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Williamson put his handiwork on the market it received an extraordinary reception. The lurid
tinting of the flames caught the public fancy.

When film measuring 400 feet or more came into vogue it was recognised that hand
colouring was no longer feasible. The method was too slow and costly. Accordingly a stencil
process was evolved, and is in use to-day, giving many of the beautiful effects seen in the
moving picture theatres. A mechanical method of tinting the films by means of these stencils
was next taken in hand, and finally, after prolonged experiment, was perfected. In this develop-
ment the French firm of Pathé Frères played the most prominent part, and to-day, despite the
strides made in natural colour cinematography, their productions still rank first in popular
estimation, owing to the delicacy of the colouring. This Parisian firm has made the colour film
a prominent feature of its business, and laid down an extensive and well-equipped establish-
ment especially for colouring operations.

Probably everyone knows what a stencil is. It is a pattern cut out of a solid thin flat surface,
which is afterwards laid upon the subject to be treated, and paint applied by means of a brush or
some other medium. The colouring only can reach the surface beneath the cut spaces in the plate,
and consequently is applied just where it is desired. The process is practised freely in the printing
of wall-papers, and in applying designs to other surfaces, as it is both cheap, rapid, and highly
effective.

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