Digital Photo Pro - USA (2020-02)

Besides Academy Award winners,

many other smaller and lower-profile

projects have been produced in black

and white over the past few years. So,

the answer to the question “Is black

and white still artistically relevant

for film, television and online con-

tent?” is “yes.” However, that’s with

some qualifications.

Still, how can you tell if you should

tell your story in black and white?

Ask yourself these questions: Who

is your audience? What’s the sub-

ject matter? Also, look carefully at

your script and story—does black

and white improve the story, style or

genre of the film? Does it help tell a

better story?

If it does, then go for it. But if you

aren’t sure, discuss it with your team

or your distribution apparatus, client

or even your audience, if that audi-

ence is online.

Another key point that you’ll want

to remember is this: Film, television,

digital cinema and digital media

creation is a collaborative process. It

means that it’s best to at least involve

the portions of your team that will

be directly affected by shooting in or

at least finishing in black and white

(more on shooting versus posting in

black and white later in the article!).

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As you can see below, choosing to cre-

ate a monochrome film affects many

roles. That’s why you should really

think of black and white as a direct-

ing, producing and even writing deci-

sion as well.

But once the writers, produc-

ers and director are all on board

with shooting or ending up with a

black-and-white project, how does

this decision affect the crew? Con-

sider the following roles and how

they’re affected:

Gaffer: The gaffer-team function is

tied to the cinematographer, and their

job is to deploy the lighting that the

cinematographer needs to realize the

director’s vision.

So, when lighting for black and

white, which means once you take

color out of the equation, you're telling

An abandoned trailer in the desert
becomes much lonelier in black and white.

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46 | Digital Photo Pro digitalphotopro.com