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This has been digitally remastered with new audio, the film grain removed, the speed standardised, the colour added. The @BFI has a brilliant collection of films from 1896-1901, recently remastered, but they didn’t look like this originally https://twitter.com/eliistender10/status/1292082995944456192
There are lots of historians who find these sorts of projects really problematic. Personally, I think they can be powerful if the technology is clearly explained so the public understands this is an act of 21st century creation using 19th century images.
I think we have to respect and understand the materiality of the past when we conceptualise that past. But I also welcome opportunities to help the public think about history as a present tense which already happened - a real, vivid experience of humanity in all its facets
I was an ambassador for Peter Jackson’s They Shall Not Grow Old, which is an astonishing technical masterpiece but not without its problems. This is a fair summary of what colourisation does well, and what its critics find troubling https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/a-few-thoughts-on-the-authenticity-of-peter-jacksons-they-shall-not-grow-old/amp
A couple of years ago, @BFI invited #HorribleHistories to use their newly-restored archive of Victorian films (1896-1901) to see if we could create comedy that showcased the collection
Horrible Histories, Series 8: 1. Queen Vic's Home Vids: http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m0005r1q @bbciplayer
Horrible Histories, Series 8: 1. Queen Vic's Home Vids: http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m0005r1q @bbciplayer
The films had been beautifully restored by @BFI, but our challenge was to find ways to create comedy from what was already there. We had to match the costumes, the props, the sets, and find ways to make jokes about what the filmmakers were showing us
We realised that some of the best material was actually the creative process, so we ended up dedicating most of the sketches to how filmmaking worked in the 1890s. And we also decided to to a whole song about the history of cinematic innovation https://www.bbc.co.uk/cbbc/watch/horrible-histories-the-moving-picture-show?collection=horrible-histories-songs
So, as a general conclusion, I think it’s ok to colourise and smooth out old footage, so long as you tell people what you’re doing and how it differs to the original
Because the material culture of the past matters and when we impose our creativity on that footage, we change it
Because the material culture of the past matters and when we impose our creativity on that footage, we change it
Oh, I forgot, here’s the collection of Victorian films collected by @BFI 
, all free to watch. Some of them are ingeniously clever, despite the fact film technology was literally only months old at this point https://player.bfi.org.uk/free/collection/victorian-film
, all free to watch. Some of them are ingeniously clever, despite the fact film technology was literally only months old at this point https://player.bfi.org.uk/free/collection/victorian-film
