Why is the “Rain” b roll footage in color if it was supposedly shot in black and white

[drivebitch 1,864]

Official reports claim that it was shot in black and white and then hand painted. Would they actually color all the unused footage, too?

[Jackie 8,219]

Interesting question - I’m curious about this too!

[Lucky90210 741]

Hmmm good point. 

[Cyberraga 731]

Has anyone seen original black and white footage?

[DJ N A 736]

I was always skeptical of the “shot in BW and then painted with color” thing. What most likely happened was that it was shot traditionally in color and then COLOR GRADED with emerging computer technology. Movies around this time were dipping their toe in new color grading opportunities with it really hitting its stride around the release of David Fintcher’s SE7EN. It was a new concept at the time so I bet whoever made the initial “ hand painted” comment just didn’t yet have the technical vocabulary to explain it.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Color_grading

[Angelo 5,802]

Because the recolor of the black and white thing is just a rumor

[Ayham 5,615]

I don’t think it’s true… all those brolls colored… 

[Donna 17,201]

More fan fiction.  There is no way they would go out of their way to color all that b-roll footage. 

[Jackie 8,219]

Ok, was reading that it was shot in black and white and then digitally colorized - so that makes sense that they would have done it all including b roll to ensure consistency in color when they sliced and spliced the video together.

[Donna 17,201]

26 minutes ago, Jackie said:

Ok, was reading that it was shot in black and white and then digitally colorized - so that makes sense that they would have done it all including b roll to ensure consistency in color when they sliced and spliced the video together.

I wouldn't think they would want to edit it down first, rather spend all that time and money colorizing footage they aren't going to use? 

[Papa Zelko 1,602]

The video never looked hand painted. 

 

I always wonder who makes shit up like this......and why?? WHat's the point??

 

Hand coloring each frame is a massive undertaking. Doin b-roll would be completely ridiculous as well.

[Jackie 8,219]

5 minutes ago, tscott said:

I wouldn't think they would want to edit it down first, rather spend all that time and money colorizing footage they aren't going to use? 

Well, I assume digital would be the computer would have done it - but would take days back then lol

[Donna 17,201]

Just now, Jackie said:

Well, I assume digital would be the computer would have done it - but would take days back then lol

LOL... yeah.  I still think it's fan fiction, but I totally understand what you are saying.  Whatever they did, they created an incredible video nevertheless. 

[Jackie 8,219]

2 minutes ago, tscott said:

LOL... yeah.  I still think it's fan fiction, but I totally understand what you are saying.  Whatever they did, they created an incredible video nevertheless. 

Yes and no - they did treat it though - it's been colorised whether shot like that or not.

[thegoldencalf 12,667]

7 minutes ago, Jackie said:

Well, I assume digital would be the computer would have done it - but would take days back then lol

Surely if it was shot in black and white Mark Romanek would have mentioned that in the directors commentary

[Jackie 8,219]

1 minute ago, thegoldencalf said:

Surely if it was shot in black and white Mark Romanek would have mentioned that in the directors commentary

This is true! 

[Donna 17,201]

6 minutes ago, Jackie said:

Yes and no - they did treat it though - it's been colorised whether shot like that or not.

Oh most definitely.  They digitally enhanced it.  I just don't buy the "hand painted" rumor. 

[Donna 17,201]

4 minutes ago, thegoldencalf said:

Surely if it was shot in black and white Mark Romanek would have mentioned that in the directors commentary

I would have to agree here.  I would think that would have been important thing to mention regarding the making fo this video.  From what I'm gathering is newer technology at the time was used on the video.

[deathproof 10,683]

19 minutes ago, thegoldencalf said:

Surely if it was shot in black and white Mark Romanek would have mentioned that in the directors commentary

Exactly. Mark nor Haris Savides never mentioned this video ever being shot in b&w.

The colorizing thing makes for a cool story, but there’s no evidence to ever support it being real.

Yes I know, it came from MTV back in the day, but still.

[Papa Zelko 1,602]

40 minutes ago, deathproof said:

The colorizing thing makes for a cool story, but there’s no evidence to ever support it being real.

No evidence needed when the end product doesn’t even suggest that it’s been colored from b/w. 🤣

[thegoldencalf 12,667]

2 hours ago, deathproof said:

Exactly. Mark nor Haris Savides never mentioned this video ever being shot in b&w.

The colorizing thing makes for a cool story, but there’s no evidence to ever support it being real.

Yes I know, it came from MTV back in the day, but still.

Oh please elaborate. I didn’t know this story originated from MTV

[Blue Jean 15,865]

Madonna probably made up that story 

[Askeroff 8,166]

yeah i read it story  multiple times

and always thought this is 

 

[wtg1987 10,299]

total rubbish - i think all M did here was maybe wear blue contact lenses as her eyes dont look very green to me - i agree also that Mark never mentioned it in the directors commentary either - no way Warners would have spent all that extra money either to digitally colour a music video either ? either way its probably her most beautiful music videos and once again ignored by all the awards shows ....

[Prayer 14,785]

It was definitely something that was done at the time. Janet Jackson's 1994 "You Want This" video was, according to Wikipedia:

A black-and-white version of the video was first released to music channels, while a colorized version was released one month later. CST Entertainment Imaging Inc. was responsible for the transformation, with 30 to 40 members of the company's Color F/X division split into three shifts and worked for nearly three weeks to create this version.

Of course that doesn't mean it happened with "Rain" too, but both videos share the oversaturated vibrant colors.

It doesn't make sense that they did it with the whole B-Roll though, just the final product. But who knows.