Since the 1920's, the film industry has been constantly progressing through uses of different shots, lighting, and cameras. Through America's past time, we are able to understand how certain events through decades have influenced the way film is made. From the roaring twenties, through the great depression to World Wars, film has always attempted to embody the mood and feelings that the entire country was facing at the time. After World War II however, "Hollywood between 1950 and 1969 can be understood as a response to anticommunist hysteria and the blacklist on the one hand and to the advent of economic divestiture on the other (pg. 387). " Therefore, genres such as Westerns, musical comedies, gangster films and genre-oriented films were beginning to dominate the industry. These genre films were uncontroversial in subject matter, and had already adapted the newly developed widescreen formats, in order to compete with television.
Not only was the industry changing their focus on genres, but also technology including the conversion to color, widescreen shots, and 3-D multiple camera were now a factor. Through new color technology and aesthetics there were new color schemes competing for dominance and experimentation. Such of these prior to 1950 were Cinecolor, Trucolor, Afgocolor, and Technicolor. Then in 1952, a multi-camera/widescreen projector process was introduced called Cinerama. This synchronized 35mm cameras linked together in an arc that would simultaneously record a wide-field range. However this process was very expensive which led to only large cities being able to afford this installation in theatres. Due to its quick success in the early 1950's, the Cinerama was a big reason why large numbers of people returned to the theatre after World War II. .
As the 1950's began, Westerns introduced new techniques of filmmaking both on location and in the editing room. Ansocolor was used heavily in Westerns allowing filmmakers to experiment with films such as The Wild North & Kiss Me Kate until 1955 when Eastmancolor was created and eventually took over as the main color system.
