research Associate on The Eastmancolor Revolution Project This final post in our series on amateur filmmakers features the remaining two of six titles from the Institute of Amateur Cinematographers collection digitised as part of The Eastmancolor Revolution project (see the previous Innovation and Experimentation blog posts for further details). Both of these […]