When to use Black & White

A

andybiz_2005

Well-known member
I would like to know from wedding videographers out there, when do they make a portion of a wedding video to be black & white? Under what settings, occassions would black & white enhance the wedding video in general?

Thank you all in advance.

Andrew
 
I would ask what the client wants. It is easily added or removed. Some will love it, some will hate it.

If you are doing a montage, I think cutting between B&W and colour can be effective.
 
Thanks mmm for your helpful advice. Yeah, I'm in the midst of doing a video montage to be shown to clients & hope to make it really artistic & creative with some special effects.
 
For event videos, when stylism is needed, I usually go for slo-mo, diffusion and CC changes. For some reason, slight increases in saturation with decreases in contrast and gamma combined with just a dad bit of motion blur equals romantic scene. Experiment, ask the client. But I do not think that B&W is the ticket.
 
This is really stiking home.
Cash flow was tight last year so I worked part-time for a couple months editing wedding videos for a local company. They wanted every wedding editing the exact same way. They had their 'bible' and they did not want any deviation from it. "We want to be the McDonalds of wedding videos!" I was told on several occasions. Well, it's their company, right? So I did it their way. The videos were very effects heavy. Slow motion, diffusion, black and white, fades to black, fades to white, partial letterbox, freeze frames, you name it. It was obvious to me that there were way to many effects going on. The client wanted to see their wedding, not be impressed with someone's editing prowess. So I started asking questions. "Why can't we reserve black and white for flashbacks only?" "Why do we slowly bring up the letterbox during the father/daugher dance?" "Why does the wedding dress have to always glow so damn much?" "Why are we going slow-mo on a section that takes forever anyway?"
Needless to say, we parted company soon after. I always knew the answers anyway. We used funky editing to cover up bad shooting. The key is, the better the video is shot, the less post is nessessary. No one watches their wedding video 20 years down the line to study the cool effects.
But to answer the original question. I like black and white for flashback stuff. Like an ending montage of images. I think it makes it look a little more classic and timeless.
John
 
Something to remember when using effects and filters on Wedding Videos is that what can look over the top and gaudy to the people on this board, the couple in question can actually really like. I do some things in editing wedding videos that i wouldn't dream of using on other projects but the couple really love it. You've really got to look at the couple in the footage, our they outgoing and vibrant, quiet and reserved or classy and stylish? Edit to the couple i say and not a single standard. As far as black and white goes, i like to use it when they kiss after the ceremony
 
Yeah, I've been forced to to some stuff that I would not post on this board for critique, but f*ck it, a bucks a buck. I hate to say it, but the best pay off from most of the wedding videos I have done has been seven digits...

as far as Black and white video, man I have to stand my ground here. I hate it. It never looks like B&W film and in my opion is a very cheesy way to get an effect. It always looks like video with the color turned off. It is a texture thing. Black and white film makes its images with very subtle variations in silver oxid density. There is no way to emulate that in video, no matter how many high buck plug-in filters you have for your NLE or compositing app. Don't do it.


Just my $0.2 worth.
 
David G. Smith said:
as far as Black and white video, man I have to stand my ground here. I hate it. It never looks like B&W film and in my opion is a very cheesy way to get an effect. It always looks like video with the color turned off. It is a texture thing. Black and white film makes its images with very subtle variations in silver oxid density. There is no way to emulate that in video, no matter how many high buck plug-in filters you have for your NLE or compositing app. Don't do it.
Click to expand...

I think B&W can be really effective if you mess with curves and make it more filmic.
In curves, take a point about 1/3 the way horizontally from the bottom left corner and pull it straight down about 1/5 of the curves graph. Then take a point about 1/6 the way from the top right corner and move it straight up about 1/6 on the curves graph.
It gives the black and white a very filmic contrast.


....obviously it's completely useless though if you're using a Sony HandiCam or some crap. But then again I don't imagine anyone would open a wedding business with anything less than a prosumer cam. :cheesy:
 
Another thing I would add on a random note is that, if possible, shoot all weddings in pro-scan. You're giving them something that they're going to look at in the future(maybe every anniversary or something), and in the future all tvs will be pro-scan digital, not analoge interlaced(*blech*)

...on that note, I would also advocate shooting weddings in widescreen, but maybe that's just me. :beer:
 
Best way to decide how and where to use it is just talk to the couple, a quick chat about how they want there video to look is a good guide. Offer them a few options, see what they like, talk about films they've liked anything. Simply ask them if they would like black and white. There the ones spending the cash so give them what they want
 
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