Have you ever heard somebody say "I can't watch black and white movies"?
I have a problem with this
Not because some of the most important movies are in black and white,
but because black and white can do just as much if not more than colour.
The best place to prove this point is film noir,
a style of filmmaking that continues to influence modern cinematography everywhere
including Breaking Bad.
But I'm getting ahead of myself.
I wanna focus on film noir as a style to make the case for black and white filmmaking
The first question is: What is film noir?
I actually don't think it requires a concrete definition, because it's something you can feel,
especially in modern parodies.
"I think I see where this is going."
"Chicago?"
"No, the conversation."
"Am I that predictable?"
"Only when I can tell what you're gonna do next!"
Maybe my favorite parody of the style is "Calvin and Hobbes."
A comic strip can perfectly embody the cinematography of film noir.
The contrast of white and black, the white trail of cigarette smoke, the long shadows
and the dramatic, morally ambiguous narrative.
But let's unpack that.
To start, let's consider black and white done wrong.
S&L parodied "Casablanca" recently, and shot in black and white.
"Oh no, Richard, no."
They are parodying this scene.
Notice a difference in the look of each shot?
In the S&L sketch, the contrast is extremely low.
If I take a sample of the darkest shade in the shot,
and compare it to the lightest shade in the shot,
you see there isn't much difference between the two.
Compare that difference to the difference in "Casablanca".
The darkest shade on screen is nearly black, while the brightest shade on screen is nearly white.
This dynamic range of shading makes for a more interesting shot composition.
And it really showcases how black and white can make
such an interesting look with higher contrast.
I know I'm comparing "Casablanca" to a sketch comedy TV show,
but it does show how black and white can look boring.
And I think a lot of people see black and white this way.
Let's see the beauty of black and white in an experiment.
Let's take a stock photo, in colour, of a staged picture that's got the film noir style.
Let's try desaturating it,
upping the contrast and adding some shadow.
Now look at it. The background isn't distracting from the subject,
the shadows from the blinds are more pronounced,
more focus is placed on her facial features,
like lips and eyebrows.
The simplicity of black and white means that the eye can observe more key features in the shot.
Colour's great, but sometimes simple is better.
In the age of colour, filmmakers going for that noir feel
have two options.
The first is mimic noir but in colour.
Blast the screen with bright, vibrant colours to give the same level of contrast
and aesthetic as black and white movies.
Or do the opposite.
Film in colour but make the colouring so monochromatic
That it almost looks black and white.
You can see this in many gritty movies like "Se7en" and "Bound".
Black and white filmmaking emphasizes contrast,
so it can be used for visual storytelling.
The classic blinds shot shows a character that is literally dark and light.
Lighting is filmed in extremes:
one side of the character is brightly lit,
the other side is completely black.
They've got a good side and a dark side.
You may not actively acknowledge these details,
but they subtly remind the viewer, through lighting,
that the character might have a dark side.
Or, at least it makes the scene much more threatening.
Black and white filmmaking gave cinema these techniques.
We still see them in colour, and they work well,
but black and white has a much stronger look because of the upped contrast.
This sequence in "Breaking Bad" screams film noir.
If I make this black and white, you could even confuse it as an old noir flick.
I'm not saying "Breaking Bad" should've been filmed in black and white,
but what I am saying is "Breaking Bad's" gorgeous cinematography
owes itself to the techniques that shine the strongest in black and white movies.
Actually, "Breaking Bad" has film noir lighting everywhere.
The blinds, the good side and the dark side,
high contrast, and smoking.
Smoke looks gorgeous in a black and white movie.
The movie "The Big Combo" shows all the beauty of black and white in this shot.
Silhouettes, smoke, high contrast.
It looks fantastic.
So if you wanna convince somebody that black and white has merit,
give them a movie that shows off what high contrast and low key lighting can do.
Show them a film noir.
Strong lights, strong blacks, strong picture.
"It's uh, it's got that thing where the blacks are like
y'know, really really really black"
Thanks for watching.