Color motion picture film

Photographic film designed to record moving images in color, using color-sensitive emulsion layers to capture and reproduce a scene’s hues.

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Color film: Photographic film that records color using one or more light-sensitive emulsion layers. Motion-picture stocks are a specialized form of color film, adapted for continuous camera and projector use.
Hand coloring: The manual application of color to monochrome photographs or film frames. It offered early filmmakers color before photographic emulsions could record hues directly.
35 mm film: A motion-picture film gauge with a nominal width of 35 millimeters. It became the dominant professional format for color theatrical photography.
Color negative film: Color film that records a scene as a negative image for later printing or scanning. It is the standard capture material for much narrative motion-picture production.
Color cinematography: The practice of photographing motion pictures to record and shape color. Color film is the photochemical medium underlying much of cinema’s color cinematography.
Photographic emulsion: A light-sensitive suspension of silver halide crystals in gelatin used to form photographic images. Its crystals register each frame’s exposure before chemical development produces a visible image.
Kinemacolor: An early color motion-picture process that used alternating red and green filters during filming and projection. Its successive filtered exposures were among the first commercially exhibited color films.
16 mm film: A motion-picture film gauge 16 millimeters wide, widely used for education, documentary, and independent production. Its lower cost made color cinematography accessible beyond major studios.
Color reversal film: Color film processed to produce a positive image directly on the original film. Unlike negative stock, it can be projected from the camera original without making a print.
Color grading: The adjustment of image color and tone to achieve a chosen visual appearance. Film stocks provide a starting palette that grading can refine or transform.