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The invisible ideology of white light

Misek, Richard (2010) The invisible ideology of white light. New Review of Film and Television Studies, 8 (2). pp. 125-143. ISSN 1740-0309. (doi:10.1080/17400301003700160) (KAR id:35717)

Abstract

This paper explores the role of white light in film history. It argues that, though we live our lives immersed in ‘white’ daylight, the historical hegemony of white light within moving images has been far from inevitable. The paper elaborates this claim by focusing on how and why Technicolor Inc. predicated its infamous but influential ‘law of emphasis’ on white balanced lighting, and by foregrounding ways in which subsequent uses of and discourses about colour in film have assumed the presence of full-spectrum light. Having drawn attention to this imperceptible – and so, until now, unnoticed – visual ideology, the paper then explores cinematic challenges to the hegemony of white light in films including South Pacific, Querelle and Chunkging Express.

Item Type: Article
DOI/Identification number: 10.1080/17400301003700160
Uncontrolled keywords: colour, light, cinematography, Technicolor, film technology, film aesthetics
Subjects: T Technology
Divisions: Divisions > Division of Computing, Engineering and Mathematical Sciences > School of Engineering and Digital Arts
Depositing User: Tina Thompson
Date Deposited: 28 Oct 2013 14:59 UTC
Last Modified: 16 Nov 2021 10:12 UTC
Resource URI: https://kar.kent.ac.uk/id/eprint/35717 (The current URI for this page, for reference purposes)

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