Photochemical Tinting and Toning, from Méliès to Brakhage

Across five Monday afternoons, cinematographer, film colourist and educator Devan Scott will illuminate the distinctive ways in which filmmakers have created mood and meaning through the manipulation of colour. Each 40-minute talk will examine a different colour process – including lighting, tinting, production design – within its historical context, and exploring its aesthetic, artistic and storytelling attributes.

This introductory talk will incorporate a curated program of colour-tinted silent and experimental short films.

Color in cinema did not begin with color film stock but with techniques such as dye-bath tinting and toning and the hand-painting of individual film frames: tools which allowed filmmakers to impart color palettes onto monochromatic images. We’ll investigate how filmmakers such as Georges Méliès and F.W. Murnau used these techniques to develop codes of representation, and how later filmmakers like Stan Brakhage leveraged them for experimental purposes.

Devan Scott is a graduate of Simon Fraser University’s film program and has worked as a cinematographer, colourist, and director for ten years. As a cinematographer, his work has screened around the world at the Toronto International Film Festival, Locarno Film Festival, Clermont Short Film Festival, and Busan International Film Festival among many others. As a colourist, his clients have included Google, Film Boldly, the Vancouver Canucks, the NFB, Wondershare, and Global Media. Devan is also an experienced educator, at UBC and other institutions, and has lectured regularly at the VIFF Centre. His podcast, How Would Lubitsch Do It? has found international acclaim.