This 1946 color film “The Nature of Color” by Coronet explores the basics of the physics of color. Coronet produced and distributed many documentary shorts, mostly on 19mm, which were widely shown in American public schools from the 1940s to the 1980s. The educational collaborator for “The Nature of Color” was Dr. Ira M. Freeman, who also wrote multiple physics textbooks.

The film begins with vintage footage of a rainbow (0:29-0:35). Various color temperatures of sunlight are shown behind clouds, and raindrops are analyzed up-close on a window (0:36-0:51). The camera zooms up on a color print of Isaac Newton experimenting with a glass prism to understand color (0:52-1:08). The camera pans over a 1940s replica glass prism experiment used for Newton’s 1672 paper on the nature of additive colors, which also led him to invent the original color wheel (1:09-1:36). A vintage animation demonstrates the basic physics behind the refraction of light waves through a prism (1:37-2:20). A woman cleans the trinkets on a cabinet, including a white sheep and black sheep figure (2:21-2:37). A vintage educational animation shows the effects of red, white, and blue cubes under different colors of light to showcase how light is absorbed and reflected (2:38-3:18). A photographer is shown placing a red filter over a vintage camera lens, and a photographer is shown working in a light room to create a dark sky effect (3:19-3:36). Red, green, and blue lights are used to show the effects of combining the primary colors (3:37-5:04). A simple animation demonstrates the basic combinations of primary colors (5:05-5:25). Small filters are combined in a lightbox to showcase the basic physics of additive and subtractive colors (5:26-7:06). A woman is shown painting a landscape and mixing paints (7:07-7:26). Vintage color printing inks are shown on plates, a color print is made by chromolithography, and 1940s high-speed lithography is shown in use (7:27-8:37). Color film, most likely Kodachrome color, is briefly shown being processed, and an animated graphic explains the basics of color film (8:38-9:10). The film ends by showing the pairing of Isaac Newton’s color prism and fades to a rainbow (9:11-9:30).

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This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD, 2k and 4k. For more information visit http://www.PeriscopeFilm.com