For a long time, films did not include color. They were the traditional black and white containing music and dialogue. But they made do with what they had, creating the genre of film noir. These films created such a wonderful and mysterious environment that they stuck with it for a while. But then, adding color to movies came around! And literally, that changed the course of history.
Take The Wizard of Oz! This movie starts in the traditional black and white. Dorothy and her family are on her farm and it’s just like a regular old farm type movie. But once she lands in Oz, voila, there’s color! It’s a world of wonder and excitement, and also kind of scary adventures for her! I mean, there’s a witch literally trying to kill her! Anyway, this film is one of the first films that contains color. And the way they did it was honestly revolutionary.
Since Technicolor didn’t exist then, they had to bring in the color in the way they knew how to at the time. The camera that they used filmed the same scene but on three different color strips at the same time. That way in post, they could take all the different color strips, put them together, and it would be one whole scene with all the color they need. Which is honestly pretty impressive!
They used sepia-toned film whenever it was the opening and closing scenes at the farm, including the black and white. Probably just to add more to the blandness of her life, or to show how bland she thinks her life is.
The color in this film brings everything to life. I mean, her bright red shoes, her blue dress, all of it. She’s known for her outfit and how vibrant the colors are. And this film brings out just that.
I spoke with one of my friends about this film, and according to him, he told me that Judy Garland actually wore silver sparkly shoes. They were just changed to a red color in post. That way they could bring out the color more in post. He saw the shoes in person once, so he could confirm it to me! Which I think is really cool how they did that!
Now this film did have a lot of controversy with the way they filmed it. Judy Garland was given drugs whenever she was on the set of the film. Mainly to keep her energized for long periods of time, but also to make her appetite go down. Which is absolutely terrible. The Tin Man suit was also toxic, which made the actor get sent to the hospital pretty soon after starting his performance. In fact, they had to replace the actor because of how sick he had gotten.
However, even with the controversy, this film is legendary. It’s a wonderful story full of wonderful characters, and was one of the first films to include color! And that’s never going to change! The Wizard of Oz was one of the films that brought color into the film industry. And with how much of a hit it turned out to be, it’s no surprise that they continued with this technique and brought film where it is today.
The Wizard of Oz has always been a part of my life. So being able to write about it is honestly really cool. My grandparents were in a play of The Wizard of Oz whenever they were teenagers, and thinking about that is honestly pretty amazing considering where I am today. They’ve talked about it so much and now I get to write about the movie. The movie has been around that long, that my grandparents get to play characters in their high school play and I get to write a paper about the movie too.
So you know this movie definitely changed the world.
Coley Rose's Corner 