Michael Partridge Actually, this is a technique used by the channel _Every Frame A Painting_ . If you have not heard or seen this channel, you are welcome.
Because the stories told in these movies don't necessarily represent modern fears or life. I'm a collage artist working with vintage imagery. I can tell you, only the collages that have very modern deeper meanings (even if made with vintage material) sell. The ones that don't, the ones that are flatly vintage, they never sell. People want to see representation of their current life. For a few others, the old days are still romantic and they like it, but they're in the minority.
Also, there are so many new movies coming out... I personally think many new movies also is better than old movies, but thats me (it has nothing to do with its colour or not)
That's because life was slower back then, not as hectic as it is now. It is us who have it wrong in the way we live (and that reflects in art too). But yeah, I hear you, most old movies just don't cut it anymore. I'd say that the cut off point between what we perceive as "old" and as "newer" was somewhere in the the early 80s.
Personally, my favorite thing about black and white photography is that the absence of color creates a less distracting image and lets me focus more on the substance. Of course color can be a part of that substance as pointed out with Fury Road, but there's something about not having to process extra information that allows the image and subject shine through that much brighter.
Orson Welles expressed his pleasure at having retained the rights to Citizen Kane, saying that he wanted to keep Ted Turner's goddamned crayolas off his film.
The first black & white film I ever watched was "High Noon". My father had just bought a DVD player and there was a DVD collection on sale in newstands. He bought it thinking it would be the kind of western he watched when he was a kid, with indians and gunfire galore, but instead he got this very dramatic film, where the only gunfight felt inevitable and you really didn't want it to happen though it had to. I fell in love with the film because it wasn't what I (10 years old at the time) was expecting and it was so very well done in every department. Since then, I've never avoided a black & white film just because it is in that format.
Love HIGH NOON. You describe it perfectly -- you think you're going to get epic gunfights and then when the one fight happens, you wish it didn't have to. Perfect. Thanks for sharing your story and for watching.
I like the times when video games have used black and white. Like in Splinter Cell (forget which one) when it got black and white when you were in shadow, and colorful in light. And in some FPS games you lose color when you're hurt. I think it's a great way to use light to convey things like security or pain.
DaaaahWhoosh the Sabatuer used black and white brilliantly , the Nazi areas where black and white , making them more foreboding and sinister and then you liberated areas , it was all in full colour
It's absolutely bizarre to me as someone who's grown up watching old movies and black and white movies specifically that people don't like them. I understand how it could seem strange if you haven't seen it a lot, (although to me it's perfectly normal), but I don't get why people my age will often just refuse to watch them.
Now my favorite ALL B/W Films - Just going to list them (in order of recalling them): Touch of Evil - Orson Welles Some Like It Hot - Billy Wilder Sunset Boulevard - Billy Wilder The Maltese Falcon - John Houston's debut! Treasure of the Sierra Madre - John Huston The Big Sleep - Howard Hawkes To Have and Have Not - Howard Hawkes Bringing Up Baby - Howard Hawkes Strangers on a Train - Hitchcock Notorious - Hitchcock The Thirty Nine Steps - Hitchcock Modern Times (and City Lights, and The Gold Rush, and The Circus, and...) - Charlie Chaplin Steamboat Bill Jr. (and Sherlock Jr., and The General, and The Navigator, and...) - Buster Keaton Casablanca - Michael Curtiz To Kill a Mockingbird The Last Picture Show Seven Samurai - Kurosawa Throne of Blood - Kurosawa Rashomon - Kurosawa Redbeard - Kurosawa Yojimbo - Kurosawa Sanjuro - Kurosawa (there are more!) Beauty and the Beast - Jean Cocteau Orpheus - Jean Cocteau Les Enfants Terribles - Jean Cocteau Blood of a Poet - Jean Cocteau Exterminating Angel - Luis Bunuel Viridiana - Luis Bunuel The 400 Blows - Francois Truffaut This list could go on and on. Thanks for the memories!!!
Black and white image allows the filmmakers to paint with light and shadow in ways that simply wouldn't be possible in color. I'd love to see more modern movies use it, because it feels like a huge and rich part of film language has been abandoned.
I'm sorry but I don't believe you call regard yourself as a film fan if you limit yourself by not watching black and white movies and non-English language films. You're missing out on so much.
... Watching non-English language films? So you mean like silent films but instead of it being silent, it's random jibber jabber that you can't understand... How on earth are you supposed to like watching those movies?
Rhythm in movies changes every day. Today, in mainstream Hollywood movies, we are used to a much faster pace than twenty years ago. Black and white is associated to old movies, so that's why people link it to something slow. And most of the times, that's true. Watching old movies takes some training; we have to a adapt to a pace we are not used to. Once we get past that, it's a whole new world of amazing movies. My favourite b&w film is Sunset Boulevard, which was featured in the video :)
I'd be seriously interested in seeing an edited version of Mad Max Fury Road. Just as some filmmakers in the past made use of color in predominatly black and white films to highlight certain objects, I'd love to see the color of green infused into Mad Max so that there is that extremely stark contrast that will be able to let the viewer visually see the power of a moment. Something akin to the Red Coat Girl in Schindler's List, except obviously spanning much more of the movie.
0:40 -- The best black and white film I recommend to others to prove that colour isn't required is "Rashomon". It is easy as heck to imagine all the green in the forest scenes. In some ways, black and white is more like written fiction in that regard, since it engages the audience's imagination actively, prompting the Mind's Eye to fill in the details.
Still here x) that's awesome, I love how there were such great examples of Black and white. I haven't seen many but there's set of 'cliche' black and white films and scenes that are usually pointed to. The fact that you guys showed examples outside of the cliche was very helpful! Thank you
Interesting that so many films use digital color correction to create a limited color palette giving them a lot of the aesthetic advantages of black and white - a focus on shape and layout, or an 'unreal' quality.
If you have watched the movie “Come and See” watch it again in Black and white. It is so much better in B&W! That is my preferred way of viewing the film!
One of my favorite quotes, I believe came from Roger Ebert, "Citizen Kane is more colorful than the majority of film that were shot in color," or something like that.
When I was a kid I didn’t like black and white movies because I didn’t know that movies weren’t always colored but As I grew older I started to really love black and white movies
Fantastic video!! One simple way I see black and white that you touched up on is it reduces information so your eyes and your Brian have to process less so you can focus on the story more. It also makes most things look cool with much less effort than color and that seems to be a good enough reason to mess around with it, color is just an option it doesn't have to be the standard.
Personaly, I think what's great about black & white is that there are alot of contrast, mysterious mood, some surprising reveals, & different feelings. Having colours tend to give sense of alive, blending pallete, imaginative dreamlike, & specific informations. I think of this like the filmmaking version of Vermeer & Caravaggio. In paintings, Caravaggio always use contrast (this is symbol for black & white) while Vermeer likes to make whimsical gradient (this is what I think color film is.....alike Vermeer artist). Whatever the point is, it's good to know that we must conclude to be more analiticaly having critical thinking to open to some possibilites that we could use.
Great video that I'll show my friends who refuse to watch B/W films. I love B/W. I grew up on it and I'm only 30. And thanks for the honorable mention of Godzilla! I wish more people pointed to it as an example of artistic film making. A real classic.
Actually they did. They made a version of Mad Max Fury Road in Black and White. They're also working on a black and white version of Logan from what I can tell.
Films today are very complex. I've always believed in taking things away from film - avert the attention onto more important things. Haneke (personal favourite film maker) is always removing things from his films such as score/soundtrack, depictions of violence, colour and camera movement to focus the viewers attention on what's important. Black and white, especially as a conscious and stylistic decision, is something I would love to see more of in modern films.
I am a film student and I work almost exclusively in black and white. However, the reason why is because I'm a firm believer in only using color when needed. I rarely make a film where I need color to tell the story, so I opt out of using it. It feels generally sloppy when I watch a colored film and the colors in frame serve no purpose other than that's their color. With that said, it is equally frustrating to see someone make a black and white film because they think it's artsy. For me, it ultimately boils down to knowing what you need to tell your story. If you don't need color to tell your story, make it monochrome. If you need color to tell your story, use color.
Mel Brooks uses black and white to comedic effect in Young Frankenstein too. You showed a clip from the film, but didn't touch on it. Young Frankenstein being black and white really makes the film feel authentically older, which just makes it's parody that much stronger. It's fantastic.
With all the movie directors, producers, famous actors, directors of photography, editors out there. Joey is the one with whom I would love to spend a day with xD I want moar in depth theory and new perspective into movies !
Great job, I believe as filmmakers we should open ourselves to all forms of cinema, old, new, black or white. I am a big Stephen King fan but wasn't very happy with the film version of the book, but just what you showed in black and white opened me up to watching it again.
Solid essay on what is unfortunately a problem with film students (I speak directly from experience, and other people's experiences). I never saw black n white or colour as better/worse/different etc; I watched Laurel and Hardy from a young age- I never thought anything of it, but I have always thought about how powerfully it can be used as you explain. Great essay and loved the use of Scorsese who always has something enlightening to say.
In addition, there's Alan Parker's Angel Heart. Parker wanted to shoot in black and white, but the studio wouldn't allow it. So, Parker shot it in color like it was a black and white. You can see many of the elements discussed in this video on display in Angel Heart.
Fantastic piece, and the exclusive applications of black and white goe even further in cinematography. I've been learning lately about the use of filters while shooting black and white to create different effects that simply don't work the same way with color. A #25 Red filter over your lens on black and white film, just as one example, creates very strong contrast, creates dramatic sky effects, can lighten faces, can simulate day for night and cuts through fog and haze. You can use all of these to draw emphasis to objects and their relationships to their surroundings. If you put that filter in front of a color capture, you get a very red image. It may still exhibit those other qualities, but joe-public watching the film is going to be distracted by the intense red hue.
holy balls this is amazing. one thing i've been thinking about when watching this is how the audio style is different too in black and white films. i'm curious whether this style of audio can be applied to modern/color films, or vice-versa, to enhance a movie's experience, or whether i'm just imagining all of this.
Releasing colored version of black and with films can help to have the audience discover them. You are total right about the conception of someone else for the specific color, but I do think that if people can be introduced to those classical film and begin to be more critical about film in general because of this, this is totally fine.
That was an amazing essay - I'm going to show it to my Film Studies students when I begin focusing on B/W films! You asked for us to list some of our favorite B/W films - there are so many! I thought I'd start by listing my favorite modern films that use both B/W AND Color as storytelling techniques: Living in Oblivion - Tom DeCillo's brilliant low-budget comedy starring Catherine Keener and Steve Buscemi alternates between B/W and color as a way of contrasting both dream vs. reality and the world outside the lens vs. the world inside the lens. Memento - my favorite mind-bender by Christopher Nolan uses B/W versus Color to help distinguish two storylines (or rather, two different parts of the same storyline); one moving forward, the other backward in time - and in so doing forces us to experience the world in the same way the damaged protagonist does. Pleasantville - The most CGI-drenched movie of its time, this amazing allegory of social change uses B/W first to evoke American society of the 1950's (by hilariously parodying the early sit-com's of the period), then deepens the meanings (and the colors) to draw parallels with such diverse historical, cultural and artistic references as the Garden of Eden, Moses' burning bush, Kristallnacht, book burnings throughout history, George C. Scott's epic speech to the troops in Patton, and the trial scene in To Kill a Mockingbird. There is a chilling moment in the movie when the word "colored" changes meaning to become a racial slur - the entire brilliant film is worth that moment alone! The Wizard of Oz - Let's not forget this great and simple fairytale that transposes L. Frank Baum's Kansas of the 1880's depression into an homage to WPA photography of the 1930's depression, and an imaginative escape from (and return to) it. The Purple Rose of Cairo - Woody Allen pays homage to, among others, Buster Keaton when he has characters move back and forth between the real world and the romantic (and B/W) world of a Hollywood romance. Wings of Desire - The aching beauty of the B/W angel discovering the world of both color and desire is sooo elegant! Rumble Fish - What a simple way to transform the fish of the title into a mesmerizing metaphor for hope amidst despair. Schindler's List - 'nuff said. Raging Bull - ditto. Some others I haven't yet seen but am planning to now that I've seen your essay: If - Lindsay Anderson She's Gotta Have It - Spike Lee A Matter of Life and Death - Michael Power
No mention of To Kill A Mockingbird or Harvey... for shame! In all seriousness, great video folks. And a topic that merits deep discussion, thanks for making this. :)
I love watching the old B&W movies because they often had a great story to tell. After a while, you don't notice they are B&W; your brain kind of adds colour. You know the sky is blue, that person's hair is blonde etc., so you fill in the blanks.
Invaluable video, 10/10, currently working on a project and i was on the fence about whether to make it black and white or not, this video along with the examples gave me my answer and some great references! cheers.
cool cool, chill chill great video, good points. I feel as though noir films almost have to be in b/w, when they're in color they are just noir-esque. That hard contrast of black against white is so integral to noir aesthetic that it can't be left out. If I look a film like Brick, no matter how self destructive the main antagonist his or how deadly the femme fetal is, unless it has b/w, it doesn't feel like a noir film. The decisions film makers had back then to film in b/w is so important, you can't make a noir film unless it is included. Also i thought it would have been cool if you had mentioned films like Memento or Living in Oblivion where b/w is used alongside color in a more modern approach, because it really reflects the main points made in the video regarding, feel, seamlessness, and appreciation.
Terrific narrative and demonstration of how and why black and white films can be used even today. Whenever I heard a new movie made within the last 25 years would be coming out in black and white, I immediately didn't want to see it because I thought it would look old and outdated. But it is just like Steven Spielberg said, "After awhile you wont even notice the black and white, because you will be so involved with the story". I cannot picture Schindler"s List in color!. And some movies like What A Wonderful Life with Jimmy Stewart were just better in their original black and white. When they turned it into a color film something was definitely lost. If you haven't watched this video yet it is a must see because you will notice how much work went into it! Great job RJFS! Huge thumbs up!
Most of my DVD collection is black and white movies, along with some serials. Could have mentioned Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, which was filmed in black and white, then colorized for effect.
Roman Holiday. Casablanca. The Apartment. Citizen Kane. 12 Angry Men. ...and Frances Ha is one of my current favorites. I really enjoyed Manhattan, too.
My first ever black and white movie was "To kill a Mockingbird" and holy shit I loved it, a lot of the movies in the past are pretty slow paced but it's really a work of art and it's done so well that it makes up for the slow progress and black n white itself gives it a cool style anyways ❤
It was my understanding that Schindler's List was shot in black and white because Spielberg thought that colour represented life and that it wouldn't suit the movie and the reason that the little girl was in colour was because she was innocent and that she represented hope.
i've always loved B&W films , never understood how any one could dismiss a film simply cos its in B&W. His Girl Friday,12 Angry Men, Arsenic & Old Lace ,The Thin Man Returns are just a few of my favs, and im an 80s kid from Nigeria, who has never been to the States. TNT Classics was really good for me.
My first time I realized how Black and White vs Cokour works, was in the mid ninetees movie Kafka - which is predominantly Black and white but also does have color scenes. Watching it as a kid I remembered wondering "Hey.. was that color just then?"
Makes me want to go back and watch some Tarkovsky films! The transition from sepia, to black/white, to colour is so daunting, and surreal. At the end of it all, it's as though the whole thing was inevitably in black/white, and the colours were all made up by the characters...
Nice work, Joey. Did you ever hear about the movie "Eyes of my Mother?" That was in black and white, I was able to meet the cast and crew of that. Also, I really enjoyed the short, "Harold." A lot of the ideas with light were used in it.
I lucked out, i was raised on Black and white movies. Never did I balk at watching such films. My only sadness today about them is that i remember so few of them by name, that I struggle to come back to them now all these years later.
Some absolutely killer films in this video and I'm only 1/3rd in! Night of the Hunter, Eraserhead, Eyes Without a Face, all excellent and well worth seeking out for those who haven't seen them (and all three have exquisite Criterion Collection releases)
When I was young we had a black and white television and when we got a color television things just were not the same. It's almost like a book to a film. If I had read a book first, my imagination would always be better than the book. The Stand for instance. I did not realize this was a film school until the end but it felt like a really good lesson. I always liked the way they did The Wizard of Oz. I actually thought it was all black and white and that they colorized it when I saw it on the color TV. The Mad Max clip was very cool. Thank you for the video and lesson.
Two of my most favorite movies are in black and white. Good Night and Good Luck, and The General. The Buster Keaton movie. Funny thing is The General was one of the first movies I remember seeing, and I loved it right away. I loved the action and the comedy, and it didn't matter that it was in black and white because it was fun.
Nowadays I'm interested in films and filmmaking in general so I also look at the technical aspect and recently I have started watching old movies (mostly Hitchcock) but I remember a few years ago I watched a newer version of The Wizard of Oz (I think James Franco played the main character) and at first it started in black and white and I was like "wtf are we seriously gonna watch a black and white movie??" but at some point it turned into being colored and we all (my father, my brother and me) didn't even recognize it. But then later into the movie I realized that by then it was colored somehow and when I told my father and my brother we all wondered at what point it changed because we all were so focused on the story that we all didn't recognize the moment the transition was made.
There should NOT be colorized back and white movies, they are tampering with history...if you cannot watch a black and white film the way it was made you're just plain chicken shit and spoiled.
If it wasn't for Twilight Zone I wouldn't have been a fan of black and white, Twilight Zone is definitely an easy way to accept B&W and just see how amazing it can be, I think too many people today discredit black and white simply because it being too boring, But I love how I can watch black and white and it never requires much work on your eyes, it builds an atmosphere like no other.
Movies that I recommend people should watch in monochrome- Hellraiser Pulp Fiction Transformers Franchise Dark Knight Avengers series Hateful Eight Shutter Island Anhilation
I would also like to add: The thing (1982) Joker (side note trust me this film looks beautiful in black and white and adds to the atmosphere and tone) Alien Taxi Driver Logan Robert Egger's The VVitch Robert Egger's The Lighthouse John Wick 2001
Shutter island is very beautiful due to its colors and without color pulp fiction will lose its 90s feel while modern movies like avengers and tranformers will lose their modern feel
i know, pretty dumb, they were talking about a tv show we have here in germany called Gallileo and I complained about the poor quality of the show, structure wise and considering the terrible greenscreen they use, then my classmate said something like "Says the guy who watches black and white movies".....
I feel like black and white cinematography ages so much better than colour, a black and white film from 1950 shot right with strong sound design (say All About Eve or any of Goddard stuff) can look better than colour film where it looks dated (a lot of 70s exploitation films), and could have been made yesterday. The image is still so crisp and clear
I beg to differ, 70s exploitation films *serously* look generally better than even the most big-budgeted of modern Hollywood-stuff (perhaps that's why they look "dated" to your eyes).
11:20 I was doing a research project on black and white in movies, and upon hearing this information, I instinctively said, "That's so cool!" only to be met two seconds later by the same exact phrase, in the same tone, pitch, and tempo. Amazing
pop pop Both are masterpieces by Bela Tarr, so if you see Werckmeister Harmonies (which is 2 hours long) and don't like it, you'll know that you most likely won't like his much longer Satantango.
I felt in love with the B&W films after watching legendary indian filmmaker Late Guru Dutt sir's "KAAGAZ KE PHOOL”and "PYAASA”. Both of these films are included in the GREATEST MOVIES OF ALL TIME list by TIMES MAGAZINE many times... They are terribly beautiful and scenic... With great message behind.
A lot of people have weird aversions when it comes to film. I've met a ton of people who detest animated movies, regardless of the quality of animation or the content of the story, they can never get past the fact that it's animated. I've met people who after watching a movie they never ever want to watch that movie ever again, ever!
First Black and White movie I saw was “Shadow of the Vampire”. It was shown in this video. I also watched a lot of the classic Universal Monster movies.
If anyone ever tells me they don't like Black & White. I'll say "It's ok, not everyone has taste." I watched black & white stuff all the time as a kid. I watched Batman & Robin (movie serial)
Turn on CC to see which movies are featured in this video!
RocketJump Film School so sick. was just about to ask for a list but this is way more clever and efficient.
Michael Partridge Actually, this is a technique used by the channel _Every Frame A Painting_ . If you have not heard or seen this channel, you are welcome.
RocketJump Film School So the guy from "Every Frame A Painting" came over to Rocket Jump?
Very sober, coherent, and concise. Not to mention inspirational. Well done!
You guys should try giving us video assignments to do
I don´t see why people don´t wanna watch old movies.. They´re still new to those who haven´t seen them.
Because the stories told in these movies don't necessarily represent modern fears or life. I'm a collage artist working with vintage imagery. I can tell you, only the collages that have very modern deeper meanings (even if made with vintage material) sell. The ones that don't, the ones that are flatly vintage, they never sell. People want to see representation of their current life. For a few others, the old days are still romantic and they like it, but they're in the minority.
Also, there are so many new movies coming out...
I personally think many new movies also is better than old movies, but thats me (it has nothing to do with its colour or not)
the acting and the sound are weird, the effects look terribly fake and the editing is so slow, actually everything is just really slow
it's exhausting
Yeah, old movies is slow
That's because life was slower back then, not as hectic as it is now. It is us who have it wrong in the way we live (and that reflects in art too). But yeah, I hear you, most old movies just don't cut it anymore. I'd say that the cut off point between what we perceive as "old" and as "newer" was somewhere in the the early 80s.
For me, the film that made me first appreciate black & white was 12 Angry Men
Runaway Brain You can just smell the heat of summer in the room.
What an incredible movie
Me too!
True! And Casablanca for me.
For me it's between Some Like It Hot and Casablanca
Personally, my favorite thing about black and white photography is that the absence of color creates a less distracting image and lets me focus more on the substance. Of course color can be a part of that substance as pointed out with Fury Road, but there's something about not having to process extra information that allows the image and subject shine through that much brighter.
Well expressed!
Lol keep telling yourself that bullshit
@@patstaysuckafreeboss8006 you are an idiot with an attention span of zero
Gamebred except it’s true, no color means one less thing to watch for
Explain both in The Wizard of Oz. Would you prefer colour or black and white? Would you be able to follow the yellow brick road?
Anyone avoiding b&w is missing out on a good 50 years of cinema and some of the true masterpieces.
Not just that but some excellent modern movies like Raging Bull, Nebraska & Schindler’s List
I have tried telling my friends this...
Are they?
Orson Welles expressed his pleasure at having retained the rights to Citizen Kane, saying that he wanted to keep Ted Turner's goddamned crayolas off his film.
I feel so proud to recognise a lot of these without CC...
8MMMedia Nice, I still have to see many of these.
The first black & white film I ever watched was "High Noon".
My father had just bought a DVD player and there was a DVD collection on sale in newstands.
He bought it thinking it would be the kind of western he watched when he was a kid, with indians and gunfire galore, but instead he got this very dramatic film, where the only gunfight felt inevitable and you really didn't want it to happen though it had to.
I fell in love with the film because it wasn't what I (10 years old at the time) was expecting and it was so very well done in every department.
Since then, I've never avoided a black & white film just because it is in that format.
Love HIGH NOON. You describe it perfectly -- you think you're going to get epic gunfights and then when the one fight happens, you wish it didn't have to. Perfect. Thanks for sharing your story and for watching.
@@RJFilmSchool I know you're busy but I just want to say this 🃏 looks beautiful in black and white/monochrome/greyscale
I like the times when video games have used black and white. Like in Splinter Cell (forget which one) when it got black and white when you were in shadow, and colorful in light. And in some FPS games you lose color when you're hurt. I think it's a great way to use light to convey things like security or pain.
DaaaahWhoosh the Sabatuer used black and white brilliantly , the Nazi areas where black and white , making them more foreboding and sinister and then you liberated areas , it was all in full colour
It's absolutely bizarre to me as someone who's grown up watching old movies and black and white movies specifically that people don't like them. I understand how it could seem strange if you haven't seen it a lot, (although to me it's perfectly normal), but I don't get why people my age will often just refuse to watch them.
Now my favorite ALL B/W Films - Just going to list them (in order of recalling them):
Touch of Evil - Orson Welles
Some Like It Hot - Billy Wilder
Sunset Boulevard - Billy Wilder
The Maltese Falcon - John Houston's debut!
Treasure of the Sierra Madre - John Huston
The Big Sleep - Howard Hawkes
To Have and Have Not - Howard Hawkes
Bringing Up Baby - Howard Hawkes
Strangers on a Train - Hitchcock
Notorious - Hitchcock
The Thirty Nine Steps - Hitchcock
Modern Times (and City Lights, and The Gold Rush, and The Circus, and...) - Charlie Chaplin
Steamboat Bill Jr. (and Sherlock Jr., and The General, and The Navigator, and...) - Buster Keaton
Casablanca - Michael Curtiz
To Kill a Mockingbird
The Last Picture Show
Seven Samurai - Kurosawa
Throne of Blood - Kurosawa
Rashomon - Kurosawa
Redbeard - Kurosawa
Yojimbo - Kurosawa
Sanjuro - Kurosawa (there are more!)
Beauty and the Beast - Jean Cocteau
Orpheus - Jean Cocteau
Les Enfants Terribles - Jean Cocteau
Blood of a Poet - Jean Cocteau
Exterminating Angel - Luis Bunuel
Viridiana - Luis Bunuel
The 400 Blows - Francois Truffaut
This list could go on and on. Thanks for the memories!!!
Which is the running scene on the bridge?
Black and white image allows the filmmakers to paint with light and shadow in ways that simply wouldn't be possible in color. I'd love to see more modern movies use it, because it feels like a huge and rich part of film language has been abandoned.
Nothing frustrates me more than people who wont watch B&W films! The art of light is on full display in B&W films!
one of the many reasons I want to see 'The Lighthouse'
I'm sorry but I don't believe you call regard yourself as a film fan if you limit yourself by not watching black and white movies and non-English language films. You're missing out on so much.
The CineRanter totally agree. it's like to be a fan of Beatles, when you only heard "yesterday" and "let it be":)
Half the TH-cam critics are like that.
True statement.
... Watching non-English language films? So you mean like silent films but instead of it being silent, it's random jibber jabber that you can't understand... How on earth are you supposed to like watching those movies?
Subtitles man... subtitles.
Rhythm in movies changes every day. Today, in mainstream Hollywood movies, we are used to a much faster pace than twenty years ago. Black and white is associated to old movies, so that's why people link it to something slow. And most of the times, that's true. Watching old movies takes some training; we have to a adapt to a pace we are not used to.
Once we get past that, it's a whole new world of amazing movies.
My favourite b&w film is Sunset Boulevard, which was featured in the video :)
I'd be seriously interested in seeing an edited version of Mad Max Fury Road. Just as some filmmakers in the past made use of color in predominatly black and white films to highlight certain objects, I'd love to see the color of green infused into Mad Max so that there is that extremely stark contrast that will be able to let the viewer visually see the power of a moment. Something akin to the Red Coat Girl in Schindler's List, except obviously spanning much more of the movie.
0:40 -- The best black and white film I recommend to others to prove that colour isn't required is "Rashomon". It is easy as heck to imagine all the green in the forest scenes. In some ways, black and white is more like written fiction in that regard, since it engages the audience's imagination actively, prompting the Mind's Eye to fill in the details.
Still here x) that's awesome, I love how there were such great examples of Black and white. I haven't seen many but there's set of 'cliche' black and white films and scenes that are usually pointed to. The fact that you guys showed examples outside of the cliche was very helpful! Thank you
Interesting that so many films use digital color correction to create a limited color palette giving them a lot of the aesthetic advantages of black and white - a focus on shape and layout, or an 'unreal' quality.
If you have watched the movie “Come and See” watch it again in Black and white. It is so much better in B&W! That is my preferred way of viewing the film!
One of my favorite quotes, I believe came from Roger Ebert, "Citizen Kane is more colorful than the majority of film that were shot in color," or something like that.
When I was a kid I didn’t like black and white movies because I didn’t know that movies weren’t always colored but As I grew older I started to really love black and white movies
You are right."The Mist" was SOOO much better in B&W!!!
Joker 2019 looks perfect in black and white and actually fits with the tone of it. I have watched it in black and white before
Fantastic video!! One simple way I see black and white that you touched up on is it reduces information so your eyes and your Brian have to process less so you can focus on the story more. It also makes most things look cool with much less effort than color and that seems to be a good enough reason to mess around with it, color is just an option it doesn't have to be the standard.
Personaly, I think what's great about black & white is that there are alot of contrast, mysterious mood, some surprising reveals, & different feelings. Having colours tend to give sense of alive, blending pallete, imaginative dreamlike, & specific informations. I think of this like the filmmaking version of Vermeer & Caravaggio. In paintings, Caravaggio always use contrast (this is symbol for black & white) while Vermeer likes to make whimsical gradient (this is what I think color film is.....alike Vermeer artist). Whatever the point is, it's good to know that we must conclude to be more analiticaly having critical thinking to open to some possibilites that we could use.
Wow. I'm so happy to watch this. I'm Working on my own b&w short film. Definitely can add more power and drama to a film.
Great video that I'll show my friends who refuse to watch B/W films. I love B/W. I grew up on it and I'm only 30. And thanks for the honorable mention of Godzilla! I wish more people pointed to it as an example of artistic film making. A real classic.
Godzilla is good, but Godzilla final wars is better! :)
if they made Mad Max black and white but all of the plants were green...
it would suck. Black and white has it's place(frances ha) in movies, but mad max was awesome because of the bright red colours.
Actually they did. They made a version of Mad Max Fury Road in Black and White. They're also working on a black and white version of Logan from what I can tell.
EmHo they made a "black and chrome" version and it actually looks damn good, but i do think the colour one is better
really good idea
Films today are very complex. I've always believed in taking things away from film - avert the attention onto more important things. Haneke (personal favourite film maker) is always removing things from his films such as score/soundtrack, depictions of violence, colour and camera movement to focus the viewers attention on what's important. Black and white, especially as a conscious and stylistic decision, is something I would love to see more of in modern films.
One great B&W film not mentioned here was Double Indemnity. The shades of gray tones, along with Fred Macmurray's narration made it a classic.
I am a film student and I work almost exclusively in black and white. However, the reason why is because I'm a firm believer in only using color when needed. I rarely make a film where I need color to tell the story, so I opt out of using it. It feels generally sloppy when I watch a colored film and the colors in frame serve no purpose other than that's their color. With that said, it is equally frustrating to see someone make a black and white film because they think it's artsy. For me, it ultimately boils down to knowing what you need to tell your story. If you don't need color to tell your story, make it monochrome. If you need color to tell your story, use color.
Mel Brooks uses black and white to comedic effect in Young Frankenstein too. You showed a clip from the film, but didn't touch on it. Young Frankenstein being black and white really makes the film feel authentically older, which just makes it's parody that much stronger. It's fantastic.
I LOVE black and white movies! Always have. Lauren Bacall once said: "It's not an old movie if you haven't seen it before"
With all the movie directors, producers, famous actors, directors of photography, editors out there. Joey is the one with whom I would love to spend a day with xD
I want moar in depth theory and new perspective into movies !
Great job, I believe as filmmakers we should open ourselves to all forms of cinema, old, new, black or white. I am a big Stephen King fan but wasn't very happy with the film version of the book, but just what you showed in black and white opened me up to watching it again.
Solid essay on what is unfortunately a problem with film students (I speak directly from experience, and other people's experiences). I never saw black n white or colour as better/worse/different etc; I watched Laurel and Hardy from a young age- I never thought anything of it, but I have always thought about how powerfully it can be used as you explain. Great essay and loved the use of Scorsese who always has something enlightening to say.
Nosferatu, The Blob, Dracula, Frankenstein, Wolfman, and the list goes on and on...All great B&W films!
Those are horrible examples...well not horrible... but horror movies! :p
In addition, there's Alan Parker's Angel Heart. Parker wanted to shoot in black and white, but the studio wouldn't allow it. So, Parker shot it in color like it was a black and white. You can see many of the elements discussed in this video on display in Angel Heart.
Fantastic piece, and the exclusive applications of black and white goe even further in cinematography. I've been learning lately about the use of filters while shooting black and white to create different effects that simply don't work the same way with color. A #25 Red filter over your lens on black and white film, just as one example, creates very strong contrast, creates dramatic sky effects, can lighten faces, can simulate day for night and cuts through fog and haze. You can use all of these to draw emphasis to objects and their relationships to their surroundings. If you put that filter in front of a color capture, you get a very red image. It may still exhibit those other qualities, but joe-public watching the film is going to be distracted by the intense red hue.
I really appreciate you making content like this. A terrific balance of big picture thoughtfulness with in the weeds technicality.
holy balls this is amazing. one thing i've been thinking about when watching this is how the audio style is different too in black and white films. i'm curious whether this style of audio can be applied to modern/color films, or vice-versa, to enhance a movie's experience, or whether i'm just imagining all of this.
soulreplenished the scratchy Audio I’m assuming is becomes the Audio equipment was shit back then
Releasing colored version of black and with films can help to have the audience discover them. You are total right about the conception of someone else for the specific color, but I do think that if people can be introduced to those classical film and begin to be more critical about film in general because of this, this is totally fine.
No, it's a travesty and poor parenting that kids don't know how appreciate them.
That was an amazing essay - I'm going to show it to my Film Studies students when I begin focusing on B/W films!
You asked for us to list some of our favorite B/W films - there are so many! I thought I'd start by listing my favorite modern films that use both B/W AND Color as storytelling techniques:
Living in Oblivion - Tom DeCillo's brilliant low-budget comedy starring Catherine Keener and Steve Buscemi alternates between B/W and color as a way of contrasting both dream vs. reality and the world outside the lens vs. the world inside the lens.
Memento - my favorite mind-bender by Christopher Nolan uses B/W versus Color to help distinguish two storylines (or rather, two different parts of the same storyline); one moving forward, the other backward in time - and in so doing forces us to experience the world in the same way the damaged protagonist does.
Pleasantville - The most CGI-drenched movie of its time, this amazing allegory of social change uses B/W first to evoke American society of the 1950's (by hilariously parodying the early sit-com's of the period), then deepens the meanings (and the colors) to draw parallels with such diverse historical, cultural and artistic references as the Garden of Eden, Moses' burning bush, Kristallnacht, book burnings throughout history, George C. Scott's epic speech to the troops in Patton, and the trial scene in To Kill a Mockingbird. There is a chilling moment in the movie when the word "colored" changes meaning to become a racial slur - the entire brilliant film is worth that moment alone!
The Wizard of Oz - Let's not forget this great and simple fairytale that transposes L. Frank Baum's Kansas of the 1880's depression into an homage to WPA photography of the 1930's depression, and an imaginative escape from (and return to) it.
The Purple Rose of Cairo - Woody Allen pays homage to, among others, Buster Keaton when he has characters move back and forth between the real world and the romantic (and B/W) world of a Hollywood romance.
Wings of Desire - The aching beauty of the B/W angel discovering the world of both color and desire is sooo elegant!
Rumble Fish - What a simple way to transform the fish of the title into a mesmerizing metaphor for hope amidst despair.
Schindler's List - 'nuff said.
Raging Bull - ditto.
Some others I haven't yet seen but am planning to now that I've seen your essay:
If - Lindsay Anderson
She's Gotta Have It - Spike Lee
A Matter of Life and Death - Michael Power
No mention of To Kill A Mockingbird or Harvey... for shame!
In all seriousness, great video folks. And a topic that merits deep discussion, thanks for making this. :)
I love watching the old B&W movies because they often had a great story to tell. After a while, you don't notice they are B&W; your brain kind of adds colour. You know the sky is blue, that person's hair is blonde etc., so you fill in the blanks.
Invaluable video, 10/10, currently working on a project and i was on the fence about whether to make it black and white or not, this video along with the examples gave me my answer and some great references! cheers.
cool cool, chill chill
great video, good points. I feel as though noir films almost have to be in b/w, when they're in color they are just noir-esque. That hard contrast of black against white is so integral to noir aesthetic that it can't be left out. If I look a film like Brick, no matter how self destructive the main antagonist his or how deadly the femme fetal is, unless it has b/w, it doesn't feel like a noir film. The decisions film makers had back then to film in b/w is so important, you can't make a noir film unless it is included. Also i thought it would have been cool if you had mentioned films like Memento or Living in Oblivion where b/w is used alongside color in a more modern approach, because it really reflects the main points made in the video regarding, feel, seamlessness, and appreciation.
Terrific narrative and demonstration of how and why black and white films can be used even today. Whenever I heard a new movie made within the last 25 years would be coming out in black and white, I immediately didn't want to see it because I thought it would look old and outdated. But it is just like Steven Spielberg said, "After awhile you wont even notice the black and white, because you will be so involved with the story". I cannot picture Schindler"s List in color!. And some movies like What A Wonderful Life with Jimmy Stewart were just better in their original black and white. When they turned it into a color film something was definitely lost. If you haven't watched this video yet it is a must see because you will notice how much work went into it! Great job RJFS! Huge thumbs up!
This makes me want to watch every movie he gave as an example so I can understand black and white more.
these videos where you go into this kind of detail, are just amazing, always love to watch them
My first interaction with B&W was Night of the Living Dead, the film had me entranced from beginning to end.
Most of my DVD collection is black and white movies, along with some serials. Could have mentioned Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, which was filmed in black and white, then colorized for effect.
Roman Holiday. Casablanca. The Apartment. Citizen Kane. 12 Angry Men. ...and Frances Ha is one of my current favorites. I really enjoyed Manhattan, too.
Fantastic essay!! You nicely summed up a whole heap of fascinating points and observations in one video! Wonderfully edited, great clip choices!
Imagine if they made Mad max black and white WITH just green being the only color within the movie? That would be amazing!
I didn't know mad max looked so good in b&w. I thought the color was one of the best parts of the film but it looks really good in black and white.
My first ever black and white movie was "To kill a Mockingbird" and holy shit I loved it, a lot of the movies in the past are pretty slow paced but it's really a work of art and it's done so well that it makes up for the slow progress and black n white itself gives it a cool style anyways ❤
It was my understanding that Schindler's List was shot in black and white because Spielberg thought that colour represented life and that it wouldn't suit the movie and the reason that the little girl was in colour was because she was innocent and that she represented hope.
i've always loved B&W films , never understood how any one could dismiss a film simply cos its in B&W. His Girl Friday,12 Angry Men, Arsenic & Old Lace ,The Thin Man Returns are just a few of my favs, and im an 80s kid from Nigeria, who has never been to the States. TNT Classics was really good for me.
My first time I realized how Black and White vs Cokour works, was in the mid ninetees movie Kafka - which is predominantly Black and white but also does have color scenes. Watching it as a kid I remembered wondering "Hey.. was that color just then?"
Makes me want to go back and watch some Tarkovsky films!
The transition from sepia, to black/white, to colour is so daunting, and surreal.
At the end of it all, it's as though the whole thing was inevitably in black/white, and the colours were all made up by the characters...
You guys do such a great job on these essays. I love them.
Calling film noir a style and not a genre. Ooh this guy gets it.
This is one of the best video essay's I've seen. Dang, wasn't expecting RJFS to do it.
Nice work, Joey. Did you ever hear about the movie "Eyes of my Mother?" That was in black and white, I was able to meet the cast and crew of that. Also, I really enjoyed the short, "Harold." A lot of the ideas with light were used in it.
This is probably my favourite channel ever! So well done, you can definitely learn a lot about film making watching this channel!! Thanks a lot!
I lucked out, i was raised on Black and white movies. Never did I balk at watching such films. My only sadness today about them is that i remember so few of them by name, that I struggle to come back to them now all these years later.
psycho in black and white is one of the best I ever seen! 💯👍👍
Some absolutely killer films in this video and I'm only 1/3rd in! Night of the Hunter, Eraserhead, Eyes Without a Face, all excellent and well worth seeking out for those who haven't seen them (and all three have exquisite Criterion Collection releases)
Even a mix can be especially powerful, like Park Chan-wok's "Fade to Black and White" version of Lady Vengeance.
Wow, you guys are really using my pieces in the videos. And also, is it weird that I don't wanna watch color films?
When I was young we had a black and white television and when we got a color television things just were not the same. It's almost like a book to a film. If I had read a book first, my imagination would always be better than the book. The Stand for instance. I did not realize this was a film school until the end but it felt like a really good lesson. I always liked the way they did The Wizard of Oz. I actually thought it was all black and white and that they colorized it when I saw it on the color TV. The Mad Max clip was very cool. Thank you for the video and lesson.
WOW! What a thoughtful, articulate and wonderful thought piece on a much under appreciated aspect of film. THANK YOU!
Two of my most favorite movies are in black and white. Good Night and Good Luck, and The General. The Buster Keaton movie. Funny thing is The General was one of the first movies I remember seeing, and I loved it right away. I loved the action and the comedy, and it didn't matter that it was in black and white because it was fun.
Nowadays I'm interested in films and filmmaking in general so I also look at the technical aspect and recently I have started watching old movies (mostly Hitchcock) but I remember a few years ago I watched a newer version of The Wizard of Oz (I think James Franco played the main character) and at first it started in black and white and I was like "wtf are we seriously gonna watch a black and white movie??" but at some point it turned into being colored and we all (my father, my brother and me) didn't even recognize it. But then later into the movie I realized that by then it was colored somehow and when I told my father and my brother we all wondered at what point it changed because we all were so focused on the story that we all didn't recognize the moment the transition was made.
You should really list song titles in the description.
if you turn on captions you can see the name of all the movies
That's really cool, sure, but that's not what I was talking about.
oh, sorry. my mistake
Hey look everyone! A civil interaction in TH-cam comments! 2017 just keeps getting weirder.
Kimpes respect
This was beautiful man. Thank you for having me appreciate these films
I didn't know there were color versions of those 40s and 50s films!
There should NOT be colorized back and white movies, they are tampering with history...if you cannot watch a black and white film the way it was made you're just plain chicken shit and spoiled.
I’ve never understood why so many people just blatantly don’t want to watch b&w movies.
If it wasn't for Twilight Zone I wouldn't have been a fan of black and white, Twilight Zone is definitely an easy way to accept B&W and just see how amazing it can be, I think too many people today discredit black and white simply because it being too boring, But I love how I can watch black and white and it never requires much work on your eyes, it builds an atmosphere like no other.
When I was young, I used to think these were animated portraits
Loog Noog I do not quite understand, could you elaborate?
Movies that I recommend people should watch in monochrome-
Hellraiser
Pulp Fiction
Transformers Franchise
Dark Knight
Avengers series
Hateful Eight
Shutter Island
Anhilation
I would also like to add:
The thing (1982)
Joker (side note trust me this film looks beautiful in black and white and adds to the atmosphere and tone)
Alien
Taxi Driver
Logan
Robert Egger's The VVitch
Robert Egger's The Lighthouse
John Wick
2001
Shutter island is very beautiful due to its colors and without color pulp fiction will lose its 90s feel while modern movies like avengers and tranformers will lose their modern feel
Wonderful.
I was expecting a word about the The Artist (2011).
Thanks a lot.
My classmates think black and white mvoies lack quality....
your classmate is stupid
I know man, he isnt the sharpest tool in the shed
somebody
+Mr Duke Silver Lol "lack quality". What kind of a critique is that? What does that even mean?
i know, pretty dumb, they were talking about a tv show we have here in germany called Gallileo and I complained about the poor quality of the show, structure wise and considering the terrible greenscreen they use, then my classmate said something like "Says the guy who watches black and white movies".....
man, did this take more than a month to make? Actually, I have no idea how lone this would take. Marriage of B-roll to VO is amazing.
I feel like black and white cinematography ages so much better than colour, a black and white film from 1950 shot right with strong sound design (say All About Eve or any of Goddard stuff) can look better than colour film where it looks dated (a lot of 70s exploitation films), and could have been made yesterday. The image is still so crisp and clear
40 and 50 noir movies looks more recent than the 80's. The only thing holding it back is audio quality
I beg to differ, 70s exploitation films *serously* look generally better than even the most big-budgeted of modern Hollywood-stuff (perhaps that's why they look "dated" to your eyes).
11:20 I was doing a research project on black and white in movies, and upon hearing this information, I instinctively said, "That's so cool!" only to be met two seconds later by the same exact phrase, in the same tone, pitch, and tempo. Amazing
Thank you for ending the video with Satantango. It's my favorite film.
It's 7.5 hours long, so anyone who hasn't seen it should watch Werckmeister Harmonies first.
Raymond Zrike I am interested. Its long and I have limmited time. Why should I watch the other thing first?
pop pop Both are masterpieces by Bela Tarr, so if you see Werckmeister Harmonies (which is 2 hours long) and don't like it, you'll know that you most likely won't like his much longer Satantango.
Raymond Zrike I put it on the watchlist. tnx!
I felt in love with the B&W films after watching legendary indian filmmaker Late Guru Dutt sir's "KAAGAZ KE PHOOL”and "PYAASA”.
Both of these films are included in the GREATEST MOVIES OF ALL TIME list by TIMES MAGAZINE many times...
They are terribly beautiful and scenic... With great message behind.
that bela tarr shot at the end
A lot of people have weird aversions when it comes to film. I've met a ton of people who detest animated movies, regardless of the quality of animation or the content of the story, they can never get past the fact that it's animated. I've met people who after watching a movie they never ever want to watch that movie ever again, ever!
Because chairoscuro is most evocative when monochromatic.
First Black and White movie I saw was “Shadow of the Vampire”. It was shown in this video. I also watched a lot of the classic Universal Monster movies.
One of the best videos i've ever seen, thanks for creating such content!
If anyone ever tells me they don't like Black & White. I'll say "It's ok, not everyone has taste."
I watched black & white stuff all the time as a kid. I watched Batman & Robin (movie serial)
I missed these types of videos thanks Rocketjump
Black and white can help the viewer pay closer attention to contrast and shading.
HOLY CRAP! that scene with the helicopter and the foot actually made my heart stop.
Frances Ha I thought was absolutely beautiful. I really can't imagine the film being in colour.