Oddly enough, I heard a discussion of this on public radio yesterday. I agree for the most part. On the radio show, which must have been an older one being rerun, Roger Ebert spoke on this. He said pretty much this (Googled up):“Why I Love Black and White,” Roger Ebert wrote: “There are basic aesthetic issues here. Colors have emotional resonance for us… Black and white movies present the deliberate absence of color. This makes them less realistic than color films (for the real world is in color). They are more dreamlike, more pure, composed of shapes and forms and movements and light and shadow. Color films can simply be illuminated. Black and white films have to be lighted. With color, you can throw light in everywhere, and the colors will help the viewer determine one shape from another, and the foreground from the background. With black and white, everything would tend toward a shapeless blur if it were not for meticulous attention to light and shadow, which can actually create a world in which the lighting indicates a hierarchy of moral values.”Search for “better in black and white” and find examples/discussions and the article the Ebert quote came from.
battle of plattsburgh about 11 years ago
You’ve been listening to the zebras and skunks.
Larry Miller Premium Member about 11 years ago
Oddly enough, I heard a discussion of this on public radio yesterday. I agree for the most part. On the radio show, which must have been an older one being rerun, Roger Ebert spoke on this. He said pretty much this (Googled up):“Why I Love Black and White,” Roger Ebert wrote: “There are basic aesthetic issues here. Colors have emotional resonance for us… Black and white movies present the deliberate absence of color. This makes them less realistic than color films (for the real world is in color). They are more dreamlike, more pure, composed of shapes and forms and movements and light and shadow. Color films can simply be illuminated. Black and white films have to be lighted. With color, you can throw light in everywhere, and the colors will help the viewer determine one shape from another, and the foreground from the background. With black and white, everything would tend toward a shapeless blur if it were not for meticulous attention to light and shadow, which can actually create a world in which the lighting indicates a hierarchy of moral values.”Search for “better in black and white” and find examples/discussions and the article the Ebert quote came from.
MissScarlet Premium Member about 11 years ago
How do you know I’m not wearing a tuxedo?
(credit Garrison Keillor)