Film by LOTR director about First World War in color and 3D premieres

The documentary They Shall Not Grow Old will have its premiere on Tuesday. Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson colored old World War I footage for this film, added 3D and had audio made for it.

The documentary They Shall Not Grow Old is based on old footage and interviews with survivors from the 1960s. Much of the footage was shot in 10fps, with peaks reaching 15fps, Jackson said in an interview with History Answers. To prevent it from looking jerky and to achieve the 24 fps that is now common, Peter Jackson’s special effects company Weta interspersed with images that the software created from the frames before and behind it.

Moreover, it turned out to be a challenge to get the timing right, due to the way of filming at the time. In addition, the creators had to remove noise and scratches. According to Jackson, most of the work was in restoring the images, after which coloring them and rendering them in 3D turned out to be easier.

The voice-overs come from survivors who spoke to the BBC in the 1960s for a documentary series about the First World War. Because it was a silent film, Jackson had the audio from the war scenes recorded by actors and studios. They Shall Not Grow Old will be released during this period, as next month will be a century since the warring factions laid down their arms. That happened on November 11, 1918. The documentary can be seen in Great Britain from Tuesday, but whether and when the film will be released in the Benelux is unknown.