| − | Initially, all motion pictures were monochromatic or "black-and-white." A small number of motion pictures were initially made with a two-strip color process. This was expensive, and the colors were not true-to-life by any standard. But after the invention of sound came the further invention of a three-strip color process that, for the first time, produced realistic colors. Monochromatic filming remained popular, primarily because color filming was still too expensive to be routine, but also because monochromatic filming required its own conventions in set-dressing and costuming. A director of a monochromatic film sought to use colors that would project best as ''shades of gray'', and thus would often choose the sort of colors for sets and costumes that a totally color-blind person might choose without the proper education and training in color coordination. But as color filming became less expensive, and as viewers demanded color in the films that they patronized, color filming became an almost universal rule. | + | Initially, all motion pictures were monochromatic or "black-and-white." A small number of motion pictures were initially made with a two-strip color process. This was expensive, and the colors were not true-to-life by any standard. But after the invention of sound came the further invention of a three-strip color process that, for the first time, produced realistic colors. Monochromatic filming remained popular, primarily because color filming was still too expensive to be routine, but also because monochromatic filming required its own conventions in set-dressing and costuming. A director of a monochromatic film sought to use colors that would project best as ''shades of gray'', and thus would often choose the sort of colors for sets and costumes that a totally color-blind person might choose without the proper education and training in color coordination. |
| | + | As color filming became less expensive, and as viewers demanded color in the films that they patronized, color filming became an almost universal rule. Directors and producers did, on occasion, film in black-and-white in order to achieve a particular effect, typically to suggest another film of its genre made in the era when color was still a novelty. Producers and directors almost never make such decisions today. |