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Final Colorization Thoughts

 
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Eadie
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Joined: 14 Dec 2013
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PostPosted: Fri Apr 05, 2019 9:56 pm    Post subject: Final Colorization Thoughts Reply with quote

My whole point is that the colorization process is getting better. TV (local, cable & sattelite) NEED this because of RATINGS. Most of tem (exceptions can be found) will not show older films because of them being in black and white.

WE CANNOT LET THESE FILMS FADE TO OBSCURITY!

Remember:




(I adapted this from a sign at Atomic Rockets:



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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Sat Apr 06, 2019 8:10 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

________________________________

I'm sure you're right about the reluctance of cable/satellite channels to show older programs and movies that aren't in color, high-def, and wide screen.

Sadly, even TCM has shown The Thing from Another World in 16:9 the last two airings by chopping off the top and bottom of the 4:3 image to make it fill modern televisions.

These are the same hypocrites who, for years, defended the hated "letter boxed images" for widescreen movies because "it was the correct ratio".

This is the way The Thing from Another World looks on the DVD.



But this is what TCM showed on two occasions. Notice Scotty's missing head and the The Thing's partial hand! Rolling Eyes



However, I don't think many of the people who like older movies (the TCM audience, for instance) have stopped watching their favorite classics because they suddenly crave color. And what other cable/satellite channels would show older movies even if they were colorized?

Perhaps I'm wrong, Eadie, but I think people who grew up watching black and white movies and TV shows don't think it ruins the picture. And few young people today have any interest in watching old movies and shows just because our culture has changed so much the young people can't relate to the stories.

Besides, even though colorization may have improved, it still doesn't hold a candle to actual Technicolor or any of the other color film processes from the 40's and 50's.

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alltare
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Joined: 17 Jul 2015
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PostPosted: Tue Nov 26, 2019 3:49 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Maybe it's only my eyes that notice it, but I find that colorizing a B&W movie usually lends a "depth" to the images. It's not nearly as strong an effect as actual 3D presentation, but the apparent "flatness" of the original image is reduced more or less. Having said that, and at the risk of invoking Bud's wrath, here is a list of the colorized scifi movies I have that I enjoy ocassionally, in order of coloring quality.

Earth vs the Flying Saucers (1956)
It Came From Beneath the Sea(1955)
20 Million Miles to Earth (1957)
Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)
The Thing (1951)
Zombies of the Stratosphere 12-part serial (1952)
Attack of the Giant Leeches (1959)

The last two are bad movies that are somewhat saved only by the addition of color, in my opinion.

I have all of the B&W originals too, but the colorized versions are a fun diversion. Some day, I would love to see the colored version of The Space Children that Butch has mentioned a few times in other threads.

Wikipedia has a huge interactive list of colorized movies and serials that includes the names of the companies who did the colorizing, and the dates that those versions were released. Those two details are often indicators of the technical quality of the coloring process.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_black-and-white_films_that_have_been_colorized .


Last edited by alltare on Wed Nov 27, 2019 2:53 am; edited 1 time in total
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Tue Nov 26, 2019 5:31 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

alltare wrote:
Maybe it's only my eyes that notice it, but I find that colorizing a B&W movie usually lends a "depth" to the images.

Fear not my wrath, oh Noble One, for I freely acknowledge that any image with color to help the brain determine the depth of field and the exact nature of the objects in the image has a distinct advantage over mere shades of shades of gray.

No artist — even an amateur one like me — would dispute that! Confused

And you're list of favorite colorized movies are great examples of how color can add a new and pleasing element to a B&W movie. My goodness, I'd be a low-down dirty liar if I didn't admit that this version of the scene from Earth vs the Flying Saucers is gorgeous.






And even though I dislike the green Ymir from the colorized version of 20 Million Miles to Earth, the green octopus from It Came from Beneath the Sea looks pretty good.

Never mind the fact that octopuses aren't green. ("Dammit, Jim, I'm an artist, not a marine biologist!") Shocked

And anybody who would claim that THIS scene from the same movie isn't twice as hot in color is obviously NOT a red-blooded American male!







As for this statement—

alltare wrote:
Some day, I would love to see the colored version of The Space Children that Butch has mentioned a few times in other threads.

— unfortunately it has been well established that Butch was "exaggerating" when he claimed to have that non-existent colorized VHS tape.

The first-ever commercially sold copy of The Space Children was the DVD (and Blu-ray, about six months later) about ten years ago, so there never was a colorized version of the movie, much less one on VHS, as Butch claimed. Rolling Eyes

I'm saying all this only because I was surprised to see that anybody still believed this bebunked "urban myth" started by Butch. I've actually spoken with him on the phone frequently over the last twelve years, and he's a very nice guy, but he's the master of the "Tall Tale" (to put it politely), and he's been caught more than once stretching the truth.

However, I have no doubt that someday there will be a colorized 3D version of my all-time favorite science fiction movie, The Space Children, starring former child actor Michel Ray as Bud Brewster.

Michel Ray is actually Michel de Carvalho, a multi-billionaire, an international banker, and the major shareholder in the Heineken International, as well as being the husband of Charlene de Carvalho-Heineken, whose father (Freddy Heineken) left his company to Charlene and Michel when he passed away.

Frankly, Michel is my hero! Cool

Read his amazing IMDB autobiography here. Cool

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alltare
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Joined: 17 Jul 2015
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PostPosted: Wed Nov 27, 2019 3:19 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Bud Brewster wrote:
And even though I dislike the green Ymir from the colorized version of 20 Million Miles to Earth, the green octopus from It Came from Beneath the Sea looks pretty good. Never mind the fact that octopuses aren't green.

I kinda liked the slimy looking sextopus too.

Neither it nor the colorized skin of the Ymir is as disconcerting as the blue (usually) hue of the Tyrannosaurus in The Valley of Gwangi, which was not colorized.

Harryhausen was a wild and crazy guy.
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Wed Nov 27, 2019 2:07 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

alltare wrote:
I kinda liked the slimy looking sextopus too.

Neither it nor the colorized skin of the Ymir is as disconcerting as the blue (usually) hue of the Tyrannosaurus in The Valley of Gwangi, which was not colorized.

Well, the fact that it wasn't turned into a blue T-Rex after starting out as a well-photographed b&w dinosaur is probably why I'm not bothered by Gwangi. And besides, blue is my favorite color. Very Happy

But with the Ymir, I've always loved that slate gray color, especially when I first acquired this publicity still in 1963 from a place called The Poster Exchange in Atlanta, which provided publicity material for theaters to display out in front and in the lobby. My friends and I talked them into selling us stills and posters — at 17¢ for b&w stills, and 25¢ for color. Very Happy






Here's a comparison of the b&w and colorized Ymir I've posted before. It looks a bit like polished granite!






Steve, it's not just the change of the Ymir's color from that appealing gray which resembles the graphite drawings I've done —





— it's also the fact that they chose such a sickly green!

Admittedly I wouldn't have cared for it in "Gwangi blue" either, but one of the things I don't like about colorization is the way the colors are rarely as vivid as they would be if the movie had been filmed in color.

So, perhaps I'd have liked the colorized Ymir better if they'd made it even MORE green — like this! Shocked






By gum, if the movie had been filmed in color and the Ymir was this rich green color, I think I'd have liked it. It has the look of those beautiful snakes in Asia. This one (by a delightful coincidence) is called a cyclophiops major!

Cool, eh? Cool




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Gord Green
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PostPosted: Wed Nov 27, 2019 3:46 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Well, my final thoughts on colorization is that it has value, but as a diversion.

A COLORIZED FILM WILL NEVER REPLACE THE HISTORICITY OF THE ORIGINAL B&W AS ORIGINALY COMPOSED!

The above mentioned films had a very good colorization done to them....And I've found them enjoyable to watch, but not in place of the original....just as a variation.

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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Wed Nov 27, 2019 5:07 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

________________________________

Spending a few dozen hours each week watching classic films from the 1930s and 1940s on TCM, my love for beautiful black & white films runs deep. When they're crystal clear and perfectly lit, I'm in hog heaven! Very Happy

But when they're too dark or have too much contrast, I won't suffer through them even when I've sure the movie would be great without those annoying flaws. Sad

Here's a prime example.

TCM's recently airing of The Thing from Another World was an absolute disgrace! Not only was the picture quality extremely fuzzy, they did the same thing they've done the last two time it's been on — zoomed in to make the image fill the 16:9 TV screens, cropping off the top and bottom of the image! Rolling Eyes

This is a shameful thing to do for a channel which has boasted for years about their dedication to film preservation and the importance of presenting movies in their proper aspect ratios!

As for colorization, Alltare is absolutely right when he describes the way color actually aids the eye and the mind in decoding a 2D image so that it becomes, to some degree, 3D.

I was flattered by his diplomacy when he said, " . . . at the risk of invoking Bud's wrath, here is a list of the colorized scifi movies I have that I enjoy . . . "

And the movies he named are the ones that do indeed benefit by the addition of color in the manner he described.

Gord is equally right when he stated that we can enjoy both the original black & white versions of these movies and — for "variation", as he put it — the colorized version.

Anyway, the three of us seem to be in agreement about this. Colorization is neither an "improved version of the original movie", nor is it a "violation of the film's artistic integrity".

It's just an artistic experiment which produces new experiences for the viewer. And I happen to think that art, like science, is all about experimentation. After all, for somebody to say —

"We must respect the artist's original intention and not alter his work."

— is a little like saying —

"We can't alter Einstein's equations, even if we want to challenge his conclusions."

I'll end with this.

My lovely Irish Ymir is mighty pretty (in my opinion), but I doubt it would work well in a colorized version of 20 Million Miles to Earth, because this black & white movie simply can't be made to look like it was filmed in color, and the Green Ymir wouldn't look right when surrounded by black & white scenes which had been colorized.

Although I must admit . . . it sure does work well in this shot! Cool


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Gord Green
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PostPosted: Wed Nov 27, 2019 7:49 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Art....Like beauty...and truth... lies in the eyes of the beholder.
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