Black and White Film

[Amber Rout]

Hey guys!

I've got a project I'm doing for class and I was wondering if anyone had any tips as to how I should do lighting for when I'm making the film in black and white. I haven't ever done it before and I'm curious. I won't be shooting in black and white but I will be editing it in in Premiere. Anyone have any tips on how to do this stuff. Sorry this is so vague. Does it make sense?

-A

[Frank Wylie]

Amber,

That's a lot to cram into a reply, so I am going to suggest you obtain a copy of this book;  https://www.amazon.com/Bare-Bones-Camera-Course-Video/dp/0960371818

It's inexpensive and will answer a lot, but probably not all, of your questions.

Shooting color for black and white can be done a number of ways.  The easiest is to shoot it normally in color and then de-saturate (remove) the color in Premiere.

Beyond that, I wouldn't worry too much about technique at the moment;  get a shoot under your belt and start looking at the footage. You will see what you like and don't like;  take it from there.

Don't try to get too complex at first, it only tends to discourage.  Finish something and be ready to learn from your mistakes.

Remember;  if you got it perfect the first time, you should retire. 

Good luck

[Daniel D. Teoli Jr.]

OP...do lighting tests. Lots of tests. And test your BW conversion as well.

I take it you are doing digital. If film, color film does not have the grain structure that BW film has when it is desaturated. 

If the BW conversion looks poor, try giving it an almost imperceptible warm cast. Usually 1%- 2% saturation is enough with the proper warm color temperature.  Or maybe you like a cold look with the same % for the blue end of the color temp. Whatever, just test all options.

Good luck!

[Phil Rhodes]

As Frank says, a million things to consider, but generally things like back and edge lighting will be crucial to create depth when you don't have colour to separate things (think about how the standard teal and orange action movie thing works when you only have grey and grey...)

If you're going to shoot colour and desaturate it, consider what happens if you use just the red channel, just the green channel, just the blue channel... look at what was done for The Lighthouse. The director of photography posted on this forum discussing it.

P

[Amber Rout]

Thank you all so much! I really appreciate it!