HD color vs B&W

[Chamber005]

I'm wondering what people's position is on color vs B&W for prosumer HD.

Everytime I see a color HD movie (shot on, say, an EX1 or "lower"), I always feel like in some way or fashion I'm watching something that was shot on a camcorder.

However I've seen things shot on HV30s and the like in black and white that have come out looking like they were shot on S16mm film.

Anyone else have this experience? And if so, why does b&w HD look, IMO, "better" than color HD?

 

[Sad Max]

I suspect that posting has near as much to do with one's response to the work's visual texture, as the HD camera on which it was originated...

 

[Batutta]

Probably because in prosumer camcorders, luminance is sampled at the full sensor resolution, while the chroma information is usually sampled at half that resolution.

 

[Nektonic]

Probably because in prosumer camcorders, luminance is sampled at the full sensor resolution, while the chroma information is usually sampled at half that resolution.

This may very well be the case, but I have another theory; or an additional hypothesis that goes along with Batutta's theory since I often times feel that black and white video looks more "filmic" as well.

What I think is happening, is that our subconscious is sorta stepping in and saying, "hey, black and white equals old and classic movies which were shot on film." Black and white is just a more cinematic look overall because we don't see hardly any modern media in monochrome. The news, soap operas, reality television, and the majority of the amateur films out there on YouTube and Vimeo are almost always in color. Same thing with comic books and video games as well. I think it is this association with classic movies that gives black and white a certain uniqueness that seems to come exclusively from the cinema world.

Also, it is more surreal, thus possibly making it seem more film like or cinematic. Same thing with competently lit and sensibly graded footage from a DVX or an HV20. I've seen plenty of shorts where this has happened, and have encountered this phenomenon with my own work as well. A lot of the time what seems to make a shot from an HD or DV camera go from a kinda blah video feel to a cinematic feel is a little color grading. Not necessarily some over done combo of Magic Bullet filters either.

Of course I feel that good lighting is very important either way. A well lit scene can be taken to an amazing place visually if the lighting is done properly.

 

[Chamber005]

This may very well be the case, but I have another theory; or an additional hypothesis that goes along with Batutta's theory since I often times feel that black and white video looks more "filmic" as well.

What I think is happening, is that our subconscious is sorta stepping in and saying, "hey, black and white equals old and classic movies which were shot on film." Black and white is just a more cinematic look overall because we don't see hardly any modern media in monochrome. The news, soap operas, reality television, and the majority of the amateur films out there on YouTube and Vimeo are almost always in color. Same thing with comic books and video games as well. I think it is this association with classic movies that gives black and white a certain uniqueness that seems to come exclusively from the cinema world.

Also, it is more surreal, thus possibly making it seem more film like or cinematic. Same thing with competently lit and sensibly graded footage from a DVX or an HV20. I've seen plenty of shorts where this has happened, and have encountered this phenomenon with my own work as well. A lot of the time what seems to make a shot from an HD or DV camera go from a kinda blah video feel to a cinematic feel is a little color grading. Not necessarily some over done combo of Magic Bullet filters either.

Of course I feel that good lighting is very important either way. A well lit scene can be taken to an amazing place visually if the lighting is done properly.

That makes a lot of sense. It's like when it's in color, on some level, there's something that the audience member can reference to say, "It's supposed to look like THIS" from whatever film-based television program or movie they've recently watched; whereas black and white -- it's just not present very much anymore in our daily lives.

What's funny is that black and white used to signify something as being either cheaper or just plain quaint (and often boring). It was old stuff our grandparents liked to watch on the AMC channel. With the advent of HD and the accessability (and with kid's parent's today having all their movies in color), black and white more than ever seems to be a choice the filmmaker makes not out of necessity, but out of artistic preference.

Either way -- interesting.

 

[MattinSTL]

Batutta's response has got to be the best answer... it's SCIENCE, afterall.

But I'll give you my opinion (theory?) anyway... I've got a B&W ONLY cam... that I love... it's from a machine that inspected stuff in a high-speed production line. (I'm going to enter a fest with it one day, that's for sure).

B&W is easier to light... and easier to DP. You can create interesting compositions w/o the consideration of color... sure, that's obvious... but the point is it's way easier to get layers of lighting... and apparent depth of your shot... without having to think about how colors interact. If you have a girl with hues that are similar to hues in the background... you gotta' work harder to create a separate visual layer. I also suspect that our biology favors grayscale over color... and that mentally... we have a more focused attention to detail (on this level, vs. say "avatar") when the images are more distilled down to illuminated shapes, so to speak.

To put it more simply... our eyes can probably resolve detail more effectively w/o the additional analysis of color.