Black and white vs color

im sure you've gotten this a thousand times...but I just got into a heated argument with my roomate...he thinks color is a harder medium to work with while i think bllack and white seems more difficult...now im not a movie buff so i can't really come up with any good arguments, so i thought id ask the experts....(even if u think other wise arguments would be great...i want him to at least think he' s wrong)...thanx alot

It really depends on how you use B&W. A good deal of directors have tried it in various movies such as Ed Wood, Schindler's List, and Psycho amongst others. These were movies that could have been made into color but were not for their own purposes.

Then again, their is also symbolic or stylish B&W/color pieces. A movie like Pleasantville or a movie like Sin City, that use both, but to convey a point.

So, ultimately, I do not think it's harder or easier to do, but rather a choice for conveying your own point.

But of course the question might arise if you want something to be something but it looks like something else in B&W you might have a problem, etc.

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I agree it depends on how you intend to use black and white versus color. True, with black and white you have to worry about lighting and shadow way more but with color there are all sorts of variations and variables--everything becomes symbolic

Uh...One thing you all forgot. Black and white suck!(Not the game, the game is good) Look at my worst one list
-When I first heard of schindler list I thought I would see but then BAM! Black and white, twas boring in the first 3 minutes.
-And look at the black and white part in Kill bill, It's just the black and white or the blood is water, and this time with no colorant.
-Sin city (Yeah this one and the first I took from the before posts). What the...the movie was just a pityful try to make the comics in a movie. I can swear there are parts taken directly from the comics. EXACTLY.

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My avatar is the evil doctor whom tried to test if his dumbness potion he put in the water had worked. So he created a movie to defy the inteligence of the most lesser minded human beings he decided to call this movie "signs".

Lucy Luke I have been reading some of your very few posts you have made since you joined and I know everyone is entitled to an opinion and all that other good stuff that you will probobly say to me. but from reading your thoughts on films I dont think you have much knowledge in the subject. To completley Disregard great films because they are in Black and White is the most childish thing i ever heard. Let me guess you also don't see foriegn films bcause reading hurts your head. There are too many great films that are in black and white that you need to see and some more modern films but into black and white by choice of the director(Raging bull, and like you mentioned Schindler's list)
So stop being so stubborn and just watch the film for what it is

Just put of curiosity what are some of your favorite movies? also whats in your DVD collection?

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"A good film is when the price of the dinner, the theater admission and the babysitter were worth it."
- Alfred Hitchcock

I think you are one of the unintentionally funniest posters we've had in quite a while. But by the same token, it's already wearing a bit thin. Do you have any more material besides this 'look at the close-minded teenager' thing?

Just curious.

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"Film is a disease. When it infects your bloodstream it takes over as the number one hormone. It bosses the enzymes, directs the pineal gland, plays Iago to your psyche. As with heroin, the antidote to Film is more Film." - Frank Capra

This part was an amazing example of true movie ignorance!

Yeah, stick around lucky_luke. You make us all look good

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"Oh they like me, They really like me!"
Uh okay. I started to post TODAY and already have feedback I should be a movie criti...dunno. Maybe I read in my english PORTUGUESE dictionary. That's right folks. Me brazilian "ese". And I just love to watch movies in the "foreign language" of yours with subtitles. Uh...okay when I learn to delete quotes I may do some smaller reply posts. Uh...the films I like? COMEDY MOVIES. Here's my best movies list:

-1ºBruce almighty
-2ºAce Ventura
-3ºConstantine
-2134134235253254536º "Signs"

So...I hate some colorful movies too. Like signs and war of the worlds. And I hope y'all answer this one as good as the other ones.


Now Holden Pike that's for you:
Waddya mean by unnintientunelyy funny? I wan to be funny like the movies I like got it? Okay so that's it.
And no. I just like to be "close minded" so I'll stick to it.

Holden? Help.

See, this is you TRYING to be funny, which doesn't illicit laughter at all. But that bit where you could swear there are parts of SIN CITY that are taken DIRECTLY from the graphic novels (BTW, a very astute eye you have to catch this a few times out of the only seven-hundred and eight-four times it was done in the film), that's the kind of stuff we can all giggle about. At you of course, not with you.

I get the whole English as a second language thing, it's just a shame that apparently your third language is intelligence...and that you aren't fluent.

Okay. I didn't mean I knew more than movies than you at the first place. Second:mean...trying to post my opinions insult you? Okay I'm no expert(if you see my answer to the explanation of 12 monkeys you'll see). Third:Some person that isn't so smart as you really did you bad so you make those not as smart sound even less smart to make yourself feel good? Fourth: I can't compete with you. just won't try to.

Promise?

Zuh?

Lucy I wasn't saying you love all color films i was just saying to give black and white a chance. What do you think is so great about Bruce Almighty it was a mediocre comedy if anything at that with "once funny man" Jim Carrey. I would much rather see him in more roles like eternal Sunshine and stop with these unfunny movies

Yeah Eternal Sunshine was great...

Eternal Sunshine was deffinately a good film, but im not sure that jim carey was the right one for it. all i can think of is seeing him in a tutu running around pretending to be mentally retarded.


kind of like jeff daniels and the colon blow scene in dumb and dumber

um yeah back on topic. Black and white is difficult to use nowadays because people expect colour all the time, so if it's black and white it needs to serve some purpose (like obi said). Whether its artistic in terms of showing things to the audience (sin city) or a period piece or it could even be just trying to set a certain mood.

Well because you are basically fishing for remarks about why B&W is harder; well in my opinion black & white does restricts you in modern times to a certain kind of movie. You couldn't really do a light-hearted comedy and make any money if it was in B&W or even a sci-fi movie would seem strange without the special effects of modern time. Did you notice there are never special effects in B&W? So one point is that B&W in the year 2006 is limited in its effectiveness over all genres, sure some work but the fact that some don't means it's harder to apply to B&W to movies that don't suit it.

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I'm no film-maker but I would have thought that it's more technically difficult to make movies in colour as their is more to think about with regards to lighting and cinematography etc.

But then again I'm probably wrong...

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Indeed, you are wrong. There is much more difficulty and artistry involved in lighting for black-and-white. Go and rent Visions of Light: The Art of Cinematography.

I'd go and see a sci-fi movie in black and white. Someone should make one, just to be different.

And there must be some things easier in black and white...for example I read that Some Like It Hot was going to be shot in colour but Curtis and Lemmon looked ridiculously unconvincing dressed as women in colour.

The remake of Psycho shows that some thing work better in black and white.