Before 2000, if a director wanted to change the colors of a movie, they had to use a chemical process called 'photochemical timing' in a lab. The 2000 Coen Brothers film 'O Brother, Where Art Thou?' changed this forever by becoming the first feature-length film to use a 'Digital Intermediate.' The entire movie was scanned into a computer, where cinematographer Roger Deakins could digitally manipulate every frame to give the film its iconic, sepia-toned 'dust bowl' look. This process allowed for far more precision than chemicals ever could. Within five years, almost every major Hollywood film had adopted this digital color-grading process. This was a critical step in the industry's transition from physical film to a completely digital workflow, allowing modern films to have the distinct, stylized color palettes we see today.