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From: lauren@vortex.UUCP (Lauren Weinstein)
Newsgroups: net.tv,net.movies,net.video
Subject: Colorization of old monochrome prints
Message-ID: <818@vortex.UUCP>
Date: Sun, 29-Sep-85 21:17:10 EDT
Article-I.D.: vortex.818
Posted: Sun Sep 29 21:17:10 1985
Date-Received: Wed, 2-Oct-85 05:56:16 EDT
Organization: Vortex Technology, Los Angeles
Lines: 26
Xref: watmath net.tv:3290 net.movies:7799 net.video:1567

It's time to get up on my soapbox and editorialize against what
has to be one of the more disgusting recent practices creeping
into television--computerized colorization of old B&W prints.

I'm sitting here watching a colorized version of the classic "Topper,"
and man, it's pretty sad.  Unnatural colors and fixed hues. 
Color smearing and edge effects.  Yuchh.  

The worst part is that you can't really turn it off.  Oh yeah, the
colorization people tell you to "turn down your color" if you don't like it.
But what does that give you?  Do you get back the original monochrome
shadings?  These shadings in many cases were very carefully designed and
executed during the original filmings.  Well, you DON'T get back the
original monochrome, since some peon selects arbitrary color values
for colorizations, and that means that the monochrome that results 
from turning down the color is based on those NEW values.  That is, there
is a fixed relationship between television monochrome values and
color choice/intensity.  If you choose arbitrary colors and intensities,
the resulting monochrome (when the color is turned off) is also arbitrary--
NOT what was in the original film.

It's really pretty disgusting to see what they're doing to these 
fine old films in the name of "progress" and the view that
"The American Public doesn't like watching Black and White..." 

--Lauren--


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