Would You Watch A New TV Series or Movie...

[Jetfire]

If it was only filmed in black & white?

I don't think many would but it would be different given the current landscape of TV and film. I am guessing a new movie might get away with it better than a TV series.

If the story was good, characters are compelling...would it turn people off being in black and white or make it unique and stand out from the crowd?

 

[Spot's Meow]

I think it would be enough of a novelty to get people to tune in for at the least the pilot. After that, it would be up to the show to have a great story and characters to keep people interested, just like any other show. There will of course be some people who refuse to watch it just based on the lack of color, but I think most people wouldn't actually care as long as the story was good.

 

[Harvey]

I've seen a good number of recent films in black and white, so I'd certainly line up for another in that regard.

When it comes to television, it's certainly an interesting idea that could be very interesting if done well. The X-Files produced a black and white episode that I thought was terrific. Monk produced one which was pretty disappointing, though, since it was shot in color and only converted to black and white after the fact.

But a whole series? I wonder what was the last television show produced in black and white? It would certainly have some novelty.

 

[Gaith]

There've been a few good grayscale movies over the past few years:

Good Night, and Good Luck.
The Good German
The Mist (2-disc DVD version)

But while grayscale was once natural, and fit in with a mostly pre-color (tv, newsreel, newspaper) media landscape, it's now an artistic statement rather than an assumed default, and therefore should only be used sparingly. Most movies/TV, from Judd Apatow comedies to HBO's Rome, are simply more effective in color.

There is a place for grayscale, though, and that's in creating a dreamlike/otherwordly atmosphere - especially a nightmarish one. It's perfect in Good Night, and Good Luck. and The Good German, because the first depicts characters facing the greatest pressure of their lives and the second shows a post-surrender Berlin haunted by the horrors the Nazis have inflicted upon Europe. And the grayscale The Mist is far superior to the color in that a black-and-white world is by definition an unnatural one, which makes the creatures much more believable.

So, what genres still work in grayscale? Not many, I'd submit: low-key/dramatic period pieces from the dawn of the age of film to the mainstreaming of color movies (~1910-1955). Supernatural horror (Norbit).

Siskel and Ebert on grayscale.

And then, I say that the SW PT shoulda been in grayscale.

 

[Shazam!]

Schindler's List, Clerks, Sin City, La Haine and Ed Wood say hi.

 

[Kelso]

Sure.

 

[T'Baio]

As long as there was an artistic purpose for it and it was shot by cinematographers who knew how to shoot and light for black and white, then yeah, of course.

 

[FordSVT]

Schindler's List, Clerks, Sin City, La Haine and Ed Wood say hi.

Clerks would have been shot in colour if he'd had the money, it wasn't an artistic choice. Just putting that out there.

 

[23skidoo]

The bias against black and white productions has been offensive to me for many years. It's one of the reasons the whole push for 3-D does not sit well with me because I'll be pissed off if people start treating 2-D productions the same way a lot of people treat B&W. I am not exaggerating or making up the fact that on this very BBS, and elsewhere, we've had people come out and say B&W films are bad on the singular basis that they are made in B&W. Doesn't matter if we're talking Casablanca and Citizen Kane, or Plan 9 From Outer Space. And that's a stupid opinion to hold, I'm sorry. Especially for anyone who claims to enjoy movies and TV shows. I also feel sorry for them because they're missing out on some great art.

And there's been more than a few occasions where B&W has made a program better. Clerks wouldn't have worked as well in color. And I'm not alone in my opinion that the B&W early seasons of classic shows such as The Avengers, Danger Man/Secret Agent, The Saint, Man from UNCLE, even Bewitched, were superior to the glossy color seasons that followed. And as one who considers (perhaps misguidedly) that The Twilight Zone and Night Gallery were basically the same series, I find the atmosphere and tone of the B&W Twilight Zone stories to be far superior to the made-in-color Night Gallery.

So in answer to the question, damn right I would watch a B&W production, if it interested me.

Alex

 

[T'Baio]

Yeah, anyone who's not interested in a black and white movie or thinks it sucks simply because of the fact it's in black and white is, well...stupid.

 

[auntiehill]

^Yeah, pretty much.

There are times, as 23skidoo mentioned, where black and white actually is a better choice for certain shows, period pieces or styles.

 

[Hermiod]

A film, yes, why not ?

A TV show ? Probably not. It's going to take a lot more than an unusual filming technique to make TV more interesting to me.

 

[Kelthaz]

Sure, I don't see why not. A good show is a good show regardless of graphics.

Although black & white is inferior to colour, so I'd much prefer to watch it in colour. It's not a deal breaker though.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

Sure, if there was a good reason for it, I wouldn't hold it against the show.

 

[caisson2delta]

I wouldn't have any issues with it, as long as it wasn't a show, or movie, that rely heavily on effects or the like.

 

[Joy]

Well, I'm of the opinion that Wild Wild West should have remained in B&W, as it lent well to the setting of the show. So, if the setting and the story are good enough, then sure, why NOT watch a B&W show? I mean, for me, a show is all about the story and characters; visuals are just the icing on the cake.

 

[Gaith]

Schindler's List, Clerks, Sin City, La Haine and Ed Wood say hi.

Hi, 1990s!

... Though, to nitpick, Sin City ain't grayscale. Use a non-gray color even once, and it's color. That's not a knock on Sin City or its awesome visuals; just calling it like it is.

 

[Joel_Kirk]

Well, if they ever did a Twilight Zone series or Twilight Zone-like series (with good writing)...using B&W might add to the weirdness..

 

[RJDiogenes]

I'd certainly have no problem with B&W. A lot of what I watch is in B&W anyway, including new productions like Lost Skeleton Of Cadavra and Captain Euphoria's movies. As a couple have already mentioned, any revival of something like Twilight Zone or Outer Limits and so on would benefit from B&W to maintain continuity of tone and atmosphere.

I think it would be a hard sell, though, especially as a series. The current audience would be as resistant to that as they would be to a Star Trek series or movie done in the style of TOS. We do, after all, live in a phase when not only colorization of old movies and shows is accepted, but the actual updated of the original special effects with CGI.

 

[RandyS]

If it was good enough to hold my interest, yes.