LOTR director Peter Jackson restores WWI footage for new documentary, "They Shall Not Grow Old."*

Discussion in 'Visual Arts' started by Matt W., Oct 5, 2018.

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  1. Chris DeVoe

    Chris DeVoe RIP Vickie Mapes Williams (aka Equipoise)

    The National World War 1 museum in Kansas City has an American point of view, where half of it is devoted to the war before the entry of the United States into it, and the other half after. So I thought a lot of things were under-emphasized, like the horrors of gas warfare.
     
  2. beccabear67

    beccabear67 Musical omnivore.

    Location:
    Victoria, Canada
    Yes, recreation would be the better term. I intended to mean 'restored' to the 1933 film I guess.

    I almost always want to see all the behind the scenes work that went in to things, so perhaps I tend to imagine everyone who sees these recreations being aware of exactly what they are, and I guess there might be those who really won't know what they are seeing/hearing really.
     
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  3. Vidiot

    Vidiot Now in 4K HDR!

    Location:
    Hollywood, USA
    Peter Jackson is brilliant with his behind-the-scenes documentaries. I seem to recall his people created 2-hour documentaries for each of the Lord of the Rings movies, and they're incredibly detailed and reveal a lot of very "inside" stuff. He also really, really cares about the genre and his work, and his passion and enthusiasm comes across very well.
     
  4. Somewhat Damaged

    Somewhat Damaged Forum Resident

    Location:
    UK
    Apparently the footage was usually manually hand cranked at about 14 or 15 frames a second. They then created new frames that didn’t previously exist using computer technology to get it up to 24 frames a second.

    I’ve been pondering a visual oddity. There is a shot of an artillery gun firing and the roof of a building in the background crumbling with the force of it. The (presumably ceramic) tiles took a fraction too long to fall to the ground. It looked weird as it cheated the laws of physics as they sort of floated rather than fell. Now that I think about it, what probably happened was that the camera operator got a sudden physical fright and momentarily hand cranked the camera faster for less than a second. This resulted in an almost imperceptible moment of slow motion. In other words: for a moment the frame rate jumped from 15 to 30 frames a second. The makers of the doc didn’t notice this and correct their computer programme. So they created extra frames for a moment that didn’t need extra frames. Hence I saw ‘floating’ tiles instead of falling tiles.

    I can’t imagine them sitting on this technology and not using it for more archival exhumations. The mind can’t help leaping forward to the technically superior and more bountiful WW2 footage. I would imagine there would also be more talking on screen for the lip readers to help recreate.
     
  5. Vidiot

    Vidiot Now in 4K HDR!

    Location:
    Hollywood, USA
    Here's a short (5 minute) BBC documentary on the technology that Peter Jackson's Park Road Post used to colorize the B&W WWI material in They Shall Not Grow Old:

     
  6. carrolls

    carrolls Forum Resident

    Location:
    Dublin
    I recorded it from BBC2 HD and watched it today. I am not sure what Jackson did but some of the scenes looked like they were recorded yesterday let alone 103 years ago. Amazing work.
    I never got the argument that old B/W footage should be left alone. I think that if a reel can be made more lifelike it should be done. Removing technological artefacts is always a good thing. B/W is just another technological artefact to be fixed just like audio mastering is also the removal of technological artefacts.
     
  7. alexpop

    alexpop Power pop + other bad habits....

    Peter Jackson is obsessed with WW1 and authenticity. A labour of love by the looks of it.
     
  8. Vidiot

    Vidiot Now in 4K HDR!

    Location:
    Hollywood, USA
    Yeah, famously more than 10 years ago, Jackson used a prototype of the Red 4K camera to shoot a WWI short just to demo whether you could shoot a movie digitally and have it look decent. It's a good production, but a lot hinged on the art direction, lighting, and all the other stuff in front of the camera.
     
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  9. alexpop

    alexpop Power pop + other bad habits....

    BBC clip ; the soldier with the bullet hole in his foot. Talk about bringing out detail + recreating sound effects with the actual real artillery, matching the right clothes for colorisation.
     
  10. Vidiot

    Vidiot Now in 4K HDR!

    Location:
    Hollywood, USA
    Although... when we've worked on 50-60 year old movies, I've had people say, "we can bring in that costume for you to match to it," and I'll say with a wry expression, "you mean that half-century old piece of cloth that's faded and sat in a hot warehouse for 50 years?" Like the color will be as accurate as it was when it was new?
     
  11. alexpop

    alexpop Power pop + other bad habits....

    Close as to what you can get it I guess, period color photos should help.
     
  12. Macman

    Macman Senior Member

    I can hardly wait for that too. My uncle was a bomb aimer with the Dambusters so I'd like to see a new take on the old classic.
     
  13. goodiesguy

    goodiesguy Confide In Me

    Location:
    New Zealand
    I think this is pretty cool, i'm not a fan of his LOTR films, but I can really see and appreciate that he wants this to be as accurate as possible and the colourization actually looks somewhat good and the speed-slow down really makes it look more realistic and less like a Benny Hill sketch.
     
    Billy Infinity likes this.
  14. Very pertinent to the subject: you guys should check out this site. It's all color photos from The Great War, using the first color photographic process called autochrome. These aren't touched up. They are the real deal, at least as much as autochrome could render the color of the subject.

    About World War One Color Photos - World War One Color Photos

    I'm pretty sure that the film footage on this site has been hand colored, though. Nevertheless, there is some really neat German film on this site. Some of it is staged, but there is some actual combat filmed by ze Germans.
     
  15. Hightops

    Hightops Forum Resident

    Location:
    Bay Area, Ca
    Just got my tickets to see this on a big screen in 2 hours. Very excited! Will be very interesting to see how colorization holds up under close scrutiny.
     
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  16. longdist01

    longdist01 Senior Member

    Location:
    Chicago, IL USA
    I believe most Fathom screenings in Chicagoland area are in 3D format only...

     
  17. Michael

    Michael I LOVE WIDE S-T-E-R-E-O!

    looking forward to this!
     
  18. Michael

    Michael I LOVE WIDE S-T-E-R-E-O!

    very funny...no, that will be on the extended edition!
     
    budwhite likes this.
  19. Chris DeVoe

    Chris DeVoe RIP Vickie Mapes Williams (aka Equipoise)

    That's awful. I'll have to skip it because I cannot see 3D.
     
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  20. AudioEnz

    AudioEnz Senior Member

    New Zealand was heavily involved in The Great War (as it was known), as a faithful British colony, recently independent. The losses to New Zealand were enormous - I understand that New Zealand had more casualties per head of population than any other country.
     
  21. the pope ondine

    the pope ondine Forum Resident

    Location:
    Virginia
    fascinating, im kind of torn tho, the visual tweak I dont mind, the colorization im iffy on adding voice actors to real footage just feels odd to me.
     
  22. Hightops

    Hightops Forum Resident

    Location:
    Bay Area, Ca
    Our showing was in 3-D. It was pretty surreal seeing this kind of footage with layers of depth. I know some will dislike the 3-D, but it pulled me in and was gripping. All the voices were from archival interviews of WWI vets, so the descriptions are quite intimate. The added voices to the silent film work well, and Jackson made sure the regional dialect was accurate (i.e. company such & such was from Wales, so they found a Welsh actor). The sound of shells exploding was intense. Jackson went to New Zealand to record live shelling and the audio mix is stunning. It is quite graphic at times and not for the weak of stomach...my significant other almost bailed. Stay for "the making of TSNGO" with Peter Jackson that follows the credits. Lots of insights into his decision making and the restoration process.
     
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  23. sixtiesstereo

    sixtiesstereo Senior Member

    Location:
    Wisconsin
    That makes two of us. Due to a bad right eye, I can't see 3D either...….
     
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  24. EddieMann

    EddieMann I used to be a king...

    Location:
    Geneva, IL. USA.
    Saw it last night in a Chicago suburb. It was NOT shown in 3D. Very impressive film. I might even go see it when it shows again in 10 days. A side note; my friend who I saw it with and I got into a conversation about our grandfathers, both of whom served in WWI. Turns out while my father fought in the American army, his grandfather was in the German army!
     
    Last edited: Dec 18, 2018
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  25. seed_drill

    seed_drill Senior Member

    Location:
    Tryon, NC, USA
    I suspected, but wasn't sure. Though I think the casualty distinction goes to Serbia, as they lost a full 1/10th of their population.
     
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