Technicolor is a color motion picture process invented in 1916 and improved over several decades. It was the second major process, after Britain's Kinemacolor, and the most widely used color process in Hollywood from 1922 to 1952. Technicolor became known and celebrated for its saturated levels of color, and was used most commonly for filming musicals (such as ''The Wizard of Oz'' and ''Singin' in the Rain''), costume pictures (such as ''The Adventures of Robin Hood'' and ''Joan of Arc''), and animated films (such as ''Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs'' and ''Fantasia''), but even a film noir like ''Leave Her to Heaven'' could be filmed in Technicolor.

"Technicolor" is the trademark for a series of color motion picture processes pioneered by Technicolor Motion Picture Corporation (a subsidiary of Technicolor, Inc.), now a division of Technicolor SA. The Technicolor Motion Picture Corporation was founded in Boston in 1914 (incorporated in Maine in 1915) by Herbert Kalmus, Daniel Frost Comstock, and W. Burton Wescott. The "Tech" in the company's name was inspired by Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where Kalmus received his undergraduate degree and was later an instructor. Technicolor, Inc. was chartered in Delaware in 1921.

Name usage

The term "Technicolor" historically has been used to describe four concepts:

Technicolor process/format: the several image origination systems used in film production, which culminated in the "three-strip" process. (1917–1954)

Technicolor dye imbibition printing (or "dye transfer"): a stable photolithographic system used for the creation of color prints, originally conceived for the Technicolor format but also compatible with standard monopack film. (1928–2002, with differing gaps of availability post-1974 depending on lab)

Technicolor labs: a collection of film laboratories across the world owned and run by Technicolor for post-production services including developing, printing, and transferring films in all major developing processes, as well as Technicolor's proprietary ones. Films using these labs thus retain a "Color by Technicolor" credit even though no Technicolor ''format'' or ''printing'' have been offered recently. (1922–present)

Technicolor: an umbrella company encompassing all the above as well as other ancillary services. (1914–present)

History

Two-strip Technicolor

Process 1

Technicolor originally existed in a two-color (red and green) system. In Process 1 (1916), a prism beam-splitter behind the camera lens exposed two consecutive frames of a single strip of black-and-white negative film simultaneously, one behind a red filter, the other behind a green filter. Because two frames were being exposed at the same time, the film had to be photographed and projected at twice the normal speed. Exhibition required a special projector with two apertures (one with a red filter and the other with a green filter), two lenses, and an adjustable prism that aligned the two images on the screen. The results were first demonstrated to members of the American Institute of Mining Engineers in New York on February 21, 1917. Technicolor itself produced the only movie made in Process 1, ''The Gulf Between'', which had a limited tour of Eastern cities, beginning with Boston and New York in September 1917, primarily to interest motion picture producers and exhibitors in color. The near-constant need for a technician to adjust the projection alignment doomed this additive color process. Only a few frames of ''The Gulf Between'', showing star Grace Darmond, are known to exist today.

Process 2

Convinced that there was no future in additive color processes, Kalmus focused his attention on subtractive color processes. This culminated in what would eventually be known as Process 2 (1922). Originally cited by academics as "two-strip" Technicolor, the application of that term to Technicolor's two-component processes is now increasingly regarded as erroneous, since its companion term "three-strip", widely used to describe Process 4, refers to the number of separate strips of film used in the camera, not to the nature of the final print. As before, the special Technicolor camera used a beam-splitter that simultaneously exposed two frames of a single strip of black-and-white film, one behind a green filter and one behind a red filter.

The difference was that the two-component negative was now used to produce a subtractive color print. Because the colors were physically present in the print, no special projection equipment was required and the correct registration of the two images did not depend on the skill of the projectionist.

The frames exposed behind the green filter were printed on one strip of black-and-white film, and the frames exposed behind the red filter were printed on another strip. After development, each strip was toned to a color complementary to that of the filter—red for the green-filtered images, green for the red-filtered. Unlike tinting, which adds a uniform veil of color to the entire image, toning chemically replaces the black-and-white silver image with transparent coloring matter, so that the highlights remain clear (or nearly so), dark areas are strongly colored, and intermediate tones are colored proportionally. The two strips, made of film stocks thinner than regular film, were then cemented together base to base to create a projection print. ''The Toll of the Sea'' debuted on November 26, 1922 as the first general release film to use Technicolor.

The second all-color feature in this process, ''Wanderer of the Wasteland'', was released in 1924. Process 2 was also used for color sequences in such major motion pictures as ''The Ten Commandments'' (1923), ''The Phantom of the Opera'' (1925), and ''Ben-Hur'' (1925). Douglas Fairbanks' ''The Black Pirate'' (1926), became the fourth feature to be filmed entirely in Technicolor.

Although successful commercially, Process 2 was plagued with technical problems. Because the images on the two sides of the print were not in the same plane, both could not be perfectly focused at the same time. The significance of this problem depended on the depth of field of the projection optics. Much more serious was a problem with cupping. Films in general tended to become somewhat cupped after repeated use. Every time a film was projected, each frame in turn was heated by the intense light in the projection gate, causing it to bulge slightly. After it had passed through the gate, it cooled and the bulge subsided, but not quite completely. It was found that the cemented prints were not only very prone to cupping, but that the direction of cupping would suddenly and randomly change from back to front or vice versa, so that even the most attentive projectionist could not prevent the image from temporarily popping out of focus whenever the direction changed. Technicolor had to supply new prints so the cupped ones could be shipped to their Boston laboratory for flattening, after which they could be put back into service, at least for a while. The unusual thickness of the film and the presence of image layers on both surfaces made the prints especially vulnerable to scratching, and vividly colored scratches are very noticeable. Splicing a Process 2 print without special attention to its unusual laminated construction was apt to result in a bad splice that would fail as it passed through the projector. Even before these problems became apparent, Technicolor regarded this cemented print approach as a stopgap and was already at work developing an improved process.

Process 3

Based on the same dye-transfer technique created in 1916 by Max Handschiegl, Technicolor Process 3 (1928) was developed to eliminate the projection print made of double-cemented prints, in favor of a print created by a process similar to lithography called ''dye imbibition''. The Technicolor camera for Process 3 was identical to that for Process 2, simultaneously photographing two consecutive frames of a black-and-white film behind red and green filters.

In the lab, every other frame of the camera negative was printed onto one strip of specially prepared gelatin film (or "matrix") to create a red record, and the remaining frames were printed onto a second strip of blank film to create a green record. On exposure to light, the gelatin hardened. Areas not exposed to light were washed away by the developer leaving a relief image created by the hardened gelatin. The two matrix films were then soaked in dye baths of their complementary colors. The strip containing the red record was dyed green and the green record strip was dyed red. The thicker the gelatin on each frame, the more dye it absorbed.

During the final printing, the matrices were placed in contact with a blank, emulsified strip of film (known as the "blank") and the dye was transferred from the matrices to the new print. A mordant made from deacetylated Chitin was applied to the blank before printing, which kept the dye from migrating.

As this dye-transfer process was introduced around the same time as sound-on-film, the emulsion on the blank was adapted to a black-and-white film stock where the soundtrack and frame line were printed in black and white first, and then the dye-layer was added.

The first feature made entirely in the Technicolor Process 3 was ''The Viking'' (1928), which had a synchronized score and sound effects. ''Redskin'' (1929), with a synchronized score, and ''The Mysterious Island'' (1929), a part-talkie, were photographed almost entirely in this process also but included some sequences in black and white. The following talkies were made entirely – or almost entirely – in Technicolor Process 3: ''On with the Show!'' (1929) (the first all-talking color feature), ''Gold Diggers of Broadway'' (1929), ''The Show of Shows'' (1929), ''Sally'' (1929), ''The Vagabond King'' (1930), ''Follow Thru'' (1930), ''Golden Dawn'' (1930), ''Hold Everything'' (1930), ''The Rogue Song'' (1930), ''Song of the Flame'' (1930), ''Song of the West'' (1930), ''The Life of the Party'' (1930), ''Sweet Kitty Bellairs'' (1930), ''Bride of the Regiment'' (1930), ''Mamba'' (1930), ''Whoopee!'' (1930), ''King of Jazz'' (1930), ''Under a Texas Moon'' (1930), ''Bright Lights'' (1930), ''Viennese Nights'' (1930), ''Woman Hungry'' (1931), ''Kiss Me Again'' (1931) and ''Fifty Million Frenchmen'' (1931). In addition, scores of features were released with Technicolor sequences. Numerous short subjects were also photographed in Technicolor Process 3, including the first color sound cartoons by producers such as Ub Iwerks and Walter Lantz. ''Song of the Flame'' became the first color movie to use a widescreen process (using a system known as Vitascope, which used 65mm film).

In 1931, an improvement of Technicolor Process 3 was developed which removed grain from the Technicolor film, resulting in more vivid and vibrant colors. This process was first used on a Radio Picture entitled: ''The Runaround'' (1931). The new process not only improved the color but also removed specks (that looked like bugs) from the screen, which had previously blurred outlines and lowered visibility. This new improvement along with a reduction in cost (from 8.85 cents to 7 cents per foot) led to a new color revival. Warner Brothers took the lead once again by producing three features (out of an announced plan for six features): ''Manhattan Parade'' (1932), ''Doctor X'' (1932) and ''Mystery of the Wax Museum'' (1933). Radio Pictures followed by announcing plans to make four more features in the new process. Only one of these, ''Fanny Foley Herself'' (1931), was actually produced. Although Paramount Pictures announced plans to make eight features and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer promised two color features, these never materialized. This may have been the result of the lukewarm reception to these new color pictures by the public. Two independently produced features were also made with this improved Technicolor process: ''Legong: Dance of the Virgins'' (1934) and ''Kliou the Tiger'' (1935).

Very few of the original camera negatives of movies made in Technicolor Process 2 or 3 survive. In the late 1940s, most were discarded from storage at Technicolor in a space-clearing move, after the studios declined to reclaim the materials. Those that survived into the 1950s were often used to make black-and-white prints for television and simply discarded thereafter. This explains why so many early color films exist today solely in black and white.

Warner Bros., which had vaulted from a minor exhibitor to a major studio by its introduction of the talkies, incorporated Technicolor's printing to enhance their films. Other producers followed Warner Bros.' example by making features in color, with either Technicolor or one of its competitors, such as Brewster Color and Multicolor (later Cinecolor).

Consequently, the introduction of color did not increase the number of audiences to the point where it was economical. This, and the Great Depression severely strained movie studios' finances, and spelled the end of Technicolor's first financial success.

===Three-strip Technicolor ===

Process 4: Development and introduction

As early as 1924, Technicolor envisioned a full-color process, and by 1929, the company was actively developing such a process. Hollywood made so much use of Technicolor in 1929 and 1930, that many believed the feature film industry would soon be turning out color films exclusively. By 1931, the Great Depression took its toll on the movie industry, and they began to cut back on expenses. The production of color films had decreased dramatically by 1932, when Burton Wescott and Joseph A. Ball completed work on a new three-color movie camera. Technicolor could now promise studios a full range of colors, as opposed to the limited red-green spectrum of previous films. The light passing through the camera lens was split into two beam paths by a prism block. Green light was recorded through a green filter on panchromatic film, while the other half of the light passed through a magenta filter and was recorded on bipack film stock with two strips running base to base. On this stock, the front film was sensitized to blue light only, backed by a red gelatin layer which acted as a light filter to the panchromatic film behind it. This process accurately reproduced the full color spectrum when optically printed using a dye-transfer process in cyan, magenta and yellow.

Kalmus convinced Walt Disney to shoot one of his ''Silly Symphony'' cartoons ''Flowers and Trees'' (1932) in Process 4, the new "three-strip" process. Seeing the potential in full-color Technicolor, Walt Disney negotiated an exclusive contract for the use of the process, continuing to September 1935 (when other studios could start producing cartoons in the process, but were barred from releasing them until 1936). Competitors such as the Fleischer Studios and the Ub Iwerks studio were shut out – they had to settle for either the two-color Technicolor systems or use a competing process such as Cinecolor.

''Flowers and Trees'' was a success with audiences and critics alike, and won the first Academy Award for Animated Short Film. All subsequent ''Silly Symphonies'' from 1933 on were shot with the three-strip process. One 1933 ''Silly Symphony'', ''Three Little Pigs'', engendered such a positive audience response that it overshadowed the feature films with which it was shown. Hollywood was buzzing about color film again. According to ''Fortune'' magazine, "Merian C. Cooper, producer for RKO Radio Pictures and director of ''King Kong'' (1933), saw one of the ''Silly Symphonies'' and said he never wanted to make a black-and-white picture again."

Although Disney's first 60 or so Technicolor cartoons utilized the general three-strip camera, an improved "successive exposure" process was adopted circa 1937 solely for cartoon work: the camera would contain one strip of black-and-white negative film, and each animation cel would be photographed three times, on three sequential frames, behind alternating red, green, and blue filters. Three separate dye transfer printing matrices would be created from the red, green, and blue records in their respective complementary colors, cyan, magenta and yellow.

Shooting Technicolor footage, 1932–1955

Technicolor's advantage over most early natural-color processes was that it was a subtractive synthesis rather than an additive one. Technicolor prints could run on any projector; unlike other additive processes, it could represent colors clearly without any special projection equipment or techniques. More importantly, Technicolor held the best balance between a quality image and speed of printing, compared to other subtractive systems of the time.

The Technicolor Process 4 used colored filters, a beam splitter made from a thinly coated mirror inside a split-cube prism, and three strips of black-and-white film (hence the "three-strip" designation). The beam splitter allowed ⅓ of the light to shine through a green filter onto one strip of film, capturing the green part of the image. The other ⅔ was reflected sideways by the mirror and passed through a magenta filter, to remove any green (which would have been redundant). The diverted non-green light exposed a pair of film strips spooled together; one which captured only blues, itself a filter, and another which picked up whatever was left (the red part of the image). The "blue" strip could act as a filter because it was a special type of film known as orthochromatic, which is designed to absorb some light frequencies and not others. The "green" and "red" strips were both of the broad-spectrum, panchromatic type.

To print the film, each colored strip had a print struck from it onto a light sensitive piece of gelatin film. When processed, "dark" portions of the film hardened, and light areas were washed away. The gelatin film strip was then soaked with a dye complementary to the color recorded by the film: cyan for red, magenta for green, and yellow for blue (see also: CMYK color model for a technical discussion of color printing).

A single clear strip of black-and-white film with the soundtrack and frame lines printed in advance was first treated with a mordant solution and then brought in contact with each of the three dye-soaked colored strips in turn, building up the complete color image. This process is referred to as "dye imbibition", a technique which was commonly used in conventional offset printing or lithography but which the Technicolor process utilized on film. The final strip of film would have the dyes soaked into its emulsion and not simply printed onto its surface. The end result was a bright and clear representation of natural color.

In the early days of the process, the clear film would be pre-exposed with a 50% black-and-white image derived from the green strip. This process was used largely to cover up fine edges in the picture where colors would mix unrealistically (also known as fringing). This additional black increased the contrast of the final print and concealed any fringing. However, overall colorfulness was compromised as a result. By the early 1940s, Technicolor had streamlined the process to make up for these shortcomings and this practice ceased.

Convincing Hollywood

The studios were willing to adopt three-color Technicolor for live-action feature production, if it could be proved viable. Shooting three-strip Technicolor required very bright lighting, as the film had an extremely slow speed of ASA 5. That, and the bulk of the cameras and a lack of experience with three-color cinematography made for skepticism in the studio board rooms.

''Fortune'' magazine's October 1934 article stressed that Technicolor, as a corporation, was rather remarkable in that it kept its investors quite happy despite the fact that it had only been in profit twice in all of the years of its existence, during the early boom at the turn of the decade. A well-managed company, half of whose stock was controlled by a clique loyal to Kalmus, Technicolor never had to cede any control to its bankers or unfriendly stockholders. In the mid-'30s, all the major studios except MGM were in the financial doldrums, and a color process that truly reproduced the visual spectrum was seen as a possible shot-in-the-arm for the ailing industry.

In November 1933, Technicolor's Herbert Kalmus and RKO announced plans to produce three-strip Technicolor films in 1934, beginning with Ann Harding starring in a projected film ''The World Outside''.

Live-action use of three-strip Technicolor was first seen in a musical number of the MGM feature ''The Cat and the Fiddle'', released February 16, 1934. On July 28 of that year, Warner Brothers released ''Service With a Smile'', followed by ''Good Morning, Eve!'' on August 5, both being comedy short films starring Leon Errol and filmed in three-strip Technicolor. Pioneer Pictures, a movie company formed by Technicolor investors, produced the film usually credited as the first live-action short film shot in the three-strip process, ''La Cucaracha'' released August 31, 1934. ''La Cucaracha'' is a two-reel musical comedy that cost $65,000, approximately four times what an equivalent black-and-white two-reeler would cost. Released by RKO, the short was a success in introducing the new Technicolor as a viable medium for live-action films. The three-strip process also was used in some short sequences filmed for several movies made during 1934, including the final sequences of ''The House of Rothschild'' (20th Century Pictures/United Artists) with George Arliss and ''Kid Millions'' (Samuel Goldwyn Studios) with Eddie Cantor.

Pioneer/RKO's ''Becky Sharp'' (1935) became the first feature film photographed entirely in three-strip Technicolor. Initially, three-strip Technicolor was only used indoors. In 1936, ''The Trail of the Lonesome Pine'' became the first production to have outdoor sequences, with impressive results. The spectacular success of ''Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs'' (1937), which was released in December 1937 and became the top-grossing film of 1938, attracted the attention of the studios.

Limitations and difficulties

One major drawback of Technicolor's three-strip process was that it required a special, bulky, and very heavy Technicolor camera. Film studios could not purchase Technicolor cameras, only rent them for their productions, complete with camera technicians and a "color supervisor" to ensure sets, costumes and makeup didn't push beyond the limitations of the system. Often on many early productions, the supervisor was Natalie Kalmus, ex-wife of Herbert Kalmus and part owner of the company. Directors had great difficulty with her; Vincente Minnelli said, "I couldn't do anything right in Mrs. Kalmus's eyes."

The process of splitting the image reduced the amount of light reaching the film stock. Since the film speed of the stocks used were fairly slow, early Technicolor productions required a greater amount of lighting than a black-and-white production. It is reported that temperatures on the film set of ''The Wizard of Oz'' from the hot studio lights frequently exceeded 100 °F (38 °C), and some of the more heavily costumed characters required a large water intake. Some actors and actresses claimed to have suffered permanent eye damage from the high levels of illumination.

Because of the added lighting and triple amount of film necessary, Technicolor demanded high film budgets.

The introduction of Eastman color and decline

thumb|right|250px|''[[Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (film)|Gentlemen Prefer Blondes'', an example of Technicolor filming in 1950s Hollywood.]]Color film processes that recorded all three primary colors on one strip of film had been developed for 16mm and 8mm amateur film in the 1930s by Agfa in Germany and Eastman Kodak in the United States, Agfacolor-Neu (negative film, 1936) and Kodachrome (slide, or reversal film, 1935) respectively. Technicolor introduced ''Monopack'', a single-strip color reversal film (a 35 mm version of Kodachrome Commercial) in 1941 for use on location where the bulky three-strip camera was impractical, but the higher grain of the image made it unsuitable for studio work.

Eastman Kodak introduced its first 35 mm color negative film in 1950. The first commercial feature film to use Eastmancolor was the National Film Board of Canada documentary ''Royal Journey'', released in December 1951. In 1952, an improved version suitable for Hollywood production was introduced. This allowed Technicolor prints to be struck from a single camera negative exposed in a standard camera. ''Foxfire'' (1955), filmed in 1954 by Universal, starring Jane Russell and Jeff Chandler, was the last American-made feature photographed with a Technicolor three-strip camera.

In 1952, Eastman Kodak introduced a high-quality color print film, allowing studios to produce prints through standard photographic processes as opposed to having to send them to Technicolor for the expensive dye imbibition process. That same year, the Technicolor lab adapted its dye transfer process to derive matrices and imbibition prints directly from Eastman Color negatives, as well as other stocks such as Ansco and DuPont color stocks.

Technicolor unveiled their stereoscopic camera for 3-D films in March 1953. The rig utilized two three-strip cameras, running a total of six strips of film at once (three for the left eye and three for the right). Only two films were shot with this camera set-up: ''Flight to Tangier'' (1953) and the Martin and Lewis comedy ''Money From Home'' (1954). A similar, but different system had been used by a different company, utilizing two three-strip cameras side-by-side for a British short called ''Royal River''.

In 1954, Technicolor made reduction dye transfer prints of the large format VistaVision negative. Their process was also adapted for use with Todd-AO, Ultra Panavision 70 and Technirama formats. All of them were an improvement over the three-strip negatives since the negative print-downs generated sharper and finer grain dye transfer copies.

By the late 1960s, the dye-transfer process eventually fell out of favor in the United States as being too expensive and too slow in turning out prints. With the growing number of screens in the US, the standard run of 200-250 prints increased. And while dye-transfer printing yielded superior color printing, the number of high speed prints that could be struck in labs all over the country outweighed the fewer, slower number of prints that could only be had in Technicolor's labs. The last new American film released before Technicolor closed their dye plant was ''The Godfather, Part II'' (1974).

In 1975, the US dye transfer plant was closed and Technicolor became an Eastman-only processor. In 1977, the final dye-transfer printer left in Rome was used by Dario Argento to make prints for his horror film ''Suspiria''. In 1980, the Italian Technicolor plant ceased printing dye transfer.

The British line was shut down in 1978 and sold to Beijing Film and Video Lab in China. A great many films from China and Hong Kong were made in the Technicolor dye transfer process, including Zhang Yimou's ''Ju Dou'' and even one American film, ''Space Avenger'' (1989, director: Richard W. Haines). The Beijing line was shut down in 1993 for a number of reasons, including inferior processing.

Reintroduction of the dye transfer process

In 1997, Technicolor reintroduced the dye transfer process to general film production. A refined version of the printing process of the 1960s and 1970s, it was used on a limited basis in the restorations of films such as ''The Wizard of Oz'', ''Rear Window'', ''Funny Girl'', and ''Apocalypse Now Redux''.

After its reintroduction, the dye transfer process was used in several big-budget, modern Hollywood productions. These included ''Bulworth'', ''Pearl Harbor'', and ''Toy Story''. The distinct "look" this process achieves, often sought after by filmmakers looking to re-create the period of time at which Technicolor was at its most prominent, is difficult to obtain through conventional, high-speed printing methods and is one explanation for the enduring demand and credibility of the process.

The dye-transfer process was discontinued by Technicolor in 2002 after the purchase of the company by Thomson which in 2010 changed its name to Technicolor SA.

Dye transfer Technicolor in archival work

By the late 1990s the dye transfer process still had its advantages in the film archival community. Because the dye transfer process used stable acid dyes, Technicolor prints are considered of archival quality. A Technicolor print from the dye transfer era will retain its original colors virtually unchanged for decades with proper storage, whereas prints printed on Eastman color stocks produced prior to 1983 may suffer color fading after exposure to ultraviolet light and hot, humid conditions as a result of less stable photochemical dyes. Fading on some prints is so rapid that in many cases, after as little as five to ten years, only the magenta record is perceivable on the film.

An article on the restoration of ''Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope'' claimed that a rare dye-transfer print of the movie, made for director George Lucas at the British Technicolor lab during its initial run, had been used as a color reference for the restoration. The article claimed that conventional color prints of the movie had all degraded over the years to the extent that no two had the same color balance. However, because of the variation in color balance per print, dye-transfer prints are used in the professional restoration world as only a rough guideline.

Furthermore, three-strip camera negatives are all on silver-based black-and-white stock, which have stayed unaltered over the course of time with proper handling. This has become of importance in recent years with the large market for films transferred to video formats for home viewing. The best color quality control for video transfer by far is achieved by optically printing from Technicolor negatives, or by recombining the negative through digital means and printing, onto low-contrast stock.

One problem that has resulted from Technicolor negatives is the rate of shrinkage from one negative to another. Because three-strip negatives are shot on three rolls, they are subject to different rates of shrinkage depending on storage conditions. Today, digital technology allows for a precise re-alignment of the negatives by resizing shrunken negatives digitally to correspond with the other negatives. Shrinkage and re-alignment (resizing) are non-issues with Successive Exposure (single-roll RGB) Technicolor camera negatives.

Technicolor today

The Technicolor company remained a highly successful film processing firm and later became involved in video and audio duplication (CD, VHS and DVD manufacturing) and digital video processes. MacAndrews & Forbes acquired Technicolor, Inc. in 1982 for $100 million, then sold it in 1988 to the British firm Carlton Communications PLC for $780 million. Technicolor, Inc. acquired the film processing company Consolidated Film Industries in 2000. Since 2001, Technicolor has been part of the French-headquartered electronics and media conglomerate Thomson. The name of Thomson group was changed to “Technicolor” as of February 1, 2010, re-branding the entire company after its American film technology subsidiary.

The visual aesthetic of dye transfer Technicolor continues to be used in Hollywood, usually in films set in the mid-20th century. Parts of ''The Aviator'', the 2004 biopic of Howard Hughes, were digitally manipulated to imitate color processes that were available during the periods each scene takes place. The two-color look of the film is incorrectly cited as looking like Technicolor's two-color systems, and is in fact a facsimile of Hughes' own color system, Multicolor. The "three-strip" Technicolor look begins after the newsreel footage of Hughes making the first flight around the world.

See also

List of film formats

List of color film systems

Imbibition

List of early color feature films

References

Further reading

Fred E. Basten, ''Glorious Technicolor: The Movies' Magic Rainbow''. Easton Studio Press, 2005. ISBN 0-9647065-0-4

Adrian Cornwell-Clyne, ''Colour Cinematography''. London Champman & Hall, 1951.

Richard W. Haines, ''Technicolor Movies: The History of Dye Transfer Printing''. McFarland & Company, 2003. ISBN 0-7864-1809-5

John Waner, ''Hollywood's Conversion of All Production to Color'', Tobey Publishing, 2000.

External links

Technicolor official site

Kulturblog: Technicolor, An Explanation

Technicolor History at the American WideScreen Museum

Technicolor Corporate Website

Database of 3-strip Technicolor Films

Category:Film and video technology Category:Organizations awarded an Academy Honorary Award Category:1914 introductions Category:1915 introductions Category:Technicolor SA Category:History of film Category:Private equity portfolio companies Category:1932 introductions

ast:Technicolor ca:Technicolor de:Technicolor (Verfahren) es:Technicolor fa:تکنی کالر fr:Technicolor (procédé) it:Technicolor hu:Technicolor ms:Technicolor nl:Technicolor ja:テクニカラー pl:Technicolor pt:Technicolor ro:Tehnicolor ru:Technicolor fi:Technicolor sv:Technicolor tr:Technicolor zh:特藝七彩

Name	Tim Myers
Background	solo_singer
Birth name	Timothy Myers
Alias	Tim Myers
Birth date	November 30, 1984
Origin	Orange, California, United States
Genre	Pop rock, alternative rock, Indie rock
Occupation	Singer-songwriter
instrument	Vocals, guitar, piano, bass,
Years active	2007–present
Website	Tim Myers MySpace }}

Tim Myers (born 30 November 1984) is an American singer, songwriter and musician from Orange, California.

Myers is also known for playing bass in the band OneRepublic from 2004-2007.

Early life

Born and raised in southern California, music has been a presence in Myers life since an early age. Myers was compelled by piano at five and mastered classical piano by age 13, at which time he was introduced to guitar and bass. Myers soon started writing songs at age 14.

Career

Early musical career

In 2002, Myers moved to Los Angeles, California and joined the Interscope/Geffen Records band Limousine. The band was released from their contract within months of beginning work on their debut record.

===OneRepublic=== In 2004, Myers met founders of OneRepublic, Ryan Tedder and Tedder's high school classmate Zach Filkins in Los Angeles. Myers played bass in the band from 2004 to 2007, as well as helped compose four tracks on the record, including their Billboard hit "Stop & Stare". After signing a deal with Columbia Records, they recorded a number of songs, only to be dropped by the record label shortly after turning in their record. Myers then left the band to pursue a solo career. The band went on to become the number one unsigned band on MySpace and soon got signed to Interscope Records under the Mosley Music Group, headed by Timbaland. The band recorded a full album, ''Dreaming Out Loud'' and was released on 20 November 2007 in the United States. The band has since smashed records with their mega-hit "Apologize", becoming the biggest radio airplay hit in the history of North American Top 40 radio, according to Billboard, and was played more than 10,000 times in a span of a week.

Myers co-wrote two songs featured on the Deluxe edition of OneRepublic's second album ''Waking Up'' released on November 17, 2009. Myers co-wrote and played on the songs "Sucker Punch" and "Trap Door". These songs were written before Myers left the band in 2007.

Solo career

In early 2007, Myers released a solo EP titled ''Revolution EP''. The six-song "Revolution EP" was filled with political anti-war songs. The lyrics call for the need to make positive changes in the turbulent times in which we live. The single "World War" reached #3 on the Triple A radio charts. "A Revolution Song" featured vocals from Colbie Caillat.

References

External links

Category:American male singers Category:American rock guitarists Category:1986 births Category:Living people Category:American rock songwriters

it:Tim Myers

name	Paloma Faith
background	solo_singer
birth name	Paloma Faith Blomfield
born	July 21, 1985Hackney, London, UK
instrument	Vocals
genre	Soul, pop, jazz
occupation	Singer-songwriter, actress
years active	2009–present
label	Epic
website	}}

Paloma Faith (born Paloma Faith Blomfield; 21 July 1985) is a British singer-songwriter and actress. In 2009, she released her debut single "Stone Cold Sober", then her debut album, ''Do You Want the Truth or Something Beautiful?'', which was certified Platinum by the British Phonographic Industry. Her debut album stayed within the top 40 album charts for over forty weeks. The album has spawned five singles: "Stone Cold Sober", "New York", title track "Do You Want the Truth or Something Beautiful?", "Upside Down" and "Smoke & Mirrors". Faith has also recorded the theme song to the 2010 British film ''4.3.2.1'' and appeared on the charity record, "I Put a Spell on You". Faith made her feature film debut in the 2007 remake of ''St Trinian's''. She has since appeared in two more feature films, ''The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus'' and ''Dread''. In March 2010, Faith revealed that she is working on a second album.

Early life

Faith was born in Hackney, London to a Spanish father and an English mother who split up when Faith was two years old. Faith was raised by her mother in Stoke Newington. As a child, Faith was encouraged to dance by her mother and she took weekly ballet classes in Dalston.

After completing her A-Levels, Faith went on to study for a degree in contemporary dance at the Northern School of Contemporary Dance, which Faith describes as "the worst experience of [her] life". Faith then went on to study for an MA in theatre directing at Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design, funding her studies by working various part-time jobs, which included; a sales assistant at Agent Provocateur, a singer in a burlesque cabaret, a life model and a magician's assistant.

Music career

Faith's first foray into music began when she mimicked famous soul and jazz singers including Etta James and Billie Holiday, whom she admired and cites as influences for her own work.

During her time at college, Faith worked in a pub where the manager asked her to front his band, which they later called 'Paloma and the Penetrators'. During a performance with the band at a cabaret show, Faith was scouted by an A&R; man from Epic Records, who invited Faith to sing for the manager of the label. Twenty minutes into the audition, Faith asked the manager to turn his phone off and when he refused, she walked out. Epic A&R; Joanna Charrington told HitQuarters "When she played a showcase for us it was clear that she was a star but the material was a bit generic. She didn't have the hit songs." Not being one hundred percent convinced the label executives decided to wait. During this time Charrington regularly checked Faith's Myspace page "to see if she had something that had a special direction or sound." After several months her attention was eventually piqued by "Broken Doll", which she thought was a well-crafted song with a "fantastic chorus and brilliant lyrics." Charrington told Epic managing director Nick Raphael "I think we should get this girl back in. She sounds like she is getting it now. We can help her get the songs." Faith revealed in an interview that the manager called her and offered her a contract saying he had seen many acts since and none had been as memorable as her. Faith turned down an opportunity to join Amy Winehouse's band and she began to write and perform her own songs.

Faith's first recognised work was the song "It's Christmas (And I Hate You)", which she recorded as a duet with singer-songwriter, Josh Weller in 2008. Faith's music is influenced by soul and jazz and her singing style has been compared favourably to those of Amy Winehouse and Duffy.

''Do You Want the Truth or Something Beautiful?'' (2009–present)

Faith released her debut single, "Stone Cold Sober", in mid-2009 and it reached Nº17 on the UK Singles Chart. Faith's second single, "New York" was released in September 2009. The song made its peak position in early October, peaking at Nº15 on the UK Singles Chart. Faith then released her debut album, ''Do You Want the Truth or Something Beautiful?'', on 28 September 2009. Faith wrote or co-wrote all of the songs on the album in the UK, Sweden and America and recorded it entirely in London. It debuted at Nº14 on the UK Albums Chart and later peaked at Nº9, it remained in the chart for sixteen weeks. The album became BBC Radio 2's 'Album of the Week' from the 19 September 2009. In the same year, Faith appeared as a guest vocalist on Basement Jaxx's ''Scars'' album and on American hip hop artist, MF Doom's, album, ''Born Like This''. Faith released her third single, the album's title track, "Do You Want the Truth or Something Beautiful?" on 21 December 2009. The song did not perform as well as Faith's previous singles and failed to reach the top twenty. It peaked at Nº64 in January 2010. In March 2010, Faith released her fourth single, "Upside Down", which peaked at Nº55 in the UK.

To promote the album, Faith went on her first tour, featuring dates in the UK, Germany and France. On 4 November 2009, Faith announced her first headlining tour of the UK and Ireland starting on 17 March 2010. ''The Times'' described the tour as being "full of theatrical artifice, but based on the rock-solid foundation of [Faith]'s sensational singing voice and a personality that sparkled like a rough diamond". Faith performed a live set for the BBC's ''Radio 2 Introduces...'' and gave an interview to the station's host, Dermot O'Leary. Faith also appeared on current events programme ''This Week'' discussing her views on the British education system with Michael Portillo. During this month she also appeared as a guest on ''Never Mind the Buzzcocks'', performed the song "Upside Down" on ''The Hollyoaks Music Show,'' and performed her single "New York" on ''Friday Night with Jonathan Ross''. She also appeared on the BBC's ''Later with Jools Holland'', recorded on 13 October 2009, and his live Hootenanny on 31 December 2009. Faith performed at numerous festivals throughout that summer, including T4 on the Beach.

"Stone Cold Sober" was used as the backing track for a Rimmel commercial starring Lily Cole and the B-side, "I Just Wait", was used in a UK television alcohol awareness advert. Samsung's Corby mobile phone TV commercial featured Faith's "Technicolour" song. In November 2009, Faith became involved in an album artwork competition with BBC Blast, in which teenagers won the chance to work alongside leading artists, photographers and music industry professionals to create new Paloma Faith publicity artwork.

During an interview with Digital Spy in March 2010, Faith revealed that she is working on a second album. She also revealed that if she continues to make losses for her record label they will drop her. Faith, along with Adam Deacon and Bashy, recorded the theme song to the 2010 British film ''4.3.2.1''. The track, titled "Keep Moving", was released on 28 May 2010. In June 2010, it was announced that Faith would re-release an updated version of "New York" featuring rapper Ghostface Killah. The single was released on 1 August 2010. Faith released a live EP album following an appearance at the 2010 iTunes Festival. The album charted at number 11 on the iTunes top 200 albums. Faith revealed in a September interview that she would be releasing her new single "Smoke & Mirrors" in October 2010. The track is her final single from her debut album and its video was uploaded to YouTube. In January 2011, Faith was nominated for "British Female Solo Artist" at the 2011 BRIT Awards. At the ceremony, Faith performed "Forget You" alongside Cee Lo Green. Faith appears on the charity single "Hard Times" alongside Plan B and Elton John.

Acting career

In 2006, Faith made her primetime television acting debut in the series ''Mayo''. In 2007, Faith appeared in an episode of the BBC police drama ''HolbyBlue'', and in the same year Faith made her feature film acting debut as Andrea in ''St Trinian's''. In 2009, Faith appeared in Terry Gilliam's ''The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus'' as Sally, the girlfriend of the Devil (played by Tom Waits). She also appeared in horror film ''Dread'' as Clara Thornhill, and in the video for Dan Le Sac vs Scroobius Pip's song, "The Beat That My Heart Skipped". Faith has said that she was able to attend movie auditions during promotion for her debut album, in the hope that she lands a role once all of her album commitments are over. In August 2010, Faith appeared in Channel 4's series ''Coming Up''. Faith will appear in the forthcoming short film, ''A Nice Touch'' with Dougray Scott.

Discography

Studio albums

{|class=wikitable style=text-align:center; |- ! rowspan=2| Year ! rowspan=2| Album details ! colspan=7| Chart peak positions ! rowspan=2| Certifications(sales thresholds) |- style=font-size:smaller; ! width=35|UK ! width=35|IRE ! width=35|SWI ! width=35|DUT ! width=35|FIN ! width=35|POL ! width=35|SCT |- | 2009 | align=left| ''Do You Want the Truth or Something Beautiful?''

1st studio album

Released: 28 September 2009

Label: Epic Records

|9 |26 |37 |50 |46 |39 |3 |align=left| UK: Platinum IRE: Platinum |- |}

Singles

{|class="wikitable" !rowspan="2"|Year !rowspan="2"|Song !colspan="10"|Chart positions !rowspan="2"|Album |- !style="width:3em;"|UK !style="width:3em;"|AUS !style="width:3em;"|DEN !style="width:3em;"|FIN !style="width:3em;"|GER !style="width:3em;"|IRE !style="width:3em;"|NZ !style="width:3em;"|SWE !style="width:3em;"|SWI !style="width:3em;"|SCT |- |rowspan="3"|2009 |"Stone Cold Sober" |align="center"|17 |align="center"|45 |align="center"|— |align="center"|— |align="center"|70 |align="center"|— |align="center"|30 |align="center"|— |align="center"|36 |align="center"|10 |rowspan="6"|''Do You Want the Truth or Something Beautiful?'' |- |"New York" |align="center"|15 |align="center"|— |align="center"|29 |align="center"|8 |align="center"|54 |align="center"|12 |align="center"|— |align="center"|38 |align="center"|15 |align="center"|9 |- |"Do You Want the Truth or Something Beautiful?" |align="center"|64 |align="center"|— |align="center"|— |align="center"|— |align="center"|— |align="center"|— |align="center"|— |align="center"|— |align="center"|— |align="center"|32 |- |rowspan="3"|2010 |"Upside Down" |align="center"|55 |align="center"|— |align="center"|— |align="center"|— |align="center"|— |align="center"|— |align="center"|— |align="center"|— |align="center"|— |align="center"|39 |- |"New York" (feat. Ghostface Killah) |align="center"|44 |align="center"|— |align="center"|— |align="center"|— |align="center"|— |align="center"|— |align="center"|— |align="center"|— |align="center"|— |align="center"|— |- |"Smoke & Mirrors" |align="center"|140 |align="center"|— |align="center"|— |align="center"|— |align="center"|— |align="center"|— |align="center"|— |align="center"|— |align="center"|— |align="center"|— |- |}

As featured artist

{|class="wikitable" !Year !Song !Album |- |rowspan="2"|2009 |"It's Christmas (And I Hate You)" (Josh Weller, Paloma Faith, the Arctic Circle Ensemble, and the Puffin Voices) |''That Fuzzy Feeling'' |- |"What's a Girl Gotta Do" (Basement Jaxx featuring Paloma Faith) |''Scars'' |- |rowspan="3"|2010 |"I Put a Spell on You" (Shane MacGowan and Friends) |Charity single |- |"Keep Moving" (Adam Deacon & Bashy featuring Paloma Faith) |''4.3.2.1: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack'' |- |"Lola" (Ray Davies with Paloma Faith) |''See My Friends'' |- |2011 |"Hard Times" (Plan B featuring Elton John & Paloma Faith) | Charity single |}

Filmography

{|class="wikitable" style="font-size: 90%;" border="2" cellpadding="4" background: #f9f9f9; |- align="center" !! colspan=4 style="background:#B0C4DE;" | Feature films |- align="center" ! style="background: #CCCCCC;" | Year ! style="background: #CCCCCC;" | Title ! style="background: #CCCCCC;" | Role ! style="background: #CCCCCC;" | Notes |- | 2007 || ''St Trinian's'' || Andrea || Movie acting debut |- | rowspan="2"|2009 ||''The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus'' || Sally || |- |''Dread'' || Clara Thornhill || |- | 2011 || ''A Nice Touch'' || || |- align="center" ! colspan=4 style="background:#B0C4DE;" | Television roles |- align="center" ! style="background:#CCCCCC;" | Year ! style="background:#CCCCCC;" | Title ! style="background:#CCCCCC;" | Role ! style="background:#CCCCCC;" | Notes |- | 2006 || ''Mayo'' || Guest || |- | 2007 || ''HolbyBlue'' || Donna Reynolds || |- | 2010 || ''Coming Up: I Don't Care'' || Rainy || |- |}

References

External links

''True Faith – The Paloma Faith Interview'', Paloma Faith's first interview on Wordpress blog, VonPipMusicalExpress

BBC Blast – Paloma Faith publicity artwork competition at BBC Blast

Paloma Faith live photos Jan 2007 by Bartolomy

Category:1985 births Category:Blue-eyed soul singers Category:English female singers Category:English film actors Category:English people of Spanish descent Category:Living people Category:People from Hackney Category:Alumni of the Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design Category:People from Stoke Newington

da:Paloma Faith de:Paloma Faith es:Paloma Faith fr:Paloma Faith it:Paloma Faith pl:Paloma Faith pt:Paloma Faith ro:Paloma Faith ru:Палома Фейт fi:Paloma Faith sv:Paloma Faith

name	Owl City
landscape	Yes
background	group_or_band
alias	Adam Young
genre	Electronica, Synthpop
origin	Owatonna, Minnesota, United States
years active	2007–present
label	Universal Republic
associated acts	Sky Sailing, Swimming With Dolphins, Matt Thiessen, Lights, Breanne Düren
website
current members	Adam Young }}

Owl City is an American electronica musical project by singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Adam Young formed in 2007 in Owatonna, Minnesota. Young created the project while experimenting with music in his parents' basement. Like many musicians who achieved success in the late 2000s, Owl City developed a following on the social networking site Myspace before signing with Universal Republic in 2008.

After two independent releases, Owl City gained mainstream popularity with the 2009 major label debut album ''Ocean Eyes'', which spawned the quadruple-platinum hit single "Fireflies". The album was certified Platinum in the United States in April 2010.

In 2011, Owl City released his third studio album, ''All Things Bright and Beautiful''.

Early years (2007–2009)

Suffering from insomnia while working loading Coca-Cola trucks in his hometown Owatonna, Minnesota, Young turned to composing music. He began uploading songs recorded in his parents' basement to Myspace. He started to receive favorable attention for his music and then helped cultivate this nascent fanbase by being an open and accessible web presence, responding to any messages he received and constantly posting blogs. His manager Steve Burksy later highlighted the significance of Young's engaging online manner in building his following saying: "People feel like they know him, like they've got a direct connection to him because of how he approaches his connection with them online." Through a deal with the digital aggregator CD Baby, he then started making the songs available for sale through iTunes. In 2007, Owl City released an EP titled ''Of June'', followed by the 2008 release of the album ''Maybe I'm Dreaming''. ''Of June'' reached No. 15 on the ''Billboard'' Electronic Albums chart, and ''Maybe I'm Dreaming'' peaked on the same chart at No. 13.

The viral phenomenon that was building through Myspace caught the attention of Universal Republic presidents Avery and Monte Lipman who approached Young with a view to signing the artist. Republic recommended Young partner up with 27-year-old manager Steve Bursky of Foundations Artist Management and the two began working together in late 2008. When later asked by HitQuarters why the label chose him for a major label act given his relative inexperience, Burksy said:

"I think they saw Owl City as representing the future of our business. This idea of a kid in a tiny town in rural U.S. being able to make songs in his basement that sound like Top 40 radio could never have happened ten years ago. By hiring a young management company who understands the business circa 2011 over a seasoned industry vet, who might not understand the online spaces well, showed a lot of understanding of where this kid was going to end up having success."

Owl City's label deal with Universal Republic was finally confirmed in February 2009. According to Bursky there was initially some disagreement about the direction Owl City should follow, telling HitQuarters: "They were ready to send him into the studio with big producers and polish him up to try to become this thing that he wasn't. But we put our foot down and said, 'Look, the reason you signed this kid is because it’s working. Whatever it is about him - his music, his interaction with his fans, his brilliance in the online space - these things are connecting with people, and as soon as you change that you lose what’s special about this artist.' To their credit, they really listened and they got it."

''Ocean Eyes'' (2009–2010)

''Ocean Eyes'', Owl City's third full-length album and major label debut, was released on iTunes on July 14, 2009, with the physical release following on July 28, 2009. The album debuted at No. 27 on the Billboard 200. Owl City has released three official singles from this album: "Umbrella Beach", "Vanilla Twilight" and "Fireflies". "Fireflies" topped the US and Canadian charts. ''Ocean Eyes'' reached the top ten on the US album charts, topped the US electronic charts, and also reached Amazon MP3's top 10 most downloaded album list. By April 2010, it was certified Platinum in the United States. On January 24, 2010, Owl City reached the No. 1 spot in the UK Top 40 Singles chart with "Fireflies". The song "Tidal Wave" also received significant airplay on Christian music radio stations. On January 2, 2011, it was revealed "Fireflies" was the 20th most downloaded song of all time in the UK.

Young is joined by Breanne Düren on several tracks; the most noted being "The Saltwater Room". Owl City's live band consists of Breanne Düren (background vocals/keyboards), Casey Brown (drums), Laura Musten (violin), Hannah Schroeder (cello), and Daniel Jorgensen (vibes).

Relient K vocalist Matt Thiessen has toured and collaborated with Owl City on several tracks, including "Fireflies", where Matt can be heard providing the backup vocals. Young also produced Relient K's song "Terminals".

"Fireflies" was released as a free download on the game ''Tap Tap Revenge 3'' by Tapulous. Prior to the July 14, 2009 internet release of ''Ocean Eyes'', and the "Fireflies" single, Steve Hoover was hired as a director for a music video for "Fireflies". The video was to have had an exclusive premiere on MySpace, but had been leaked onto YouTube and Dailymotion hours earlier. "Fireflies" became a big sleeper hit, topping the Billboard Hot 100 in the United States for the week ending November 7, 2009.

Owl City is featured on ''Soundtrack 90210'' with a song titled "Sunburn", which was released on October 13, 2009. Owl City has toured with The Scene Aesthetic, Lights, John Mayer, Maroon 5 and Brooke Waggoner. He was also guest featured in the soundtrack to Tim Burton's ''Alice in Wonderland'' with a song entitled "The Technicolor Phase" that had already been featured in his debut album.

In 2010, Young revealed a new musical project known as Sky Sailing, which moved away from his usual electronica genre of music and introduced acoustic guitar and piano accompaniments into his work. The unrefined tracks were recorded in the summer of 2007 before he began making music as Owl City. His first album under this new project is entitled ''An Airplane Carried Me to Bed'', and was released July 13, 2010 via iTunes.

In May 2010, Adam Young collaborated with high-profile British electronic composer, producer, musician, and songwriter Nick Bracegirdle. Under his Chicane alias, Bracegirdle released the single "Middledistancerunner" on August 1, 2010 featuring Adam Young on vocals. This is the first single from the fourth Chicane album ''Giants''. He also worked with famed Dutch producer Armin van Buuren, appearing on a track called 'Youtopia' from the van Buuren album ''Mirage'' on September 10, 2010.

On September 21, 2010 "To the Sky" was officially released via iTunes on the soundtrack for Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'hoole.

On October 25, 2010, Young released a cover version of the praise and worship song "In Christ Alone" as a streaming mp3 on his website,

On November 13, 2010, a new album was also released for one of his other musical projects, "Windsor Airlift", called "Flight" on iTunes.

On November 23, 2010, a new Christmas single called "Peppermint Winter" was released. A preview had been released the previous week on Facebook.

''All Things Bright and Beautiful'' (2010–2011)

Production on Young's third studio album began around mid-2010, with Young being announced as the executive producer of the album.

On October 18, 2010 Young wrote an entry on his blog regarding his third studio album, saying that the album was nearing completion.

In February 2011, the title of the album was announced to be ''All Things Bright and Beautiful'' and that the album would be released on May 17. However, on April 6, Young released a statement on his website, along with lengthy previews of four of his songs (Dreams Don't Turn to Dust, Alligator Sky Featuring Shawn Chrystopher, Galaxies, and Deer in the Headlights), that the release date for ''All Things Bright and Beautiful'' would be pushed back to June 14.

On March 22, Alligator Sky was released as the lead single from the album on ''iTunes''.

In Late March and Early April, tickets went on sale for The All Things Bright and Beautiful World Tour, and All Things Bright and Beautiful became available for preorder.

On April 19, Galaxies was released as the second single from the album.

On May 6, the music video for Alligator Sky was released. Young discussed the concept in a making-of video posted on Owl City's VEVO account, "The concept is basically about these two guys who are leaving Earth. Rather than it being this very dark post-apocalyptic vibe, it's very optimistic, and so it's like people are excited to leave earth."

On May 23, Deer in the Headlights, the third single from the album, was released on iTunes.

On June 14, All Things Bright and Beautiful was released on iTunes. Although only a few days prior on May 20, almost all of the album leaked onto the internet.

On June 30, the music video for 'Deer in the Headlights' was released. It features Young driving through the night in the DMC DeLorean featured in the Back to the Future trilogy and Canadian musician Lights makes a cameo appearance in the video.

On July 19, "Lonely Lullaby" was released as a single on iTunes, which was previously available only to Owl City Galaxy members.

Young was interviewed in the August issue of Cliché Magazine. He also appeared on the cover of the magazine and the issue also featured some of Young's very own art work.

On July 21, at the Club Nokia concert in Los Angeles, Young announced that the concert was being filming for a Live DVD to be released by the holiday season.

On November 28, the music video for "Youtopia", by Armin van Buuren Featuring Adam Young, was released on YouTube.

Fourth Studio Album (2011-Present)

In Young's final tour dates of 2011, he said that he had begun the recording process of his fourth studio album. He also performed a new song entitled "I Hope You Think of Me".

On January 2, 2012, Young wrote an entry on his blog regarding his fourth studio album. Young said that he would be collaborating with more producers and songwriters, also saying that his new record "Marks a flying leap in this direction". Young expects the album to be released around late Summer to Fall 2012.

Musical styles and influences

Owl City's music is described as indietronica and synthpop and is often described as belonging under the broad "alternative music" label. Young has stated that he is inspired by disco and European electronic music, as well as instrumental genres such as drone, ambient, and post-rock. He cites his biggest influences as Johnathon Ford of Unwed Sailor and Thomas Newman. Young also incorporates a large amount of his Christian faith into his music, since he is a vocal Christian. Young's faith is evident on the new album, "All Things Bright and Beautiful", especially in "Galaxies". Explaining why the faith-filled song was added to the mix, he said, "I feel like if I were ever to hide the fact that that’s what’s so important to me, it would be a crime, that I should probably be put in jail for that."

Owl City also has been compared to The Postal Service, often critically, for his combination of fuzzy synths, ironic lyrics and use of female guest singers. Pitchfork.com goes far enough to say that "The surprise No. 1 single in the country, Owl City's 'Fireflies,' jacks the Postal Service in such a bald-faced, obvious manner that getting into specifics feels redundant at best and tacky at worst." In response to the suggestion that his work is derivative, Adam Young suggested in a 2009 interview with The New York Times that ''Ocean Eyes'' is perhaps the "next chapter" after American band The Postal Service: "The Postal Service released a record in 2003, and that was it. There was really nothing to compare it to until some one else came along and wrote the next chapter. Maybe that's this record. Maybe that's this band."

Other projects

Young also produces music under a wide variety of other projects, which include Port Blue, Dolphin Park, Windsor Airlift, Insect Airport, Seagull Orchestra, Novel, Aquarium, Sky Sailing, and Swimming with Dolphins. Most of these projects were started before Owl City propelled Young to fame. Many of these projects were formed alongside some friends, including Austin Tofte of Swimming with Dolphins.

Young was featured on the track "All About Us" by He Is We released on August 29, 2011, on iTunes. He was also featured on the track "First Noel" on TobyMac's album ''Christmas in Diverse City'' released October 4, 2011.

Band members

;Current members

Adam Young – lead vocals, programming, keyboards, piano, synthesizers, guitars, bass guitar, drums, percussion, vibraphone, accordion

;Current touring members While Young writes, composes, records, and produces all of Owl City's music, during live performances he is accompanied by a group of supporting musicians:

Breanne Düren – keyboards, backing vocals

Daniel Jorgensen – guitar, vibraphone

Laura Musten – violin

Hannah Schroeder – cello

Casey Brown – drums

Concert tours

Discography

;Extended Plays

''Of June'' (2007)

;Studio albums

''Maybe I'm Dreaming'' (2008)

''Ocean Eyes'' (2009)

''All Things Bright and Beautiful'' (2011)

''Untitled Fourth Studio Album'' (2012)

References

External links

Owl City Official Website

Category:Musical groups from Minnesota Category:American indie rock groups Category:American New Wave musical groups Category:Electronic music groups from Minnesota

af:Owl City zh-min-nan:Owl City cs:Owl City da:Owl City de:Owl City es:Owl City fr:Owl City gl:Owl City ko:아울 시티 it:Owl City he:Owl City lv:Owl City li:Owl City nl:Owl City ja:アウル・シティー no:Owl City nn:Owl City pl:Owl City pt:Owl City ru:Owl City simple:Owl City sk:Owl City fi:Owl City sv:Owl City th:อาวล์ซิตี tr:Owl City uk:Owl City vi:Owl City zh:貓頭鷹之城

name	Backseat Goodbye
background	solo_singer
years active	2004–present
origin	Murfreesboro, Tennessee, United States
genre	Pop-folk
label	The Winners Club
current members	Chad Sugg
website	www.backseatgoodbye.com }}

Backseat Goodbye (born July 14, 1986) is the stage and recording name of pop-folk singer-songwriter Chad Sugg.

Career

Chad started the solo-project his freshman year at Middle Tennessee State University in August 2004. Born in Clarksville, Sugg currently resides in Nashville, Tennessee.

His music has been described as "brilliant upbeat acoustic folk you can sing along, and listen to all day." and ""Feel good pop music that's deeper than what you're used to..."

As of 2009, Sugg has self-released 4 EPs, all of which he recorded and produced himself at his home studio. All of them, except "The Wonder" are actually full-length, but are called EP because they are only a collection of songs without any concept. His first full length album "Dressed Up Like Dreams" was released through a distribution deal with The Militia Group. He has also self-released a limited pressing of a holiday EP and a holiday album.

Discography

Albums

''The Good Years'' (2010) ''Dressed Up Like Dreams'' (2008)

EPs

''The Wonder EP'' (2010)

''Good Morning, Sunshine'' (2007)

''Nightmares Are For Dreamers'' (2006)

''Rain Rain Go Away'' (2006)

''Blue Moon, Yellow Eyes'' (2006)

''White'' (2005)

Singles

''Moons'' (2010)

''Letdown of the Year'' (2010)

''1996'' (2010)

"Summer" (2009)

''The Great Unknown'' (2009)

''Play Three Again'' (2007)

''Red Balloon'' (2007)

''Technicolor Eyes'' (2006)

References

External links

Chad Sugg at Music-covers

Billboard: Artist Biography

Backseat Goodbye Official Site

Backseat Goodbye MySpace Page

Backseat Goodbye Purevolume Page

Backseat Goodbye Online Store

Category:Living people Category:American pop music groups Category:American folk musical groups Category:Musical groups from Tennessee Category:1986 births