Film colorization
For example, at least 4% of George Méliès' output, including some prints of A Trip to the Moon from 1902 and other major films such as The Kingdom of the Fairies, The Impossible Voyage, and The Barber of Seville were individually hand-colored by Elisabeth Thuillier's coloring lab in Paris.
The initial process was invented by Canadian Wilson Markle and was first used in 1970 to add color to monochrome footage of the moon from the Apollo program missions.
In the absence of any better information, technicians may choose colors that fit the gray level and are consistent with what a director might have wanted for the scene.
This approach, also known as the segmentation method, is laborious and time-consuming, especially in the absence of fully automatic algorithms to identify fuzzy or complex region boundaries, such as those between a subject's hair and face.
Another early example of the Handschiegl process can be found in Phantom of the Opera (1925), in which Lon Chaney's character can be seen wearing a bright-red cape while the rest of the scene remained monochrome.
The full-color feature film Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow (2004), which already made heavy use of digitally generated sets and objects, integrated black-and-white 1940s footage of Sir Laurence Olivier into scenes by colorizing him.
Also in The Aviator, Scorsese used colorized footage of Jane Russell from the original black-and-white film, The Outlaw and dog fight scenes from Hell's Angels.
Detractors complained (among other reasons) that the process was crude and claimed that, even if it were refined, it would not take into account lighting compositions chosen for black-and-white photography which would not necessarily be as effective in color.
[14] Figures opposed to the process included Roger Ebert, James Stewart, John Huston, George Lucas, and Woody Allen.
[10] Director Frank Capra met with Wilson Markle about colorizing the perennial Christmas classic It's a Wonderful Life, Meet John Doe and Lady for a Day based on Grant's enthusiasm.
[10][15] On a December 27, 1989 episode of The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson actor Jimmy Stewart criticized efforts to colorize old black-and-white films, including It's a Wonderful Life.
"[16] Media mogul Ted Turner was once an aggressive proponent of this process, by employing the San Diego firm American Film Technologies.
[17] When he told members of the press in July 1988 that he was considering colorizing Citizen Kane,[18] Turner's comments led to an immediate public outcry.
[19] In January 1989 the Associated Press reported that two companies were producing color tests of Citizen Kane for Turner Entertainment.
Criticism increased with the AP's report that filmmaker Henry Jaglom remembered that, shortly before his death, Orson Welles had implored him to protect Kane from being colorized.
[20] On February 14, 1989, Turner Entertainment president Roger Mayer announced that work to colorize Citizen Kane had been stopped: Our attorneys looked at the contract between RKO Pictures Inc. and Orson Welles and his production company, Mercury Productions Inc., and, on the basis of their review, we have decided not to proceed with colorization of the movie.
His daughter Anjelica Huston successfully used French copyright law to set a binding precedent in 1991 that prevents the distribution or broadcasting in France of any colorized version of a film against the wishes of the original creator or their heirs.
Because the DVD format was more versatile, studios could offer viewers the option to choose between both versions without switching discs, and thus, the release of colorized titles once again seemed profitable.
Some companies rereleased the older colorized versions from the 1980s—an example of this is the Laurel and Hardy box set being released in the UK.
Shirley Temple, Jane Russell, Terry Moore, and Ray Harryhausen have worked with the company to colorize either their own films or their personal favorites.
Since 2013, Livepixel Technologies, founded by Rajeev Dwivedi has been the sole player in film colorization business and almost completed more than 100 titles related with World War.
[citation needed] The 1960 Masters Tournament, originally broadcast in black-and-white and recorded on kinescope, was colorized by Legend Films for the documentary Jim Nantz Remembers.
[32] In Peter Jackson's well-received 2018 documentary, They Shall Not Grow Old, black and white footage from First World War trenches was colorized.
[33] The Greatest Game Ever Played, the 1958 NFL Championship between the Baltimore Colts and the New York Giants, was colorized by Legend Films for ESPN for a sports broadcast special in December 2008.
