Whether it’s a throwback, a nod to a lack of moral clarity, or a budgetary concern, shooting in black and white is a legitimate cinematic choice.
On a recent foray through various Reddit boards, my wife came across a lamentation from a teacher about assigning a film to their students, only to have it met with a large wave of dissatisfaction and disapproval.
Not over the performances, or the narrative arc, which they even praised, but over the fact that the film was in black and white. One star reviews were penned over this single point of contention.
But with Godzilla Minus One/Minus Color hitting theaters we see this is still a powerful, potent cinematic choice being made today.
WE’RE CELEBRATED AND DESATURATED, GET USED TO IT
For the generations born long since the introduction of color to film, black and white movies seem to feel dated and out of touch. Admittedly, when I was a child, if my parents tried to get me to watch anything that was in black and white, I had an immediate adversarial reaction.
It had to be that much better a film or show to get me passed the desaturated presentation. That just wasn’t how life was. Life had color, in rich, deep tones and hues.
So I would shun the B&W, no matter how celebrated it may have been. And I would usually only begrudgingly consume media in that format. It was a ridiculous bias that took me years to get over.
This means I understand how some might come to this position and have a similar bias of their own against black and white films. But I not only grew to appreciate it, as I started making films myself, I started preferring B&W.
Not to say that anyone else would follow that same path, but only highlighting how tastes can change in regard to opinions on color. For me, gray happens to be my favorite color, and black and white gives you a world of grays. So, naturally, I’m a fan.
And while I have likely just allowed for one bias to be replaced by another, I think the appreciation stems from the cinematic language this choice can be used to convey to an audience.
Since I started making films about 12 years ago, nearly a third of the films I have produced for our brands have been in black and white or used it to some degree. It’s a nice aesthetic choice that can be versatile in its expressive uses.
SAYING IT IN B&W
There can be a multitude of reasons to deploy a desaturated image for your film. Here are just a few of the meanings it can impart to your narrative:
- A Nostalgic Nod
- Historical Setting
- Issues Are Black & White
- Issues Have a lot of Gray Area
- Narrative/Chronological Disconnects
- Color Matching Concerns
- Character POV
- Just a Stylistic Choice
In a medium as expressive as film, where each and every choice made carries the weight of potential interpretation and narrative correlation, there are a number of ways to use this to your benefit. To say it in B&W.
And when you are talking about no-to-low budget filmmaking, you need all the expressive tools possible that you can pack into your arsenal. Especially ones that work on the cheap.
And you can add an easy, additional layer to your visual dialog with your audience with this one simple choice.
Deeming any film as automatically lesser and undeserving of one’s attention based solely on the lack of the more technicolor experience can cause you to miss out on a number of classics. The historical building blocks of cinema itself (not pictured).
But beyond the beginnings of film that would be missed, the more modern selections that have purposely gone the way of the black and white palette would be discounted and dismissed as well. Whatever their reasons.
Fantastic films like Pleasantville, where the majority of the film is in black and white, until the characters’ own individual awakenings bring the color into their world bit by bit. Or even films where no color at all is introduced.
You would seriously be short-changing your cinematic experiences. But if you learn to embrace the B&W, it could be the beginning of a beautiful friendship.
MAKING THE GRAY MATTER
Choose your choice. Go into the gray if you dare or desire. But make it matter. Do it with purpose and aplomb. Find ways to craft your narrative around it or with the choice incorporated into it. And do it right.
Challenge your audience to think about the story in a different way. To look beyond the gray, and to analyze the deeper threads holding the film and its narrative aloft.
An unfortunate trend in the consumptive practices of today’s media audiences is a lack of full attention. People too often watch movies or television as additional background noise for their days.
They aren’t watching, as much as glancing up at the screen as they flip between social streams, with half an ear aimed at the sound design coming at them. There’s very little commitment and full engagement.
This is not all on the audiences either. There are many threads at play in this fabric of the enshittification of media consumption, including mind-numbing cinematic experiences that are more about dollars than engagement earned.
But at least do your part, and create something with depth and visual language for them to decode and deconstruct. That makes them think. And hey, even if you have no skills at doing so, putting your film in B&W will at least offer the perception of depth.
I kid. But seriously, B&W FTW!
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