1933 Thylacine Footage Colourised

Through his company, the Paris-based Composite Films, Samuel François-Steininger has developed a well-deserved reputation as a leader in the field of colourising black-and-white archival footage.

The NFSA scanned the original film negative using a Scanity HDR (High Dynamic Range) film scanner and sent Ultra High Definition ProRes files to Samuel in Paris. Samuel's team then commenced extensive research before embarking on the colourisation process.

Samuel writes: 'For the thylacine, I faced a different kind of challenge – and responsibility. I had to take care of the rare filmed footage and pay tribute to the last representative of a species, which disappeared 85 years ago.'

'From a technological point of view, we did everything digitally – combining digital restoration, rotoscoping and 2D animation, lighting, AI algorithms for the movement and the noise, compositing and digital grading.

'More than 200 hours of work were needed to achieve this result.'

Here's a nice way to celebrate National Threatened Species Day in Australia (September 7) - some enhanced and colorized thylacine footage! Watch it on the NFSA Website.

(By the way, as of September 7th, 2021, it has been 85 years since the death of the last confirmed thylacine in 1936.)