This modern-age cinema of vibrant colors has a pretty black-and-white history, but that was the result of technical restrictions, and today it is the aesthetics. With the advent of advanced technology, directors now have the choice to shoot a film in color and subsequently edit it in line with their vision. The reason why today’s audience can differentiate between monochrome films from their modern-day counterparts is because they offer a lot more clarity and higher resolution.
A director’s choice to make films monochrome could be attributed to a variety of reasons. Pawel Pawlikowski, who is considered to be amongst one of the finest directors, chose to shoot two of his films, Ida(2013) and Cold War(2018) in black and white to portray the period authenticity and historical value of the stories. These visuals manage to create a feeling of melancholy and graveness in the minds of viewers. More films like Schindler's List by Steven Spielberg and Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi use the same cinematography to give a historical aura to their stories. In a similar light, Mathieu Kassovitz's 1995 film La Haine intricately explores the harsh realities of urban violence, delving into the profound challenges faced by the youth within the confines of a marginalized society.
Yet another effective way of using black and white cinema is to depict parallel timelines or scenarios where one of them is in technicolor and the other in grayscale. Excellent examples of this are Gary Ross’ Pleasantville(1998) and Miguel Gomes’ Tabu(2012), where the audience can differentiate between the different timelines that are simultaneously taking place.
While all of the above films, even though created in black and white, look contemporary, some like The Lighthouse(2019) and Passing(2021) are made with a screen aspect ratio of 1.19:1 and 4:3, respectively, to give them a more vintage look.
A question that might arise in one’s mind is ‘Do the colour palettes of a film make any difference?’ Well, yes. Overall, it may be said that it is the director’s choice - as a black-and-white film helps create a certain mood and evoke particular emotions. The audience is not distracted by the vibrant colors and can only focus on the production. It also adds to the aesthetics of the film and makes it a timeless beauty.
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