From the Winter 1993 issue of the Operating Cameraman

What is 30 inches high, 40 inches long, weighs over 1000 pounds and is blue all over?

That's right, the Technicolor Three-strip 35mm motion picture camera.

Technicolor Motion Picture Corporation developed the famous Three-strip Technicolor Camera in 1932, 17 years after the founding of the company in 1915. Technicolor Process No. 4, a 3-component imbibition process, was first used in 1932 to develop an animated film titled Flowers and Trees by Walt Disney. The Technicolor camera was used for the first ever live-action, three-color short subject in 1934, La Cucaracha. Probably the most famous early full length feature film was Gone With the Wind, 1939. It is in this film that Technicolor introduced negative stock three times the speed of preceding negative. Most of the Technicolor Three-strip cameras that are still in existence are claimed to have been used in the filming of Gone With the Wind. A claim difficult to refute, since most of the available cameras in Hollywood were used at one time or another during the filming.

The Camera: 1932-1955

Developed systematically over a number of years by Dr. Herbert Thomas Kalmus, Daniel Frost Comstock and W. Burton Wescott--founding members of the Technicolor Corporation; the Technicolor Three-strip camera exposed three separate black and white negatives simultaneously through a single lens. Behind the lens was a beam-splitter, made from two prisms of optical glass which were gold coated (later silver flecked) to produce a slight mirrored effect.

The purpose of the beam-splitter was to reflect part of the light to an aperture to the left. The remaining light passed directly through to a normally positioned aperture. The light that passed through the prism reached a green filter that allowed only green light to reach the negative. Behind it, the reflected beam of light was directed to a standard bi-pack containing two negatives. The front film carried a red-orange dye which absorbed the blue light and filtered out the red rays. These rays passed through the register on the rear film of the pair.

Prepping the Three-strip

Like Panavision equipment, the Technicolor Three-strip cameras were only rented. Technicolor maintained a camera rental department and a number of well-trained cine mechanics that serviced and prepped the cameras. Because of the unique design there were many special procedures to be performed before a camera could be considered ready for filming. A standard mechanic's check list consisted of 79 operations and this did not include film testing. The mechanical servicing included standard cleaning and lubricating plus more complex operations, such as polishing the aperture plate with polishing paper wrapped on a special wooden block.

Another unique aspect of the Three-strip is, since it passed three pieces of film simultaneously through the double movement, there was an unusual amount of emulsion build-up and film chips that could collect in the movement area. Cleaning then was of the utmost importance. The following is an abstract from a technical memo regarding the responsibilities of the people using the Technicolor equipment.

"Technicolor Memo

Owing to the large number of cameramen and assistant cameramen who have been sent out into the field with comparatively little instruction regarding the methods and policies governing Technicolor's care of equipment, it is necessary that they carefully consider and adhere to the following:

1. The first cameraman is in charge of the Technicolor troupe and assumes full responsibility for his unit.

2. The second cameraman in charge of equipment is responsible for the care of all camera equipment and responsible to his first cameraman for it.

3. All other second men and assistants shall do everything in their power to assist the second in charge.

4. Lenses should be covered at all times while not in use.

5. Light should never be allowed to strike prism filters when not in use, as the strong light has a tendency to fade them.

6. Lenses should be cleaned and inspected for looseness and care exercised so as not to scratch the optical surface.

7. Prism brackets should be handled with extreme care. Make certain the fingers do not touch the surface of the lens.

Filters and optical surfaces are scratched very easily. A small quantity of ether is advisable in cleaning, as an excess dissolves the balsam cement used in the prisms. Excess dust should never be cleaned from the surface with anything but a small camel's hair brush. A stiff-bristled mascara brush is used for cleaning corrosion from aperture pins and plate.

8. Buckles are generally caused by poor thread-ups. They are usually traceable and may be avoided if the proper precautions are exercised. Buckles are usually due to the following faults:

1. Failure to fasten clip on shuttle.
2. Failure to seat intermittent sprocket releasing spring.
3. Failure to lock down drive sprocket rollers.
4. Top loop too short.
5. Bottom loop too short.
6. Belt too loose.
7. Clutch not properly adjusted.
8. Faulty thread of film in magazine, allowing roller to wind out of true causing bind against lid and back.
9. Lack of lubrication in magazine pulleys causing excess drag. Buckles must be brought to the attention of the second in charge.
10. Heads should be inspected to see that they are free and even tension and the locks are in good condition.

...and the list goes on. Prepping and maintaining the Technicolor Three-strip, like Panavision cameras and Arriflex cameras of today, required diligent careful and meticulous attention to detail. Two other prepping procedures that were equally detailed as the camera check were focus testing and setting of lenses and checking and setting the prism finder lines. Another interesting and unique aspect of the Technicolor Three-strip was its magazine. The magazine held three 1000' rolls of film. The green record and the blue record were threaded in the emulsion-out position. Equally important was the path of the film through the magazine light trap, as well as the loop size.

The Technicolor Three-strip, with all of its technical idiosyncrasies, performed admirably for over 20 years. The cameras were put into telephone booth-sized sound blimps, hung on construction-size cranes, supported under airplanes, put in underwater housings and in general, were made to respond to the whims of the directors and cinematographers. Amazingly, the big blue camera got the shot whether from James A. Fitzpatrick's camera car position or flown upside down by Paul Mantz for the 1938 film, Men with Wings.

In the mid-1950's, Eastman Kodak introduced Eastman Color Negative, a simpler, less expensive process, in which the three primary colors were contained on one roll of film and coupled during the developing process. This marked the end of the Technicolor three color camera process. By the '70's, Technicolor Corporation had converted its processing plants to handle Eastman color negative. Today, the only three-color processing plant in the world is the one in the People's Republic of China, where it is still in operation, producing high volume, high quality prints.

Contributors to this article:

Dr. Rod Ryan
Julian D. Hopkinson
Glorious Technicolor, Fred E. Baston