<P> The process was always done by hand, sometimes using a stencil cut from a second print of the film, such as the Pathécolor process . As late as the 1920s, hand coloring processes were used for individual shots in Greed (1924) and The Phantom of the Opera (1925) (both utilizing the Handschiegl color process); and rarely, an entire feature - length movie such as Cyrano de Bergerac (1925) and The Last Days of Pompeii (1926). </P> <P> These colorization methods were employed until effective color film processes were developed . During the late 1960s and the early 1970s, black - and - white Betty Boop, Mickey Mouse, and Looney Tunes cartoons were redistributed in color . Supervised by Fred Ladd, color was added by tracing the original black - and - white frames onto new animation cels, and then adding color to the new cels in South Korea . This technique considerably degrades the quality and timing of the original animation, to the extent that some animation was not carried over or mistakenly altered . The most recent redrawn colorized black - and - white cartoons are the Fleischer Studios / Famous Studios' Popeye cartoons, the Harman - Ising Merrie Melodies, and MGM's The Captain and the Kids cartoons, which were colorized in 1987 for airing on the Turner networks . With computer technology, studios were able to add color to black - and - white films by digitally tinting single objects in each frame of the film until it was fully colorized (the first authorized computer - colorizations of B&W cartoons were commissioned by Warner Bros. in 1990). The initial process was invented by Canadian Wilson Markle and was first used in 1970 to add color to monochrome footage of the moon from the Apollo program missions . </P> <P> Computerized colorization began in the 1970s with a process developed by Wilson Markle . Movies colorized using early techniques have soft contrast and fairly pale, flat, washed - out color; however, the technology has improved since the 1980s . </P> <P> To perform digital colorization, a digitized copy of the best monochrome film print available is needed . Technicians, with the aid of computer software, associate a range of gray levels to each object, and indicate to the computer any movement of the objects within a shot . The software also is capable of sensing variations in the light level from frame to frame and correcting it if necessary . The technician selects a color for each object based on (1) common "memory" colors such as blue sky, white clouds, flesh tones and green grass, and (2) based on any known information about the movie . For example, if there are color publicity photos or props from the movie available to examine, authentic colors may be applied . (3) In the absence of any better information, the technician chooses a color that fits the gray level and that the technician feels is consistent with what a director might have chosen for the scene . The computer software then associates a variation of the basic color with each gray level in the object, while keeping intensity levels the same as in the monochrome original . The software then follows each object from frame to frame, applying the same color until the object leaves the frame . As new objects come into the frame, the technician must associate colors to each new object in the same way as described above . This technique was patented in 1991 . </P>

Who began the process of computer colorization of old black and white movies