Colour in the archives: Preserving British cinema's rich heritage of colour film

Research highlights

• Increased the understanding of the preservation of colour films and expanded their presentation to today's audiences
• Identified historically significant colour films at risk of physical deterioration, leading to them being preserved and disseminated
• Understanding and cultural enrichment has been increased by engaging a wider public through talks, screenings, blog posts, videos and creating additional content for commercial DVD/Blu-ray releases of restored colour films

Preserving colour film heritage in the UK and abroad

Professor Street’s 2012 monograph Colour Films in Britain highlighted the importance in film history of This is Colour, a 1942 Technicolor short film. The British Film Institute restored and exhibited the film at the 2016 London Film Festival, with the BFI’s Film Conservation Manager stating that Street’s research provided invaluable context for increasing knowledge and understanding of Britain’s colour film heritage.

In 2015, Professor Street’s team co-organised a conference with Amsterdam’s Eye Filmmuseum, which showcased research highlighting the urgent conservation needs of colour films. Eye’s Head Curator notes the conference’s ‘remarkable impact’ on the international film archival community through the creation of a platform for international debate, a new publication: The Colour Fantastic (Amsterdam, 2018), and a rise in colour film programming. 

Her research has also influenced distributor Studio Canal to prepare a new restoration and Blu-ray release (2019) of Don’t Look Now, a prestigious film in their collection signalled by its specialised 4K Ultra-High-Definition restoration. In collaboration with Street’s team, Studio Canal filmed a featurette about colour for the Blu-ray. 

Colour film in Bristol

Professor Street and colleagues often give public introductions to films at Bristol’s Watershed Media Centre, with audience debates and discussions often following the screenings. 

Some People is a relatively unknown colour film shot in Bristol in 1962. In 2018, Professor Street’s research team held an event and screening of the film at the Watershed. Many of the attendees remembered the film being shot, and one of the stars of the film, Anneke Wills, also joined the discussion. The co-director of Talking Pictures TV - Britain’s main broadcaster of classic films with 3.5 million viewers a week - attended the event and confirms that it caused them to broadcast Some People and air more British colour films on their channel. Following the event, Bristol’s M Shed featured a display on Some People in their Bristol Music exhibition, which attracted 34,000 visitors. 

Read about the film here

How do you restore a colour film?

As the photochemical era gives way to digital technologies, past colour skills are in danger of being forgotten. 

In her research, Professor Street has investigated the history of making colour films, from the application of colour by hand, stencil or applied tinting and toning methods from the silent era, to photochemical processes such as Technicolor and film stocks that enabled colour to dominate sound cinema. 

Together with her research team, she conducted 32 unique interviews on knowledge and understanding of colour skills, to ensure they are safeguarded for posterity. The interviews have been published by the BFI and online by the British Entertainment History Project, where they have been viewed over 21,940 times.

Inspiring new artworks

For visual artist Aura Satz, Professor Street’s research has informed and inspired several of her installations, leading to her 2015 solo commission at the George Eastman Museum, New York: Eyelids Leaking Light. The installation featured her film Chromatic Aberration, which was first exhibited in 2014 at the Tyneside Cinema, Newcastle, accompanied by an “in conversation” event of Satz and Street.