CNJ’s right about Sepia being a seperate photographic process. It was also used frequently in Hollywood (and some British) films of the 1930’s and early 'forties for ‘mood’ shots. One of the most famous uses is in the classic 1940 Errol Flynn adventure film THE SEA HAWK, where an entire sequence set in the jungles of Panama is filmed in Sepia, as opposed to the B&W of the rest of the film. The result–oddly enough–looks hot and humid and very uncomfortable. It’s an interesting process.
it helps hide where the backdrop curves around. You still see the white column of where one back departs and “blurs” into another, but it’s less present than it’s colored version (I don’t think I have still)
Oh, those were all done digitally. I think I saw a feature onece that would tint puictures like Black and white. Those werre awesome though Scott.
We sold sepia tone filters when I managed a camera shop.(I left before the digital imaging boom)
Any Black and White layout if set in the modern era would be of the Norfolk Southern. The city of Reading is pretty dull colored in the areas where the trains run through. Just a thought.
There was an N scale module featured in MR a few years back done entirely in “black and white”. The builder started with a large B&W print of a 1940’s Chicago skyline with the water in the fore-ground. The entire module was colored in numerous shades of gray to match the back-drop. The trains were early NYC streamlined steam which were also gray. The only color in the entire scene was the little red NYC logos on the sides of the Mini Metals NYC box trucks.
Well, there you go. Thanks to you and CNJ831, I’ve learned something new. I must keep an eye out for that movie when it next gets shown on ABC1 - I have seen it listed, but never bothered to watch it. Now you’ve got me interested!
Tom, thank you for the compliment, I’m glad you like them. And yet the funny thing is, to me the photos highlight how unfinished the Yonejima-Guchi area looks at the moment. I’m clearing some outstanding leave in November, and I plan to spend some of that time working on the layout, hopefully I’ll have some better photos to post once that’s done. In the meantime, here’s a couple of views from my mate Doug’s exhibition layout "Enoshima’, which made it’s first appearance at a major Sydney train show this weekend.
It’s been a while since I’ve seen TRAFFIC–so I could be wrong on this, but I think they used more of a de-saturated Technicolor process instead of Sepia for some of the sequences. But that’s an interesting question, and an excuse for me to see the film again, LOL! I remember liking the film a lot.
PS: That Sepia sequence doesn’t turn up in all copies of THE SEA HAWK, except the restored version on Turner Classics DVD.
