10 Awesome Innovations That Changed Cinema Forever

9. Colour

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x6D8PAGelN8 If not as Earth-shattering a revelation as sound - given that plenty of films, for the sake of novelty or for "artistic" purposes, are still made in monochrome - the addition of colour film nevertheless gave the medium a far stronger, more pronounced pulse. If in contemporary terms many dismiss black and white films as feeling lifeless, then colour is the lifeblood, making things seem innately more "realistic", as the colour palette of the world we live in is replicated on screen. Though it's known that colour cinema began as early as 1917 - and there are countless examples of films that have been tinted to give the illusion of colour - one of the first major uses of Technicolour was in 1939's magical The Wizard of Oz. Cleverly, the film begins in a sepia tone, but once Dorothy arrives in Kansas, she opens the door to see the land of Oz rendered in gorgeous, startling Technicolour. One can only imagine what exhilaration audiences at the time must have felt.