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Author
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Topic: They Shall Not Grow Old
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Bill Brandenstein
Phenomenal Film Handler
Posts: 1632
From: California
Registered: Aug 2007
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posted December 12, 2018 10:55 PM
Hundred-year-old WWI film footage: what's an "authentic" presentation? Is a film more authentic when viewed just precisely in the manner in which it was shot, with all its limitations and imperfections, using a projector and a screen? Or is it more authentic when digitally transformed into a more realistic window-in-time, as though it were shot with newer technology?
You decide.
Peter Jackson, who redefined the world of special effects with his Lord of the Rings trilogy, has reinvented the concept of archival footage with his documentary "They Shall Not Be Forgotten." He's taken hundred-year-old film footage and digitally created more resolution, a wider aspect ratio, smoothly added frames to increase the frame rate, added color, added synchronized sound, and even pulled it into 3D. I'm not sure what to think of this "inauthentic authenticity," but please take a look at the trailer:
Trailer for "They Shall Not Grow Old"
(Why isn't this a full theatrical release? The timing is awful for me, so if anyone sees this, please give us your review!)
There are a lot of ways Jackson could've done this and made it look. Whether or not we agree with his aesthetics, this is morally and artistically meritorious. Truly fascinating and profoundly worthy.
[ December 13, 2018, 07:35 PM: Message edited by: Bill Brandenstein ]
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Melvin England
Jedi Master Film Handler
Posts: 707
From: Hull, East Yorkshire, UK
Registered: Feb 2016
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posted December 14, 2018 01:09 PM
I never knew about this film before this thread was started. I watched the trailer,thinking it was a new release, but apparently, as Graham points out, it is already available on Dvd/Blu Ray. Not only that, it has also been given a BBC2 airing in the UK in November of this year.
As to whether we should digitize such footage or not remains for debate.
In my opinion..... absolutely.
As a supporter of celluloid, as we all are on this forum (or should be)I think it is extremely important to preserve the original black and white scratchy fast moving images as they were because, after all, this film is history in itself as a demonstration of the up to date technology available in that era.
What Peter Jackson and his team have done is a minor miracle. It has brought this low quality imagery into the 21st Century and turned it into footage that, for the sake of this example, could have been taken yesterday.
Surely the children of today and certainly generations yet to be born would not relate to these strange, scratchy, black and white images, yet, brought up to a standard they are used to everyday (notwithstanding future technological advances and improvements on even Jackson's work) they can be shown history in a way that can be understood in a way that they have come to expect.
Basically, keep the old stuff, but embrace the new.
I cannot wait for someone to get hold of Charlie Chaplin's material !!
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"My name is for my friends!"
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