How color film and analog color TV works with bluescreen / chromakey

A deep dive into VFX History looking at colour film and colour matting / color matting.

When I made my video exploring Optical Printers and how they could be used to remove blue from a scene, I was left wondering how did film know which colour was which? And if someone is wearing blue, like Christopher Reeve as Superman (1978) how was he able to be keyed into flying shots. And then I started to question how live analogue TV was able to “remove the blue” for weather forecasts and original Doctor Who.

Join me down the rabbit hole of colour film (or color film) Technicolor, Eastman Kodak’s Kodachrome and Eastman Color. We’ll take a diversion to look at colour analogue telly and CSO (colour separation overlay). Once we’re back on track, we’ll learn about Petro Vlahos, Didymiun prisms and the Sodium Vapour process. And then, we’ll take a diversion to look at how Star Trek: The Next Generation developed the use of UV light and flourscent orange screens before we finally crack the puzzle that made us beleive a man can fly.

I also have to give a MASSIVE thank you to both Star Trek: TNG’s Visual Effects Supervisor Dan Curry (who helped me with a load of research) and VFX artist ‪@RustyGellerSteadicam‬ for his interview and insights.

I’ve tried to sum up my findings here and inevitably, I will have missed out crucial steps and glossed over important points. Still I hope you find this VFX history entertaining, if not informative.

If you’re wondering what software I used to create all the animations, I used Adobe After Effects and Video Copilot’s Element3D. Blender was used for a couple of the models.

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