Jenny Priestley talks to conversion company Stereo D about their work on the Oscar-winners First World War documentary
Author:
Jenny PriestleyPublish date:
Nov 8, 2018
They Shall Not Grow Old, Peter Jackson's film about the First World War, is broadcast on BBC Two and released into UK cinemas this weekend (9th November). The 90-minute film has been created using original footage from the Imperial War Museums' extensive archive, much of it previously unseen, alongside BBC and IWM interviews with servicemen who fought in the conflict. Footage has been colourised, converted to 3D and transformed with modern production techniques to present never before seen detail.
Although the project was only officially announced in January of this year, the Oscar-winning director began working on the film three years ago, which is when he brought conversion company Stereo D on board. The company had previously worked on several projects with Jackson's visual effects team.
They invited us to take part in a proof-of-concept test, Stereo D producer Mark Simone tells TVBEurope. The test period lasted about three months. From there we entered in to an R&D phase to prepare for shot production. The test allowed us to identify areas of our pipeline that needed to be modified to conform to the project.
Stereo D's first job was to restore the footage: We had to de-flicker, de-grain, de-scratch, and de-noise the footage, explains colour supervisor, Milton Adamou.
The next step was increasing the frame rate to 24 fps, which creates visible artifacts such as ghosted' edges or smeared details in the newly-created frames. Additionally, in some instances there were entire frames simply missing that had to be recreated.
Next, the team dealt with the digital paint retouch, which involved manually cleaning out' the new frames, making sure the edges were sharp and the motion looks fluid and natural. Here we began the rotoscopy phase, isolating every object in every frame to assist with the colourisation and the 3D, continues Adamou.
For certain shots we would establish the colour look decisions by working on a single restored frame and then confer and iterate with Peter and his team until we had a sign-off. Then we would ripple those choices to our composite stage and apply them to the moving footage. Then we create a depth map and determine where everything in the frame would occupy in 3D space.
Finally, our paint and finishing stage fills in occlusions created by the image-stretching that occurs in the 3D process, concludes Amadou.
Stereo D employed several hundreds of its team members in various locations around the world to work on the restoration, colorisation, and the 3D production. The company had worked on archival feature films, but this was their first documentary project and their first dealing with historical footage.
Obviously working with footage that's nearly 100 years old wasn't easy - you can't just send the original film through the post. First, it was scanned by the Imperial War Museum, then it went to Park Road Post in New Zealand and they sent it to us as digital files, explains Simone. It was not easy, but the most difficult part was that each shot required its own specific analysis and suite of solutions and processes in order to get it to the next step.
Simone says Jackson was a constant presence on the project, with team members flying to New Zealand at regular intervals, as well as the company taking part in remote reviewing sessions with the director who would also be passing on noted and feedback regularly.
Simone says everyone involved felt an enormous responsibility. All of us at Stereo D felt an immense obligation to the memory of these fallen soldiers and to the audiences who will see the film, he adds. It was incredibly important that our work respect the history we were tasked with representing.
Finally, with the film airing on the BBC on Remembrance Sunday after its world premiere at the BFI London Film Festival last month, what do the team at Stereo D think of the finished product? Its even better than we couldve imagined, concludes Simone. And attending the London Film Festival was a great way to experience seeing the full feature with an audience.
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
09/10/2026
September 10 2026, 06:00 (PDT) Dolby Expands Dolby OptiView Platform with New Capabilities at IBC 2026
New Sports Intelligence helps providers better unders...
07/10/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, today announced the latest Long-Term Supported (LTS) release of Dalet Flex. Build...
29/09/2026
Oak View Group (OVG) has announced Cisco as an Official Technology Partner, with plans to standardize infrastructure across its venue network on Cisco solutions...
29/09/2026
SportsNet Pittsburgh (SNP) won three honors at the 2026 Mid-Atlantic Emmy Awards.
Program awards went to Bucs BP in the Sports Program Live category (produced ...
29/09/2026
The Professional Women's Hockey League has announced home openers for all 12 teams for the 2026-27 season, along with a broadcast partnership with CBC under...
29/09/2026
Manifold technologies has been recognized as a contributor to the Media eXchange...
29/09/2026
FuboTV has announced My Local Sports, allowing subscribers in select markets to add their local regional sports network (RSN) as an add-on to a Fubo Sports subs...
29/09/2026
Asian News International (ANI), a wire agency and video news provider based in India, has deployed Grass Valley's AMPP Media Operating System and Framelight...
29/09/2026
South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) has deployed Ikegami UHK-X600 cameras as part of an upgrade to IP-based production infrastructure. The deployment ...
29/09/2026
REMI, REMCO models will drive the bulk of the broadcaster's NHL productions ...
29/09/2026
Three years in, the facility is supporting more centralized race production, com...
29/09/2026
NBC, Peacock, and NBSN are carrying all four Wild Card series with a production ...
29/09/2026
19 Nonfiction Projects Across All Stages of Production to Receive More Than $1 million in Support as Documentary Film Program Approaches 25th Anniversary
LOS ...
29/09/2026
Two new plug-ins launch alongside updated bundles
Zynaptiq have just announced the launch of two new plug-ins, alongside new and improved versions of two of...
29/09/2026
All-in-one bus processor revealed
Wes Audio's ng product range has come a long way since it was first introduced, and now includes a tasty selection of ...
29/09/2026
eds3_5_jq(document).ready(function($) { $(#eds_sliderM519).chameleonSlider_2_1({ content_source:......
29/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/09/2026
Ikegami announces that the South African Broadcasting Corporation, SABC, has chosen Ikegami UHK-X600 camera systems as part of an advance to IP-based operation ...
29/09/2026
Blendkit Offers 20% Discount to Celebrate Crossing 150K Asset Milestone
Brie Clayton September 29, 2026
0 Comments
Blendkit, the largest 3D asset libr...
29/09/2026
Interactive streaming specialist Ease Live supported more than 76.5 million fan sessions across three major European media operators during this summers FIFA Wo...
29/09/2026
Ease Live has added support for VAST (Video Ad Serving Template) to its graphical overlay technology, opening up new ways for broadcasters, streamers and rights...
29/09/2026
Rise AV has announced the launch of the inaugural Rise AV Awards, a new global awards programme celebrating the women, advocates and organisations across the AV...
29/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/09/2026
Clear-Com announced that First Baptist Nashville has upgraded its production communications with a Clear-Com intercom solution as part of a comprehensive sanct...
29/09/2026
Blackmagic Cinema Camera 6K Captured Action Shots for Sketch
Brie Clayton September 28, 2026
0 Comments
Camera's portable design and dynamic range...
29/09/2026
Kean Production Services Deploys AJA ColorBox to Deliver Consistent, Accurate Co...
29/09/2026
Berklee Alumni and Faculty Nominated for the 2026 Latin Grammy Awards A total of 28 Berklee alumni and faculty earned nominations across 20 categories this ye...
29/09/2026
Berklee's K-Pop & Beyond Explores Connections Between K-Pop and Hip-Hop Now in its fifth year, the series brings together artists, industry leaders, and s...
29/09/2026
We tend to think we live in a digital world, with hopes and fears around artificial intelligence (AI), quantum computing, data centres and the next big technolo...
29/09/2026
Today, in partnership with the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), Apple relea...
29/09/2026
Final Cut Camera, the professional filming app for iPhone, receives a major upda...
29/09/2026
RT lyric fm is proud to announce the annual Choirs for Christmas competition callout. Warm up those vocal chords and join us on RT lyric fm for a celebration ...
28/09/2026
The NHL has announced Adobe as an Official Creative, Marketing and AI Partner beginning with the 2026-27 season. The partnership will provide the league and its...
28/09/2026
MultiDyne will exhibit at CABSAT 2026 (October 5-7, Dubai Exhibition Centre), showcasing an expanded technology portfolio following its June 2026 acquisition of...
28/09/2026
ARRI and HONOR have announced the HONOR Magic9 Pro Max, a flagship smartphone carrying ARRI branding on the device and packaging as the first product-level expr...
28/09/2026
Net Insight has added the Nimbra 1020G to its pan-Asian live media trial network, giving customers and partners in the region a way to evaluate ST 2110 and JPEG...
28/09/2026
Vindral has been named a recipient of a 2026 Technology and Engineering Emmy Award by the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences in the category of We...
28/09/2026
Interra Systems will exhibit at CABSAT 2026 (Stand B2-37, Dubai Exhibition Centre, October 5-7), demonstrating its BATON QC platform, ORION monitoring solutions...
28/09/2026
Two years into its new production facility, the TOUR is expanding centralized wo...
Jenny Priestley talks to conversion company Stereo D about their work on the Oscar-winners First World War documentary
