https://peertube.dngr.us/videos/watch/08d4a510-1d27-4934-a441-709237e8faa5 Want to support this channel and help us preserve old films? Visit https://www.patreon.com/PeriscopeFilm Visit our website www.PeriscopeFilm.com This movie "Paint" from the Shell Film Unit traces the history of paint from ancient hands and ancient tools onto cave walls and into modern industrial paints used for anti-corrosive and durability purposes. The film opens with cave art; sticks, bones and minerals used for technique and pigment. Bituminous paint is looked to as an early discovery by Mesopotamians for its strength and durability. The story grows through generations and cultures, from Egyptian art through the religious paintings of the Renaissance Era displaying how innovations from various cultures influenced art and the paint industry. The Shell Film Unit was formed in 1934 and would later become one of the most highly regarded documentary units based within a private company. The unit was a part of Britain's documentary movement providing a wide range of topics including technical studies related to shell activities as well as general education films for the public. During WW2, Shell created films for Britain's Ministry of Information. The film opens with images of a painter coating a wall by hand, to be complete in 30 days (1:16). This is compared to modern spray painting methods (1:24).  A full car body takes a dip in a candy apple red (1:47) full body bath. Stalactites drop from cave ceilings (2:14). Cave paintings run over walls (2:31). The history of cave art dates back to over 40,000 years ago. Ochre-like mixtures likely used for paint were discovered by archeologists from 100,000 years ago. Fat animals in spindly black outline detail ancient life (2:40). A bit of charred wood cuts a black oxen head into the wall as Shell begins to explain the history of paint materials (2:52). Hot animal fat binds earth colors (3:04). Leg bones and hollow stones (3:10) were used as pestle and mortar. Red is used like blood scrapes on the cows neck from a bruised steak brush (3:23). Bituminous paint (3:38) has dual functionality as pigment and a binding medium (3:50). Layers of paint are stuck onto woven reeds (3:56). Egyptians are often sighted as early influencers of paint technology. Pharaohs employed artists to decorate their palace temples and tombs (4:06). Egyptian women bend over instruments (4:18); story figures on house hold items (4:27). These would be buried with the dead (4:30). Clay pots and reed brushes were used for mixing paints (4:41). Colorful minerals such as malachite (4:55) and hematite were popular. Gums and honey were used to bind pigments (5:32). Greek and Roman (6:03) innovations sprang from a focus on painting solid forms. Greeks began to paint onto wet plaster (6:15). Fresco style began with Michelangelo (6:25). The implementation of beeswax in wall art (6:32) lead to the use of wax bound paints for protection on ships of war (6:44). Arts of the Christian church (7:36) are looked to. Egg tempura (8:59) is mixed with pigment (9:09) and water. An artist uses gesso (9:41). Theopolis was well versed in wall paint employing a method (10:15) including flax and hot water. Red Varnish is lacquered onto wood (11:31). Methods for oil paint would be refined 300 years later (11:55) through work of Flemish artists. Resin from pine trees is distilled to produce turpentine (12:15). Techniques developed by Jan Van Eyck (12:36) lead to the easel picture. Art is traced to the Renaissance (13:23). By the close of the 17th century, the apothecary shop was replaced by oil merchants (14:13), color men and distillers. Sources for colors are noted including indigo plants used to produce a dark hue (15:46). Turpentine operated as a paint thinner (16:48). As the world grew, paint materials could be sourced from father reaches (17:01). Japanese art greatly influenced the formation of the varnish industry (17:33). The industrial revolution (18:53) further altered the paint industry. Rust and erosion had to be combatted (19:19). Lead and zinc based painted were experimented with (19:42). Mass production lead to the nullification of ancient techniques as chemistry replaced craftsmanship. Industrial paint factories are explored (21:03). The film begins to wrap up with industrial painters spraying swaths of color over commercial buildings (22:25). Pigments once formed with natural materials is shown too crafted with chemicals (23:44). The Shell logo closes the film (25:11).  If you have endangered films you'd like to have scanned, or wish to donate celluloid to Periscope Film so that we can share them with the world, we'd love to hear from you. Contact us via the weblink below. This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD and 2k. For more information visit http://www.PeriscopeFilm.com Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Q2KEzQ_yPI Mirrored from Periscope Film (https://www.youtube.com/@PeriscopeFilm) Sat, 13 Jun 2026 13:26:32 GMT https://validator.w3.org/feed/docs/rss2.html PeerTube - https://peertube.dngr.us https://peertube.dngr.us/lazy-static/avatars/41a6fee9-7f57-42d0-a5fc-5db4f1af2e31.png https://peertube.dngr.us/videos/watch/08d4a510-1d27-4934-a441-709237e8faa5 All rights reserved, unless otherwise specified in the terms specified at https://peertube.dngr.us/about and potential licenses granted by each content's rightholder.