Question about Rainbow Falls - NWRR

[Keeline]

That video is a complete cheat with some process tool like Adobe AfterEffects. (Note the description on YouTube). They made some very wrong guesses about the colors. It is a nice try though. I won't list the errors just now since it is late.

There are also video clips (such as stalactites) that are not from the Mine Train at all but may be from Calico or Big Thunder.

I didn't watch the whole thing, just the cavern sequence.

James D. Keeline

[IDMT129]

I can now see where he spliced Calico Mine Trains onto the Rainbow Caverns footage.

I wonder what it would take to colorize the black and white footage? Do you need the original film for the process or can we use digital footage?

[Keeline]

I wonder what it would take to colorize the black and white footage? Do you need the original film for the process or can we use digital footage?

It is possible to use a video editing program like Adobe AfterEffects to add color to a video clip. It is somewhat tedious so it has to be worth the time and effort. I admit that it would be an interesting end result but am not sure if I'm ready to jump into it and learn wha is needed to do it well.

Naturally, one should start with the very best quality video possible before colorizing it. The broadcast video source is "An Adventure in the Magic Kingdom" (1958). It has not been released on DVD so the best quality available seems to be the VHS recordings from the Vault Disney programming block on the Disney Channel before they dropped Walt-era content in 2002 (right after making money to celebrate the 100th anniversary of his birth).

The video "found" with the colorized version of the caverns (with the wrong colors) was likely done with AE.

James D. Keeline

[IDMT129]

Yeah, I was thinking about Adobe as well. I watched a tutorial on it, but you have to have know colors to edit it properly. The program does not differentiate the colors on it's own. You have to tell it what colors you believe the B/W footage is.

There is one for photos and the guy chose the color of the sky and the color of the Army Air Corps Man in the picture's hair color and skin color. It is not exactly like Turner Broadcasting adding color to old film. I am sure it can be done, I just don't know what the cost would be for the correct colorization program. I know it took Turner years to colorize the few movies they did do.

[Keeline]

I've done some work with Adobe After Effects on the best version of the video I can find. The process involves drawing polygon masks and applying a color effect>color balance to it so that the color is added. The result is decent. It is tedious, of course.

Here is a postcard of Staircase Falls. It is a bit purple because of the UV-A light being captured by the film.



This is the effect I have presently on a similar view. The blueprints for the Staircase Falls says they use blue water for this fall so I'm going to go with that.



Of course applying the colors requires having an understanding of what the colors should be. This can be confusing until you know what you are looking at. It is not helped with the video clips of the Rainbow Caverns from "An Adventure in the Magic Kingdom" being out of order from what would be seen by a rider of the train passing through.