How Peter Jackson ‘Brought To Life’ WW1 Footage In His New Film

Lord of the Rings‘ director Peter Jackson has brought the First World War to life in a documentary using rare original footage that has been colourised and transformed with modern production techniques.

Mr Jackson restored a 100-hours of footage from the Imperial War Museum’s archive for They Shall Not Grow Old, bringing, in the director’s own words, „the human experience of the war“ to the big screen in vivid colour. Old and damaged film was immaculately restored and slowed down to a normal speed bringing clarity to the war only previously seen by the infantrymen who saw it first hand.

The extraordinary results were as much a surprise to Mr Jackson as anyone. His team in New Zealand were initially given just four minutes of black and white footage from the IWM to see what they could achieve with the latest technology and know-how. The director went on ask the IWM for more footage from their archives having been „blown away“ by the results. „It took me hugely by surprise,“ he said. „I had no way of knowing.“

To recreate the realistic colours in the restored images, Mr Jackson told ITV News his team studied pictures of crowds on the internet and used his big collection of First World War uniforms as reference.


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