February 2003
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February 2003 |
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Departments Past Issues |
The Perilous Fight: America's World War II in Color About the Color Footage Seen in color in The Perilous Fight: America's World War II in Color, airing Wednesday, February 12 and 19 at 9 p.m., the images of World War II -- from the faces of battle-weary young soldiers, to the devastation of bombed cities, to joyous victory celebrations -- have an almost startling impact that is not experienced with black and white film. "There is an emotional buffer when you see black and white footage," says Perilous Fight series producer Martin Smith. "Here, that is totally taken away." Color photography was still in its infancy in 1939. While America was flocking to the movie theaters to gasp at the fantastical color world unveiled in The Wizard of Oz, German tanks were about to roll into Poland. The war itself slowed the production of color film stock, and the majority of what was produced was reserved for military use -- but across America and around the world, cameras with color film kept rolling. Cameramen using color film found their way onto battlefields, into concentration camps, onto the decks of aircraft carriers in the Pacific, and through what was left of the streets of Hiroshima. Much of what they shot has never been seen in color, because it was released in black and white, or never released at all. But the original color film has been rediscovered and brings the story of America's World War II experience vividly to life in The Perilous Fight. The color images featured in The Perilous Fight were culled from 500 hours of footage obtained from a variety of sources, including government archives, museums, historical societies, private corporations, commercial archive houses, and veterans and their families. In one instance, footage was even rescued from a curbside trash bin. Much of the film contained priceless, one-of-a-kind images of historical events. The series' producers felt compelled to do everything possible to restore the footage to near-pristine condition for use in the series and for posterity. Under the auspices of archive film producer Adrian Wood, the film footage was transferred onto Digital Betacam videotape and taken to The Victory Studios in Seattle, where the imagery was color-graded and restored by senior colorist John Davidson and HAL artist Sherri Scott. Unlike colorization, in which artificial colors are digitally applied to black and white images, color grading restores the colors that were recorded on the film to their original hues. Extensive digital rotoscoping erased scratches, blemishes, blotches, mildew, and other signs of wear and tear. Throughout the restoration process, great pains were taken to ensure the utmost historical and technical accuracy. Says Martin Smith of the finished product, "We've not only created something for people to watch on television today, but an incredible archival resource that researchers and documentary producers will be able to use in the future." Numerous film clips from The Perilous Fight -- as well as additional World War II footage not seen in the series-- will be available on the series Web site, at www.pbs.org/perilousfight.
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