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| Academy Museum of Motion Pictures unveils “Color in Motion: Chromatic Explorations of Cinema” in Los Angeles, California on October 1, 2024. All pictures by Eric Harris / TTDILA. |
By Eric Harris
“Toto, I have a feeling we’re not in Hollywood anymore...”
Now through July 13, 2025, skip down the Yellow Brick Road of cinematic history to the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures for its new exhibition Color in Motion: Chromatic Explorations of Cinema, where color is the star of the show.
From the early tinting and hand-coloring techniques in silent films to today’s cutting-edge digital technology, Color in Motion highlights how the art and science of color have shaped filmmaking. This exhibition features interactive displays, film installations, and nearly 150 artifacts, including costumes, props, film posters, animation cells, and technologies documenting the use of color over the past 130 years. With more than 110 films represented, the exhibition is organized into six galleries, each highlighting a different aspect of color in cinema.
Whether you’re a film enthusiast, student, history buff, movie industry professional, or simply someone who wants to have fun and take pictures, Color in Motion: Chromatic Explorations of Cinema offers something for everyone.
Choreographing Color
The opening gallery, Choreographing Color has a choreography theme, and features costumes, films, animation, and blondes, redheads, and brunettes in glorious Technicolor. The focus is primarily on classic Western musical and dance films including The Wizard of Oz (1939), Fantasia (1940), The Red Shoes (1948), An American in Paris (1951), Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953), and West Side Story (1961). Choreography-heavy international films, including an Asian martial arts feature and several “Bollywood” productions, round out the selection.
A red color theme runs through this gallery — red artifacts, red accent colors, red ambient lighting, and intriguingly, red hair. The films represented feature more red-haired actors and actresses than statistically probable, such as Marius Goring, Billie Burke, Judy Garland (dyed), Dakota Johnson (dyed), and Moira Shearer.
Are the curators merely ginger enthusiasts, or are there perhaps deeper, technological reasons behind the abundance of red-haired beauties in early color cinema? The next gallery untangles this mystery, revealing why stars like Deborah Kerr, Rita Hayworth, Susan Hayward, Maureen O’Hara, Greer Garson, Arlene Dahl, Jeanne Crain, Piper Laurie, Rhonda Fleming, and even the animated Jessica Rabbit, all showcased those radiant red tresses during Hollywood's Golden Age.
Technologies and Spectacles
While Choreographing Color focuses on the human aspect of film history, the Technologies and Spectacles gallery explores the technological advancements that made color filmmaking possible. Color was not a discrete process but rather the evolution of numerous competing technologies over more than a century.
On display are filmmaking tools including a Eugene Louis hand-cranked motion picture camera, dyes and tints used with monochrome film, animation cells, an original three-strip Technicolor camera, a Kinemacolor Projector, and a modern DaVinci Digital Coloring Console Board. Many of the artifacts on display somehow look more like props than the actual props on display throughout the exhibition. In addition, historically and commercially important color film processes are referenced including Kinemacolor, Chronochrome, Technicolor, Gasparcolor, Agfacolor, and Eastmancolor. These various film process technologies are particularly fascinating because they resulted in different aesthetic outcomes (and production requirements and considerations) that contribute to the overall look and feel associated with specific time periods and countries during the pre-digital film era.
To address the question from the preceding section, the extensive adoption of Technicolor Process 4 partly accounts for the prevalence of red-haired actresses between 1932 and 1955. This particular Technicolor process rendered bright, saturated hues that emphasized red colors, making reds appear more vivid and striking on screen, and capable of standing out against backgrounds and costumes in the vibrant colors typical of Technicolor productions.
Monochrome Film Colors
The Monochrome Film Colors gallery explores the weird world of monochrome films from the silent era. Although we often link silent-era films with jerky, black-and-white or sepia-toned visuals, by the 1920s, most films incorporated some form of color through tinted or dyed film. The Monochrome Film Installation showcases a 7-minute and 32-second film comprising twenty tinted clips from the silent film era, shown on three large screens. These films, originally released between 1907 and 1926, include influential works such as Nero, or the Fall of Rome (1909), Wagon Tracks (1919), and Die Nibelungen: Kriemhild’s Revenge (1924). This is an interesting exhibit from a historical perspective; however, watching ancient feature-length silent films can be a challenging experience.
Color as Character
For most visitors, the Color as Character gallery will be the highlight of the exhibition. It demonstrates how color design is an essential component of cinematic storytelling and features more than 30 of the most recognized costumes and props in cinematic history, arranged into a rainbow of Hollywood magic. Notable items include the legendary ruby red slippers worn by Judy Garland as Dorothy Gale in The Wizard of Oz (1939), the green dress worn by Kim Novak as Judy Barton in Vertigo (1958), the red jacket worn by Jack Nicholson as Jack Torrance in The Shining (1980), the costume worn by Milla Jovovich as Leeloo in the Fifth Element (1997), the costume worn by Heath Ledger as the Joker in The Dark Knight (2008), and the costume worn by Shirley Temple as Lloyd Sherman in The Little Colonel (1935).
Experimentation Gallery
The Experimentation Gallery is a small gallery that showcases visually abstract, non-narrative films that blend music and color. It includes a black box space with single-screen projections of Mary Ellen Bute’s Color Rhapsody (1948), Oscar Fischinger’s Kreise (1933-34), and Len Lye’s Rainbow Dance (1936).
Color Arcade
The concluding gallery, Color Arcade, exists primarily for fun and as a memorable way to exit the Color in Motion: Chromatic Explorations of Cinema exhibition. It encourages visitors to experience color, in motion, via two large interactive musical instrument-like installations: Memo Akten’s Body Paint and a re-created rendition of Fischinger’s Lumigraph. Color Arcade features a futuristic neon sci-fi aesthetic from the 1980s, standing in stark contrast to the gritty 1980s dystopian vibe of the concurrent Cyberpunk: Envisioning Possible Futures Through Cinema exhibition on display on levels 2 and 3.
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| Amy Homma, Director and President of the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures, showcases the interactive installation “Body Paint” (2009) by Memo Akten. |
Final Thoughts
As you traverse the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures, it becomes evident how integral color is to the cinematic experience, shaping narratives and influencing audiences in profound ways. Embrace this opportunity to see the spectrum of cinema through a new lens and appreciate the vibrancy that color brings to the silver screen with seven floors of exhibition space, two movie theatres (the 952-seat David Geffen Theater and the 277-seat Ted Mann Theater), Fanny’s Restaurant and Café, a museum store, and 14 exhibits currently on display. Grab some popcorn, it’s going to be a long day.
Plan Your Visit
Location
Academy Museum of Motion Pictures
6067 Wilshire Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90036
Hours
Open six days a week
10am–6pm Closed Tuesdays
General Admission
Adults $25
Seniors (62+) $19
Students (18+ with ID) $15
Children (17 and younger), Museum Members, Academy members, and CA EBT cardholders FREE
Parking
LACMA’s Pritzker Parking Garage
6000 W 6th St, Los Angeles, CA 90036 $20
Petersen Automotive Museum Garage
744 S. Fairfax Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90036 $21
Contact
