Colouring Classic Films

[Polidano]

Do you think it is alright to "colorize" classic films?  Why or why not?  To take it one step further....is it alright to make any changes to films once it has been theatrically released? Explain your position.

[tori w]

i dont think it is right to colorize classic films as it strips away the original magic and style of the film. black and white was at one point commonplace and thus directors were prepared to deal with this. the lighting and posing was done deliberately by the crew to create depth and when this film is colorized all these elements are stripped away. the movie becomes flatter and almost has the appearance of a tv movie. while everything else remains the same the placement of colour where it was not intended causes the film to lose the magic the director intended it to have. i dont believe it's right to make changes to a film after its release as it tampers with the director's vision. i am a firm believer that a director should have be able to make a film exactly how they intended it and to me simply colorizing a film can destroy the work the director and crew put so much effort in to create.

[Prajwitha28]

It is "OK" to colourize classic films because there are some people who love watching colourized movies. It is better for the editors of the film to make a colourized version, to those who love colours. In my opinion, I would prefer black and white because it is more clear and it is clean; when we watched the colourized film in the class- the colourized version was blurred and I didn't like it as much as I loved black and white. Its not right to make any changes to films once it has been theatrically released because once people watch the film in theatres they see things for the first time and they enjoy the film, but when they decide to watch it the second time (if made any changes after being released) they might not like it as they watched it the first time. Therefore, it's not "ok" to re-release the film with any new changes.

[paulasojor]

Although I do not particularly enjoy black and white movies, I am completely opposed to the idea of colourizing films. I believe directors of these movies, specifically planned and produced movies with the intention of making up for the loss of colour. For example, Charlie Kane was often drowned out by shadow in comparison to Susan who often appeared brightly lit and dressed in white.The director of 'citizen kane', intentionally lit the scene to represent the difference in personalities. If black and white films were to be coloured, I believe they would lose their originality and authenticity.

[gabriella velante]

I personally think that the colorization of films should not be done. I believe that it takes away the true art and effect that a film gives off. Originally, films were seen without color. But, once you add these new elements such as colorization, it takes the captivity and magic away from a historical moment. Once watching a few black and white movies in class, I don't think that I would enjoy watching the same ones in color. Although one may say that color brings much brightness and allows viewers to be more interested in a film, I think that a black and white film shows contrast and simplicity much greater. A director can use shadows to their advantage during black and white films, which allows viewers to think about the film technique choices and meanings behind the elements used much deeper. Overall I think that both color films and black and white films are amazing, although I think that using colorization on a film takes the traditional film aspects away from the original objective.

[Paige daniel]

No, I don’t think it’s alright to colorize classic films because when you do that, you’re practically just losing everything about it, although the storyline and characters don’t change it’s really in your mind that that while watching it colorized you’re more thinking of it in the original way because that’s how you know it’s supposed to be. Once films have been released they should keep it exactly the way that they had it because the directors, filmmakers, actors and actresses have put so much time and effort into making a movie for the audiences pleasures and laughter, not to have it changed and reversed all of a sudden


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[JackFischer]

I don’t think it is right to colourize black and white films. Colour is a easy element to add to a film and the director and everybody else working on the movie has to use other elements to get a message across. They use acting, music and dialogue instead of adding colour. If you watch a movie in black and white and then in colour, the colour version is not the same as the black and white. The director made the movie in a specific way with the technology he had and when you colourize a film, all of the effort that the crew used is for noting when the film is colourized.

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[Nigel Baril]

I believe that it wrong to change any part of a movie because even the littlest things could completely change the way the film feels. Colour especially though because even though some people don't like black and white films it is how it was originally meant to be. When Michael Curtiz had the vision for "Angels With Dirty Faces" he saw it in black and white that is how the movie is supposed to be and adding colour takes away from that immensely.

[Brendan schuck]

Personally I do not agree with the idea of colourizing black and white films. These films were created with the intention of being without colour and I feel that when people go back and colourize these films it takes away from the directors intended vision. “Angels with dirty faces” is a film which benefits from the lack of colour as it deals with dark themes and the colour is meant to reflect that. Colourizing this film could detract from the film by giving it a different tone than intended. I think that once films are released they should not be altered in any way because I find when films are changed it is often for the worse, and things are added which are not necessary to the overall story (Star Wars remasters).

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[samanthaadavies]

Colourizing films takes the raw/original element that brings character to the film away. To colourize a film that was made to be in black and white can take away the aspect of creativity among the visuals. It straight up gives away the colours that were once unknown and forces viewers to see it from an all new perspective. It ruins the mystery and imagination viewers can use to paint the film as they want. The film was meant to be created a certain way, but colourizing it ruins the originality the director created. Most classic films are in black and white as it shows the age of that time period and its importance to early film. Adding colour is modernizing the film in a way, making it above its time which strips it of its class. The lack of colour is used to focus the viewers on the story being told, not the background behind it. It takes focus away from the narrative and onto the colour across the screen. It distracts, and paints a false picture over what the film used to be. It's not alright to make changes to a film as it was created to be a certain way. Any change to that, ruins the directors set vision for the film. To create a different rendition of ones work is insulting as it shows that the original was not good enough in itself.

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