How Peter Jackson Made WWI Footage Seem Astonishingly New

[brooklynite]

|New York Times:

As the director of elaborate fantasy epics like the “Lord of the Rings” and “Hobbit” trilogies, Peter Jackson has become known for meticulous attention to detail. Now he has put the same amount of care into making a documentary.

With “They Shall Not Grow Old,” Jackson has applied new technology to century-old World War I footage to create a vivid, you-are-there feeling that puts real faces front and center and allows us to hear their stories in their own words.

The documentary, which will screen nationwide Dec. 17 and Dec. 27, concentrates on the experiences of British soldiers as revealed in footage from the archives of the Imperial War Museum. Jackson and his team have digitally restored the footage, adjusted its frame rate, colorized it and converted it to 3-D. They chose not to add a host or title cards. Instead, veterans of the war “narrate” — that is, the filmmakers culled their commentary from hundreds of hours of BBC interviews recorded in the 1960s and ’70s.

The result is a transformation that is nothing less than visually astonishing.

Check out the astounding videos at the link

[still_one]

1. It is amazing

[BritVic]

2. I saw this a few weeks back when it was premiered on the BBC

When the jerky monochrome footage changed into full colour projected at the correct speed, and the soldiers started talking (a team of lip-readers was employed), it truly felt you were walking alongside these souls in their world. An amazing piece of work.

[Raster]

3. The film is absolutely AMAZING...

They Shall Not Grow Old...

https://int.nyt.com/data/videotape/finished/2018/12/peter-jackson/peter-wwo_058-480h.mp4

[Hermit-The-Prog]

11. my bandwidth sucks

Took me 3 tries to get to see 11 seconds. It was worth it.

Thanks!

[byronius]

20. Wow.

[D_Master81]

4. dible

Its amazing how black and white takes the humanness out of those on screen. They finally look like people and not just a historical film in a museum, for lack of a better term.

[ret5hd]

5. Wow. That looks like a "must see" for me.

[pecosbob]

7. and me

[912gdm]

6. I read a about this the other day

Jackson's company restored about 100 hours of footage and didn't charge the museum.

[sakabatou]

8. If only he could un-make the Hobbit films

[BootinUp]

9. Heh. Nt

[hack89]

10. Just saw it. Absolutely incredible

The video was incredible but what made the movie were all the soldiers telling what life in the trenches was really like.

[Hermit-The-Prog]

12. 100 hours restored first

I really like this part:

For Jackson’s documentary, rather than sift through the archival footage to decide which scenes to use, he opted to restore all 100 hours first (working on that daunting three-year task with a New Zealand company, Park Road Post Production). Decades of scratches, dust and splotches were cleaned up, and the now-pristine material was donated back to the war museum.

[ornotna]

13. The trailer

https://www.fathomevents.com/events/they-shall-not-grow-old?video_id=9-NRsMViJ88

[dae]

17. Thankyou, I sure hope to see the film.

[bdjhawk]

14. Being shown in the US today and 12/27 only

https://www.fathomevents.com/events/they-shall-not-grow-old?layout_id=796&preview=1

It is sold out where I live. With this type of interest, hopefully they will add some more dates. Hope this link works. Put in your zip code and it will show times and available seats.

[progressoid]

19. Only showing in 3D around here.

I'd prefer 2D.

[Generic Brad]

15. Phenomenal

Thank you for sharing this.

[dae]

16. K&R

[Tipperary]

18. Thanks for posting this!