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Wednesday 14 January 2015

COLOURISATION

I've been watching the old 1965 black & white British B movie, 'The Night Caller' which was colourised  a few years ago. I got to thinking is it a good thing to colourise a film that was filmed with black & white in mind, and through the use of subtle lighting using dark and light shades had created suspense and stark contrast?

I've enjoyed this, and many other films in black & white for years and don't have a problem with it
( Even the DVD gives the option to watch the film in it's original format).



The end result was not quite what  I was expecting as it looked to me like flat colours had  been over- laid  over a black & white print giving a kind of washed out look.



I'm no expert and I imagine that colourising films isn't a simple process and very labour intensive , as well as budget constraints. Watching it again it occurred to me that the flat colours reminded me of the old Front Of House photos that you'd see outside the cinema, so maybe that had been the intention all along (I suspect the budget had a lot to with it as well!)


Several Doctor Who stories like the Mind of Evil and The Daemons have been colourised using bits of existing colour information. These and others which were originally filmed in colour, and have now been painstakingly restored.




The end results turned out very well, considering these originally started life on videotape.
I can see the advantage of returning these to colour as this is how things were originally intended.

I can think of quite a few series I'd like to see colourised, Dangerman and Burke's Law would be on the list, but when it comes to Gerry Anderson shows there's two series, Supercar and Fireball XL5 that might benefit from the complete run being colourised.

In the UK both series just don't get shown on TV any more because of theIr monotone look. Stingray, being the first ITC programme with marionettes to be film entirely in colour has managed to appeal to several generations due to repeat showings, plus all that lovely new merchandise!

On Stephen La Riviere's excellent Full Boost Vertical Documentary there is a short piece of specially colourised  test film footage from Supercar.



When you look at publicity photos from both Supercar and Fireball XL5 it strikes me these two series would have looked great in colour. I've seen bits of test footage of Fireball XL5's opening titles and the opening scenes from the Planet 46 episode which looked great, but with Network DVD's specially commisioned colourised version of A Day In The Life Of A Space General we got a chance to watch an entire episode.



Personally, I'd love to see these old series being given a whole new lease of life and the chance for new generations to enjoy them, and as to colourisation as a whole, I'm certainly not averse... as long as I've got them in their original black & white.
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8 comments:

  1. KevinD1/14/2015 9:02 am

    I agree with you. It is also good that DVDs could give you the option to view both ways. Black and White isn't a total no-no though, First and Second Doctor stories are on satellite now, as are early Rigg Avengers.

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  2. SCOOP1/14/2015 9:20 am

    I'm made up that a couple of the satellite channels are taking a chance with black and white stuff, especially the Rigg Avengers, but you have to hunt for them. Main steam telly doesn't want to know, unless it's on BBC 4 and considered arty ; )

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  3. Andy B1/14/2015 10:56 am

    Interesting topic. I agree that in general black and white films should not be colourised; something of the original intention is lost. I have a similar feeling when old black and white comic strips are coloured.

    I agree the XL5 story looks pretty good coloured, but I wonder if the simpler props and story lines would also put people off the early series. It is very noticeable how the plots improve with each series, almost as though at least up to Captain Scarlet, the shows are maturing with a particular generation of viewers.

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  4. SCOOP1/14/2015 11:53 am

    Couldn't agree with you more Andy. I feel the same about colourising comic strips too. Valid points about the early Anderson stuff, but maybe a younger audience might still enjoy them.

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  5. warewolfboy4/25/2015 10:27 pm

    I think fireball xl5,supercar and four feather falls would be fantastic in colour. It might even give them reruns for today's generation.
    I agree about the night caller. The bad thing about it is it looked like it was colourized in 1986 by Hal roach studios(that did the first colourised version of night of the living dead(1968) and various laurel and hardy films).

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    Replies
    1. warewolfboy10/24/2015 10:27 am

      You can check out my colourisations of this film here:http://johnxgin3.weebly.com/night-caller1965.html

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    2. WOODSY10/24/2015 11:33 am

      Looks great Werewolfboy. How on earth did you do that?

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    3. warewolfboy6/07/2016 9:14 pm

      adobe photoshop and the brush and polygon tools.

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