Film colorization how made ?

[arturjose]

Hello
I have read this :
http://www.legendfilms.net/index.html
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/business/20060727-9999-1b27legend.html
how to made this ?
this is made with any Software ? you Know this Software?
Thank You

[Marvingj]

During the late 1950s and the 1960s, black and white cartoons were redistributed in color—the colorization process was done by tracing the original black and white frames onto new animation cels, and then adding color to the new cels.[2] With computer technology, studios were able to add color to black and white films by digitally tinting single objects in each frame of the film until it was fully colorized. The initial process was invented by Canadians Wilson Markle and Brian Hunt[3] and was first used in 1970 to add color to monochrome footage of the moon from the Apollo mission.

Colorization typically begins with a monochrome film print. From the film print, a high quality videotape copy is made. Technicians, aided by a computer, identify the grey level of every object in every shot and note any movement of objects within shots. A computer adds color to each object, while keeping grey levels the same as in the monochrome original.[4] This technique was patented in 1991.[5]

Movies colorized using early techniques have softer contrast and fairly pale, flat, washed out color. However, the technology has improved since the 1980s, and several black and white TV shows and films have been given what some viewers find to be a completely lifelike colorization.

A major difficulty with colorization has been its labor-intensiveness. For example, in order to colorize a still image an artist typically begins by dividing the image into regions, and then proceeds to assign a color to each region. This approach, also known as the segmentation method, is time consuming and requires a great deal of painstaking work on dividing the picture into correct segments. This problem occurs mainly since there are no fully automatic algorithms that always identify correctly fuzzy or complex region boundaries, such as between a subject’s hair and face.

Colorization of moving images also requires tracking regions as movement occurs across the frames of a particular scene. Again, there have been no completely reliable automatic region-tracking algorithms. One computer-assisted method for colorizing was developed by a team of researchers at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem's Benin School of Computer Science and Engineering. The new method is an interactive process that does not require precise, manual, region detection, nor accurate tracking and is based on the simple premise that nearby pixels in space and time that have similar grey levels should also have similar colors.[6]

[jman98]

Oh joy - the bastardization of colorizing black and white movies now sucks less than it used to. Combine this with the fake 5.1 mixes made from mono and you have a perfect fantasy of a film that never existed where somehow a black and white mono film is now in "color" and "5.1 audio". I guess this is perfect for the ADD generation, but I happen to be someone who thinks the past doesn't need to be "improved" this way.

[guns1inger]

Oh joy - the bastardization of colorizing black and white movies now sucks less than it used to. Combine this with the fake 5.1 mixes made from mono and you have a perfect fantasy of a film that never existed where somehow a black and white mono film is now in "color" and "5.1 audio". I guess this is perfect for the ADD generation, but I happen to be someone who thinks the past doesn't need to be "improved" this way.

Add to this the xenophobic need of the illiterate to remake perfectly good non-English language films into mediocre shadows of their former selves, and the collection of bastardry is complete.

[Forum Troll]

I remember once watching a colorized version of A Christmas Carol ... it was like a three year old had colored it with pastel chalk .. as a purist, I am against modifying it, but the studios do have the right to sell their product ... and I guess some people just can't stand black and white films. As they say, you can't please all the people all the time. Same reason why pan/scan was created. Oh well.

[hech54]

Hello
I have read this :
http://www.legendfilms.net/index.html
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/business/20060727-9999-1b27legend.html
how to made this ?
this is made with any Software ? you Know this Software?
Thank You

Do you really think you are going to do this on your home computer?

[guns1inger]

And Hollywood is in the lowest common denominator business . . . .


However, as we cater to all, a little googling also found this

http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?t=57879

I also seem to remember a discussion at Doom9 regarding an avisynth plugin that was being developed, however I couldn't find it with my brief search

[dphirschler]

I do like what they have done with stabilizing the image though. No more jumping frames.


Darryl

[arturjose]

In these days i have read some pages, look that study:

http://www.cs.huji.ac.il/~yweiss/Colorization/

The Result there:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z5r0SFbT8fc

http://www.cs.huji.ac.il/~yweiss/Colorization/colorization-siggraph04.pdf

And now other:

http://www.timebrush.com/

(Revival, and Restoration of Black & White Television Shows, Motion Pictures)
that "enterprise" made services colorisation in hold B/W film Video
The Secret is well hidden!
but exist, is possible, only lack the name of the software/s and more explanation
Thank You to all Help

[edDV]

Blame Ted Turner for all this.

[hech54]

I met Ted Turner once MANY years ago before he became a "mogul"....he was an ******* then too.

[ROBERT BLACK]

Oh joy - the bastardization of colorizing black and white movies now sucks less than it used to. Combine this with the fake 5.1 mixes made from mono and you have a perfect fantasy of a film that never existed where somehow a black and white mono film is now in "color" and "5.1 audio". I guess this is perfect for the ADD generation, but I happen to be someone who thinks the past doesn't need to be "improved" this way.

Add to this the xenophobic need of the illiterate to remake perfectly good non-English language films into mediocre shadows of their former selves, and the collection of bastardry is complete.

If only more people would recognize this as a blatant disregard and eventual destruction of culture their would indeed be hope. Unfortunately that isn't the case. Ours are minority opinions.

[edDV]

Oh joy - the bastardization of colorizing black and white movies now sucks less than it used to. Combine this with the fake 5.1 mixes made from mono and you have a perfect fantasy of a film that never existed where somehow a black and white mono film is now in "color" and "5.1 audio". I guess this is perfect for the ADD generation, but I happen to be someone who thinks the past doesn't need to be "improved" this way.

Add to this the xenophobic need of the illiterate to remake perfectly good non-English language films into mediocre shadows of their former selves, and the collection of bastardry is complete.

If only more people would recognize this as a blatant disregard and eventual destruction of culture their would indeed be hope. Unfortunately that isn't the case. Ours are minority opinions.

Extend this to honoring the technology of the time. Put yourself into the period experience. If the movie was black and white, experience it as black and white.

Should one evaluate a 1920's New York restaurant against current trends?

[Barry Sandrew]

I would hope everyone posting on this site would visit http://www.legendfilms.net. There are many positive aspects to colorization that most people do not realize. There is very little incentive for the studios to restore their deep catalog titles and certainly public domain titles receive no attention... until now. Colorization actually helps subsidize the restoration of these evergreen classics. Legend Films has restored over 75 classics to date. The restoration would not have commercial value had colorization not been part of the equation. Legend Films always includes the restored black and white version with the colorized version.

Ray Harryhausen always wanted his fantasy films to be produced in color. His mentor, Merian C. Cooper also envisioned his films in color, particularly SHE which Cooper designed and intended to direct in color. However, Cooper's budget was cut by RKO at the last minute leaving him to lens the very colorfully designed film in black and white. Here, the film was intended to be shot in color and we had the color references. Ray color designed Cooper's SHE as well as his two SONY classics, 20 Million Miles To Earth and Earth vs The Flying Saucers the way he originally envisioned them. He complained that there was not a sufficient budget for color filming and even if there was, the color stock available at the time did not allow him to composite with suffient quality. Ray painted the monster he animated from 20 Million Miles in dark greed so he could have a better feel for the character. Ray's color premiere of 20 Million Miles To Earth was received with unanimous acclaim at the LA Film Festival yesterday. Ray will be presenting the colorized film personally at Comic-Con in San Diego on July 27th. An 87 year old Hollywood Icon and pioneer in stop motion who Speilberg, Lucas and Scorsese consider a mentor. Ray Harryhausen gets it! Would anyone deprive him of seeing his films the way he envisioned them? BTW, he approached Legend Films, not the other way around.

Thanks,
Barry

[JohnnyMalaria]

I hate colorized films.

However, by colorizing them, you can appeal to those who cannot stand B/W and - best of all - you can turn the color off and get the intended B/W form!

[Barry Sandrew]

Choice = good. Dictating what someone should watch or how someone should watch it = not good (and rather arrogant). You should watch your black and white original versions. Hopefully you'll choose to watch the fully restored versions that accompany the colorized versions which subsidized that restoration rather than the decaying crap that existed before colorization.

It's wonderful to have a point of view but one should not impose that point of view on others. Also, crtitics should look at the preservation angle that will make these films available to new generations in black and white and in color.

Thanks,
Barry
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[arturjose]

In the first Post my Question is:

"this is made with any Software ? you Know this Software? "

The real response is :
THE Software, have the Name MATLAB

if any want confirm That, download the zip
http://www.cs.huji.ac.il/~yweiss/Colorization/colorization.zip

this Zip is in that page:
http://www.cs.huji.ac.il/~yweiss/Colorization

the project in colorization.zip, open in MATLAB.....

MATLAB is the soluction to colorize, but i no understand that program,
is very complicated to me

[JohnnyMalaria]

MATLAB is a hard-core mathematical and scientific application and is very expensive (>$1900). As you note, it is also very complicated!

The software on that site requires the main MATLAB program to run.

[Barry Sandrew]

MATLAB is a hard-core mathematical and scientific application and is very expensive (>$1900). As you note, it is also very complicated!

The software on that site requires the main MATLAB program to run.

Absolutely not. Legend Films is a proprietary process that is far more sophisticated that what optimizatiion claims. It's built on pattern recognition algorithms that allow for detail that optimization could never attain. There have been no movies colorized using that software to date and is little more than a novel form of PhotoShop without the bells and whistles.

Legend Film's process is resolution independent using log or linear 16 bit black and white as opposed to typical 8 bits of other processes. The resulting images are 48bits color.

[JohnnyMalaria]

MATLAB is a hard-core mathematical and scientific application and is very expensive (>$1900). As you note, it is also very complicated!

The software on that site requires the main MATLAB program to run.

Absolutely not.

I was refering to the MATLAB code in the link provided by arturjose, not your company's product....

[guns1inger]

My copy of SHE has just arrived from Amazon, and I am still waiting on Carnival of Lost Souls and House on Haunted Hill to ship. I hope to sit down this weekend and watch both versions, as well as the extras (not a bad collection for an independent outfit).

From what I have seen thus far, Ray is certainly a big wrap for your process, the general restoration of the footage is pretty good (again, this is mostly from the extras and a quick chapter skip through the film), and the colourisation is certainly an improvement on previous attempts. Some of the colour is strikingly strong, although some colours and scenes still have somewhat of an "Eastman Color" pastel feel to them.

You have won over my son though. He has been a fan of the original King Kong since he was four, and a Harryhausen fan for the past couple of years (loves Jason and the Argonauts, and understands now the historical link to Spy Kids II). He was watching the trailer for the colourised version of SHE and stated that "it looks awesome". This is from an 8 year old who also grew up on Harry Potter and Spiderman movies.

Anyway, I'll post my feelings further once I have watched SHE (both versions) and the other discs (when they arrive - perhaps you could hurry up the pressing plant - you have people waiting).

[Barry Sandrew]

Thanks gunslinger and gunslinger, jr.

So glad you both like SHE. We premiered it in LA to an industry crowd and got overwhelming praise and accolades from the audience.

We premiered the color release of 20 Million Miles to Earth with SONY at the LA Film Festival last month and at the end of July I'll be presenting it at Comic-Con along with Ray doing running commentary. At the LA Joan premiere Taylor, the co-star was there as well as the little boy (Peppi) who is now 60. Joan hadn't see that film in 50 years.

In addition, Legend Films has just completed Earth vs The Flying Saucers for SONY with Ray doing color design.

Barry

[guns1inger]

I look forward to the release of both, although I suspect I'll have to get them on import.

SHE is a great film, and the restoration is quite good. Some of the cross fades are very grainy, but I understand how difficult it is to get these clean.

From a critical perspective on the process, it certainly is an improvement on what was being done 10 years ago (as you would expect), and in many instances does look quite good. I guess the thing that stands out the most is the feel that there is a still a limited range of colour saturation across most of the film. Yet to me, the most effective colours were the strong colours - the green blanket and red robe in the drawing room scenes at the start, for instance. There also seemed to be an issue keeping consistency with some of the colours - Randolph Scott's shirt and jacket seemed to vary in saturation, especially in the latter scenes. I suspect this has something to do with the luminance of the original footage, which seems to veer toward almost over-exposed in some scenes.

The trailers are also interesting. I assume they have been colourised individually, just like the films. Again, there seems to be a wide variance in effectiveness. Carnival of Souls and House on Haunted Hill both look quite good, and some effective moments that are aided by the use of colour. The trailer for Night of the Living Dead, on the other hand, just looked obviously colourised to me, rather than even remotely natural.

In comparing the work done of SHE to colour films shot in a similar period - Wizard of OZ, for instance - I feel the biggest difference is still the total range of colour being achieved, and the level of saturation of those colours. Perhaps your technical directors could stand to be a bit bolder in some instances ?

I think the work you have done with SHE is very good, and you are right - it is a small price to pay if it also results in restored black and white versions, especially when you get the whole package for the same price. I look forward to the arrival of the next two discs (hurry up, Amazon), and the release of 20 Million Miles to Earth and Earth Vs The Flying Saucers.

[Barry Sandrew]

Gunslinger,

The Legend Films technology provides our designers with a visual guage of the available spectrum of luminance for color application and the amount of saturation that can be applied to "fit" that spectrum. There is ideally a one to one application of color to grey scale. If more saturation is applied than can "fit" the available grey scale (luminance) then it will look artificial. The result is a colorized film that looks like it was originally shot in color. Often the color looks vintage because the underlying gray scale looks vintage. In other words, we cannot (would not) push saturaton if the underlying grey scale can't handle it. If you look at Legend Films' DVD of My Man Godfrey you will see a beautifully colorized film that, by design does not look at all current, but looks appropriate for the vintage quality of the film.

Many people actually think that all colorized films should look like they were produced today. Actually a colorized film is a creative derivative work that is another interpretation of the film that should stand alone and should not be compared to nor expected to replace the black and white original. Often, as in Carnival of Souls, Reefer Madness and Plan 9 From Outer Space, we take creative liberty with the film and do not attempt to create simply a "realistic" look from the black and white print or negative.

If we had a black and white version of Wizard Of Oz with the same print quality and dynamic range of luminance as the color version, we could certainly duplicate the color and saturation that you are familiar with. However, not all vintage films are of that quality.

Legend Films never (or only under rare conditions) modifies the original underlying luminance of the films we colorize. That is the one variable we do not try to control. The highlights, midtones and shadows should remain intact.

Indeed, when we produce colorization for the major studios the films are delivered to us digitally with the precise black and white look that the studio designs. Consequently, we do not modify the underlying grey scale in any way because that would infringe on the way the studio wants it to look.

.

[DereX888]

There are very very FEW originally B&W films that benefit from it.
Almost all B&W classic were shot without color because of budget constraints rather than because the director's envisioned them in B&W, and there is no reason why they shouldn't be colorized.
Such discussion with "B&W purists against colorizations" will be unheard of in next 30 or so years, once all the people who lived through B&W period are gone

But then, the colorization have to be perfected, of course.
As everyone else I've seen some piss-poor "colorization attempts" that only degraded film's perception insead of enhance it.

[Barry Sandrew]

With the advances of Legend Films colorization process, Ray Harryhausen has, over the past two years made the colorization of his black and white films a crusade. He was deprived of his original vision because of budget constraints and difficulties in compositing with the color stock then available. He has also colorized his mentor's SHE (Merian C. Cooper) after RKO cut the budget at the last minute forcing the filming of SHE in B&W inspite of the fact that Cooper designed and directed the film full of colorful costumes, color effects and dramatic color ambiance.

[DereX888]

With the advances of Legend Films colorization process, Ray Harryhausen has, over the past two years made the colorization of his black and white films a crusade. He was deprived of his original vision because of budget constraints and difficulties in compositing with the color stock then available. He has also colorized his mentor's SHE (Merian C. Cooper) after RKO cut the budget at the last minute forcing the filming of SHE in B&W inspite of the fact that Cooper designed and directed the film full of colorful costumes, color effects and dramatic color ambiance.

How will you guys deal with the movies that were not prepared to be made in color, but deliberately set from the ground up to be shot in B&W?
I know wardrobe people back then used i.e. very weird clothes colors (they often intentionally dyed them too) just to have that 'special greytone' on a B&W screen... same things often happen to cast's make-up.
Hence my question.
Because I don't think "perfect" colorization of such scenes, where they i.e. applied turquoise color make up on the actor's forehead just to make it look more dim than the rest of his face (which appeared as darker grey in B&W movie apparently) would be any great idea either

[Barry Sandrew]

Those exteme efforts you describe were rare. Howver, many of the hoops directors had to jump thru to create a look that would have been a no-brainer had color been available works in our favor. It improves the quality our deriviative creative color interpretations.

[arturjose]

Mister BARRY SANDREW, if you want propaganda and clients to your company, open you one Topic.
This Topis is to discuss how made colorization in Black an withe Movies

[guns1inger]

Have you looked at his site ? You opened this thread asking how to colourise black and white film. You even linked to Legend Films' website yourself. Your topic peaked the interest of the president of that company and now you insult him.

If you had asked what it was like to walk on the moon, and Neil Armstrong had come and posted, would you have been so rude to him.

Poor form.