Colorized Appliances

[rp2813]

We just finished watching the mostly colorized "I Love Lucy Christmas Special" on CBS, a broadcast network that deserves praise for recognizing the viability of running a 1950s sitcom during prime time in 2014.

 

In the colorized kitchen scenes, the appliances were tinted a very blah tan.  I'm sure they were actually white.  It looked very odd, even more so since the whole show looked odd in color.  The colorization would have been more believable if the appliances had been left white.  JMO.

 

Is this a common practice in colorizations?

 

[hydralique]

Had they been GE I'd have voted for Cadet Blue . . .

 

[mattl]

I've seen some colorized shows where they tried that, and the white looked off.  I think if you color one thing you have to color all.

 

[daveamkrayoguy]

Could be if there were any colors used in any of these old shows, it would be hard to perhaps remember exactly which ones what each prop was...

 

I agree about leaving white appliances, white, though--but, making them yellow or pink, at least adds some zest, if it's any sort of current color of the time of the program...

 

Otherwise, why not Turquoise or Sherwood Green?

 

 

-- Dave

 

[petek]

I was watching some of it as well and agree they probably were white.. Same with the pink uniforms Lucy and Viv were wearing in the chocolate factory scenes. They did a good colorizing job though,, not like some of them when they first tried colorizing years ago, those really looked fake.

 

[arbilab]

I would have called them a cross between sunshine yellow and harvest gold. Were either available in the early 50s? Kinda doubt colorizers can be counted upon to be historically accurate WRT appliance colors. Almost certain those W'house kitchen models were only available in white.

Note how some of the interiors looked pastel while others looked gray/untouched? Then there's the matter of the tree bulbs which looked colored when off but white when on.

 

[whirlcool]

On a news program they had a short clip about the show. They said when they colorized the show they used a 1950's color palate so it would look right. To me the colors seemed kind of muted or had somewhat of a faded look, especially in the Lucy Goes To Work segment.

I always thought that when they colorize a show they pick out colors of things in the shot that have known colors, like skin tone, dress color, hair color, etc. Then the computer colorizes the rest based on tones from known items. You would think that appliance white would be a known color.

Is anyone here familiar with the method they use to colorize B&W film?

 

[frigilux]

Someone Has To Be That Guy: I really dislike the whole concept of colorizing of black and white films/ programming. The format has its own unique merits and should be shown that way.

 

[countryguy]

I watched it also and I liked the colourized version...somehow it seemed to make it more real and interesting.

Gary

 

[frigilux]

I appreciate they're trying to bring a classic to a young audience that's generally unfamiliar with black and white...but I still wish they'd show it in the original format. Karl Freund, the director of photography for the show, was a master at bringing out the shading and textures unique to black and white film.

Considering the haste at which TV shows were filmed, I Love Lucy looks nearly as good as some black and white feature films of the day. Freund was a true artist.

 

[danemodsandy]

Sadly....

....Many younger people Will. Not. Watch. anything that is black-and-white. I discussed this with some movie-buff friends some time back, and what we think is this:

Because almost everything is in color nowadays, young people's brains aren't trained to interpret black-and-white images comfortably. With those of us who are older, we had to deal with black-and-white images all the time, and learned to process their visual information effortlessly.

But for the brain not accustomed to processing black-and-white, doing so seems to be work, something else today's young'uns are highly allergic to.

I also dislike colorization, but it has two saving graces - A) The process depends on a high-quality source, meaning that the film to be colorized often gets some restoration it might not get otherwise, and B) The process is totally electronic and does not affect the original film at all.

 

[travis]

Sandy,

I have had the exact discussion with film buffs and younger people. I am 42 though, so I should be allergic to black and white also. They also think the effects in old movies are cheesy, and dumb. I have retaliated by saying the writing and storylines of most of todays work is borderline retarded.

You're right, colization does require restoration of the source material. There's always hope the younger audience may view the original later in life.

ps. I also hear all the bitching about subtitles on foreign films. Unfortunately, that comment comes from 60 and younger. "What I have to read it!"

 

[danemodsandy]

Travis:

42 is old enough to have a lot more experience with black-and-white than today's teens and twenty-somethings. When you were born, there was a lot of older rerun programming on TV, plus black-and-white classic movies. Newspaper photos were black-and-white, so were most of those in picture and news magazines. If my theory - and it IS a theory - is correct, you got enough training with black-and-white at the early age needed to form the ability to process its information with ease.

So far as SFX go, every generation of moviegoers has been awed by then state-of-the-art SFX, and the next generation had a field day pointing out the wires, matte lines, model shots and other techniques that no longer impressed. I well remember the "GASSSSSSSSSP!" that went up in the theatre where I saw Jurassic Park for the first time - that first shot of the Brontosaurus. For the moment, it looked awfully damn real.

Now, that same shot looks obviously CG, with a flatness and lack of dimensionality that is - yep, you guessed it - cheesy-looking today.

I hear you about the crappy writing of today's movies. OY, do I hear you.

P.S.: Every time I watch a recent movie on DVD, I thank GOD for subtitles. Because speaking clearly is obviously beneath the dignity of many of today's actors. I'll read gladly, because I sure as Hell ain't gonna catch what they're saying by listening.

 

[brib68]

Colorization...FEH!

My DVD box set of Bewitched sadly has the colorized early seasons, and the look varies from "meh" to "that's SO wrong!" And unlike Lucy, the colorizers DID have references for many of the correct prop/set colors.

The worst part is that they didn't colorize anyone's teeth, so everyone had awful, dingy gray smiles!

 

[countryford]

I am 31 and while it isn't real young, it was after the time of regular black and white TV. I prefer b/w. I've even watched newer color shows on my b/w TV.

One of my coworkers who is in his late 40's, once told me "You couldn't pay me enough to watch movies/tv in black and white."

I was one time at Goodwill and found an older b/w portable TV for $1.00. While I was carrying it around, checking out the other stuff in the store, This guy in his 60's or 70's asked me "You do relaize that is a b/w TV?" I told him yes I did. He then replied "I can't see why someone would want to buy a b/w TV." I felt like telling him to mind his own business, but  I just ignored him.

 

 

 

[rp2813]

Colorizing = More Interesting?

Gary's comment has some merit.  For me, it was more about seeing the colors that were chosen for interior appointments.  And btw, if the phone could remain black, why couldn't the appliances remain white?  Colored phones were available before colored appliances were.

 

I have no idea how many times I've seen the See's Candy sequence in B&W, but last night it caught my interest.  I agree the uniforms wouldn't have been pink, but we're not talking about a reality show here.

 

Dave was watching with me, and since his stroke he reacts differently to things he sees on TV.  He wears his emotions on his sleeve.  To wit:  He cried over the closing scene on the series finale of "Weeds."  Yes, Weeds!

 

Last night, as Lucy began handling the chocolate and smearing it around, Dave was laughing out loud, and I started paying attention to her mastery of physical/slapstick comedy.  During the sequence with the candy wrapping, as things got out of control, so did Dave's laughing.  I haven't seen him laugh so hard in a long, long time.  It was infectious.  What was I doing laughing at something I'd seen so many times before?  Well, it is a classic comedy sequence, so I guess that's why.

 

Dave looked at me after it was over and said "It's funnier in color!" even though he knew that was kind of a ridiculous statement, and he laughed some more about it.  Don't ask me why, and I'm not a fan of colorization, but for some odd reason, I had to agree.

 

Still, as witnessed last night, there's no arguing about the beauty and quality of the original B&W.  It was so sharp and crisp, as if it were filmed yesterday with the most sophisticated modern equipment.

 

[danemodsandy]

Why No White?

I think that's for two reasons.

1) "Colorization" is a process that electronically adds a layer of color information into the original black-and-white image, sort of a translucent addition of color, with the original image still showing through. Since almost everything in a black-and-white image is some shade of grey - from very light to very dark - getting a clean, bright white would, logically, seem to be a difficult thing to accomplish, since you're always going to be dealing with that grey information.

2) What appeared to be white in older movies and TV shows was often not actually white, because the bright lighting needed for older film stocks could cause white to glare. Creamy, very light tans often simulated white in old movies. I cannot say if this technique was used on I Love Lucy, but it was used at the time in movies, so that would also make it hard for colorizers to bring things back to a real white.

 

[whirlaway]

colorized holiday inn

I will have to say,they did an excellant job and with lots of white,on the disc under special features they tell you step by step,how it was done.The most beautiful Easter scene,the colors looked like regular technicolor.The only real mistake as far as color the 42 Plymouth station wagon would have had a black roof.Also dont forget if you see this movie crank the color control up higher looks much better.When I saw the candy show the appliances should have been white,I was shocked when the camera panned the kitchen and saw those terrible colors,I know Betty was spinning in her grave.

 

[ptcruiser51]

High-Key Lighting

In one of my books about the show, it made mention that because it was a comedy with a lot of "action" (facial expressions, movement, props) it was necessary to have bright lighting. Anything with a gloss finish (wood furniture, ceramics, etc.) had to be coated or dusted with a material to give it a matte finish to cut down or eliminate glare. Perhaps the colorization process brought about the "flat" colors as a result. I, too, thought the appliance colors were garishly wrong.

Great show, though.