Film Noir: The Case for Black and White
Вставка
- Опубліковано 19 жов 2024
- Black and white has a gorgeous look in film. Let's take a look at Film Noir to see what it can do better than color and study how the techniques of black and white filmmaking continue to influence modern filmmaking (especially Breaking Bad).
Twitter: bit.ly/1QvLI0H
Patreon: bit.ly/1UaO9MU
Movies (in order of appearance):
Double Indemnity (1944)
Touch of Evil (1958)
The Maltese Falcon (1941)
Citizen Kane (1941)
The Hollow Men (TV show)
Casablanca (1942)
Point Blank (1967)
Se7en (1995)
Bound (1996)
The Big Combo (1955)
Every time this channel drops a new video, I party.
stop
Every time this channel drops a new video, I watch that video.
Hammer time
King of Wakanda every time I see your comment, I like
Is everyone invited?
I have no idea why people say they "can't" watch b&w movies. It's a weird self-limitation thing, like they're terrified of trying new things.
I think the reson is that B&W is abstract, if you look at a abstract painting or film, It's hard for everyone o appreciate it...
Just so you know, I have made films B&W or partily B&W so I do appreciate it myself. 😉
@ciaran perry huh, that's a good point
My sister says this and it annoys me so much, because there's so many amazing black and white films, and I love watching old films but she never wants to watch them, I don't know why, she just has some aversion to old, especially back and white, movies
I used to be that way, then I watched Casablanca for a lecture. Was expecting to be bored and having to slog through it, but I was pleasantly surprised that I got so immersed into it I didn't realise the time flying by until the end. Really opened up my eyes that I was missing out on a tonne of good film because of stupid unfounded preconceptions like that and that I had no idea where I got them from.
Because they are idiots. Simple. Don't worry about it.
The moment when someone says: "I don't like black and white movies" and you know, the person will never love the movies like you do.
Roland Deschain or when people say they won't watch foreign films because they have to read subtitles
Yes. There is always art you like or dislike but to limit oneself keeps you away from so many treasures!
We all limit ourselves in certain ways, though. Maybe you'd never pay $100 for a steak dinner, or you'd never skydive or you'd never have kids or you'd never drive across the country.... does it really matter if someone won't read subtitles or watch a black and white film? Isn't in a trivial thing really? th
I have friends that never want to watch a black and white film or a foreign film, and I just don't expect them to, and that's that. We all have friends interested in different things... though maybe as a life partner, it could matter more. You can always give your two cents and encourage people you love to love what you love, but sometimes you gotta respect their choice to not care about such things so that you can continue to love the many other things about them .
yes, but....what a world they cant experience
I personally love movies and everything about them, but I don't like black and white movies that much.
Mainly I dislike film noir from that era 40's and 50's, I watched a couple of them but It's just not my thing.
But weirdly I did love Kurosawa and Kubrick's black and white. I also love some other black and white cinema but I prefer colour every time.
People are confusing Neo Noir and Film Noir.
Neo-Noir s a style often seen in modern motion pictures and other forms that prominently use elements of film noir, but with updated themes, content, style, visual elements or media that were absent in film noir of the 1940s and 1950s. (Chinatown, Blade Runner)
Film Noir isFrench for "black film" or "dark film" ] first applied to Hollywood films by French critic Nino Frank in 1946, was unrecognized by most American film industry professionals of that era (Maltese falcon)
Neo Noir I think Sin City.
The DC Cinematic Universe confuses me with their gloomy, dreary, dark and gritty tone, and accidently looking like it should be filmed in black and white
@@brayanargandonaflorentino548 And DC isn't really "dark" to begin with. It started with Action Comics with Superman debuted. For Batman being the "world's greatest detective" make sense, DC used to be called "Detective Comics" because Batman isn't a typical superhero character, he's just a detective in a suit who feared the criminals because of his mysterious nature. He can't kill because he viewed criminals as human beings who got corrupted by poverty and needed to be locked down whether a jail or an asylum in order to redeem themselves from the criminal activities or being sent to punish for their heavy criminal acts like murder or vandalism.
@@brayanargandonaflorentino548 dceu is more gothic and industrial than noir
I'd like to point out that in the dark, the human eye cannot see color that well. So I think black and white give a film a darker, creeper feel to it because it subconsciously reminds us of nighttime.
When it comes to that, I think it's impossible to not remember Orson Welles first appearance in The Third Man. That scene is fucking gorgeous
The Dutch angles. The awesome music. The zoom. That cheeky smile. "Harry?" Fuck, I love that movie.
This channel just really makes me happy.
I really like the video, but it feels like the audio is too fast. Like the pauses between sentences are missing. Like you ask the question of if people ever say they can't watch black and white movies, but then don't let that questions ruminate for a second before diving into your argument.
Connor Fahy i thought exactly the same!
OMG I’m so glad you included Calvin and Hobbes! I thought I was the only one who remembered his private eye character. Definitely had all the elements of noir!!
And some hilarious dialog as well. "I keep two magnums in my desk. Ones a gun and I keep it loaded. The other's a bottle and it keeps ME loaded."
Your clear explanation of the beauty of film noir has made me fall in love with the genre again.
Great video! One of my favourite effects in Film Noir is rain - especially when it's used both to create a visual background (much like smoke) & because it's always just such a great mood-setter in regards to the mysterious, dangerous 'big city'.
Raging Bull. Like you said, the smoke, contrast and elements of good and evil are highlighted perfectly.
That set of Calvin and Hobbes panels is one of my favourite comic strips of all time. So happy you mentioned it.
Great video! If I could make just one suggestion, pause a little bit with your narration. You edited the video such that it sounds like your never breathe for the whole four minutes.
Having said that, great video!
I think people who dislike black and white especially mean film noir. It's slow, it's character-focused and it's hard on the eye.
Personally, I like film noir but I can totally get why someone would hate it.
yes. lack of vision
Your brief but contrasting comparison of film noir is concise & to the point. I also like how you lighten the mood, with subtle clips that involve parody. Nicely put to gather NYSI. You stand true to your channel name.
This is better than screen rant and I love how this channel has great content quality. It makes me want to make a movie every time I watch one of these videos.
I think schindler's list is a really good example.
The first Film Noir I watched was "The Stranger" and I went, "Holy hell, that was so creative." It's amazing what a few shades of gray can convey to us, compared to color.
showing good, beautifully shot black and white movies is not gonna convince anyone who says stuff like "ugh, i can't watch black and white movies" to like them. the kind of people who say stuff like that are not gonna know what they're seeing.
Ending on The Doobop Song was a fantastic choice! Great job on finding a track that so beautifully mixes the classics with the modern, as you emphasized in the video. That's thematic consistency right there!
"Elegance is Simplicity." - Steve Jobs
Apple: THREE CAMERAS!!!!
That shadow section you talked about was used excellently in the Vader/Luke fight in ROTJ
This channel teaches me why I love movies. I've never been able to tell people why I love a particular movie until I found this channel.
haha, Jesse's quote is a nice addition to the end of the video.
Good work as always.
This video is great. I too hate it when somebody says they can't watch black and white films.
Thanks for this video, I myself wasn't to motivated to watch a black and white movie but your video convinced me. Thanks
HTMLSniper Black and white films is very important for film buffs like me. My first black and white film is Clerks or Plan 9 from Outer Space
Oh nice point about the contrast! It isn't just the grayscale but the contrast of the black and white! Nice video!
I'd never thought I was going to be addicted to this channel.
Your essay was as great as black and white cinematography. Simple and genius.
You know, I'm about to star a college project where me and a group have to make a movie. We're deciding what movie it'll be and we're leaning pretty heavily towards this tongue in cheek Film Noir homage. Gonna take this as a sign.
You sir deserve some award. Your vids always makes me happy.
Another great video, one of the best channels on UA-cam
I'm making a noir and looking at videos for black and white shooting and this was very helpful
Definitely check out the Sin City comics if you haven't already. There are plenty of very stark shadows in that, like a super concentrated version of noir lighting.
thanks ill check em out!
that last clip was perfect
Last time I was so early
This joke was original
2 real 4 me
3 fake 5 me
This is one of the best videos of yours I've seen so far, imo. It's the kind of video I've been waiting for - black and white film noir genius I say!
I'm so grateful for the man who runs this channel
This is great. Love love love. Though sometimes I can feel his frustration getting his point across, like he's already addressing where the comments are heading "i'm not saying that....." "I know I'm comparing a casablanca to a sketch comedy..."
As always you've made an outstanding video essay, it's been over a month, I've missed you, great job!
Great tutorial, thank you:) I will shoot my first feature film in black and white.. greetings from Berlin - James
I've been enjoying your videos for awhile now and I gotta say, it's addictive to listen to your analysis and to submerge myself into the world of cinematic and its beauty 💙
Especially with the way you focus on the details and express the beauty of black and white movie, convinces me to take a different view upon it! I enjoy your work so much!! Stay amazing 😁
Also, may I know the song name at the end?
I've been waiting for this video all week! I'm so happy!
I just finished watching Double Indemnity yesterday for my English class!
also the black and white use in Night Of The Hunter is fucking gorgeous. It's not , in my opinion, a film noir, but it does use the lack of color and the saturation of the b&w very interestingly. Especially the background in the scenes where the two children are runing away and are near/in the barn. Please go watch this movie if you haven't already, it's fucking beautiful, Robert Mitchum is evil and it's great.
when you mentioned comics and their ability to embody film noir I was hoping you would mention Sin City. It not only embraces all of the film noir tropes but also takes them to the extreme. IMO The great use of high contrast and negative spaces in those comics results some the best looking shots in all of noir history. And I also believe the first film did a great job of translating that to the silver screen.
Great channel BTW! Keep up the great work!
That last bit is totally me when I'm trying to explain why something is so great to someone.
These videos make my day
Love your videos but, creator to creator I have to ask: Does using the sample of 'Summertime' in every outro mean that all your ad revenue (if you monetise) goes to Will Smith, and if so, do you care? Or if not, how have you gotten around UA-cam's strict ContentID flagging?? I assume your answer is going to be "It's such a small sample I don't get caught" but I've spent hours painstakingly editing videos before realising that -5s sample of a well-known song has had all the ad revenue diverted to the copyright holder... Which is frustrating. It seems like there's no strict rulings on how much of a song you can use without it getting flagged.....
It's not long enough. I haven't had too much of a problem with copyright.
That's good, I'm glad it hasn't been an issue for you. I just wish the 'rules' were a bit more concrete....
The best channel on UA-cam.
This video pretty much encapsulates my thought process when I made my first short film.
My favorite type of films are Noir and this is just icing on the cake. This is awesome.
i wish this video had a "film titles" subtitle option , like some other film essayers as good as you!
this should be a motif y'all should do, to better inform and preserve the information in the video
I really like your Video Essays. Other Channels cant compare to yours. I like how you are drawing the conclusion, other channels miss to hit the bullseye
Samurai Jack uses the high contrast monochrome aesthetic gorgeously, I adore this style.
Keep doing what you do! You teach me so much every time you post a video!
Wow you man are a wizard. I don't know how you did it, but the first video, that was recommended to me like 20 minutes ago, was about the meaning of milk in films. That was right after I came back from the kitchen, after I drank a glass of milk.... I then watched on, and your Videos are amazing. I will try to incorporate this into a few photographs, now that i know what makes black and white so interesting.
I am so happy Tracer Bullet in Calvin & Hobbes was mentioned
I guess the big thing is just contrast. I very much think it's a common problem with the way (digital) camera's are often used nowadays where the image is kept quite grey even though you can quite easily create very dark blacks in a digital image.
Great video as always. Given me a totally different perspective on something I hadn't even payed mind to.
Awesome video! Loved that you included Point Blank---huge fan of the Parker novels.
Believe it or not we're actually on the verge of launching a film noir TV show for cable. Think there's an audience for that sort of concept? If so, have any tips on how best to reach out to more noir fans like yourself who might take a liking to the project?
Looking forward to more great videos!
I love this video and the message it's trying to convey. Film Noir has been one of my biggest inspirations in the realm of photography and I can't credit it enough in how it developed my personal style.
That said, there are some pacing issues here in this video. Especially toward the beginning, where I felt like I was experiencing the vocal equivalent of a run-on sentence. Having a second or more pause between some of the dialogue might resolve some of this and help keep your pacing from running away from itself.
Citizen kane does this extremely well
Exactly my thoughts watching The Happiest Day in the Life of Olli Mäki such great contrasts and use of lightning that were extremely relevant to the plot. And, especially with the black and white setting, the juxtaposition of the plain world of boxing and the ROUND and vivid world of his love are more evident.
Nice job. Your video has been very insightful! Keep up the great work man!
Big fan of the channel. One of my fav videos!
I was literally watching another one of your videos and found this in the suggestions
This is brilliant, I also think that film noir is something you 'feel'
I saw from your twitter that you're in Ireland!! Whats the craic!!
Excellent video man keep up the good work! 😁 moreover do you have a bunch of noir titles just for academic purposes, In order to have a movie from which reference and inspiration can be taken?
Best 25 Noir Films...
1. The Third Man
2. Key Largo
3. Scarlet Street
4. To Have & Have Not
5. Strangers On A Train
6. The Lady From Shanghai
7. White Heat
8. Double Indemnity
9. Woman In The Window
10. The Killing
11. Gilda
12. Angels With Dirty Faces
13. Out Of The Past
14. Laura
15. Gaslight
16. In A Lonely Place
17. Sunset Boulevard
18. Mildred Pierce
19. Touch of Evil
20. The Asphalt Jungle
21. The Maltese Falcon
22. Sweet Smell Of Success
23. Postman Always Rings Twice
24. The Big Sleep
25. Casablanca
Bonus: 26. Dressed To Kill
Good to see another video from you.
As always, great video. Thank you for the content, and keep up the good work!
Loved the final clip
All hail the king of the video essay 🙌
Double Indemnity is, in my opinion, the best noir film ever made.
10 points for posting a new video and 1000 points for breaking bad as exemplifying film noir techniques.
Great video. i recently wrote an essay about film noir elements in "touch of evil" (which you also showed in the video) .
My friend refuses to even consider watching a film in black and white simply because it's in black and white and I find it absolutely baffling. I haven't been able to convince her otherwise, but I think I'll direct her to this video and see if that can change her mind.
Some of my favorite movies are black and white. I couldn't imagine them any other way.
I loved the first (or second) episode of Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood when after minutes and minutes of usual colored imaging you get that gritty noire style with black-white-red colours and two rivals clashing at each other.
I love the Comic Strip Presents parody of Film Noir called something like "The Hunt for Tony Blair". Really good.
I used to be one of those people until I saw Sin City. I know it has colour in it but I loved the aesthetic of that movie and it got me really fascinated with the look of black and white films.
Beautiful Video! Thankyou for all your vids, they are so helpfull and intresting!
A contemporary movie that makes the perfect case for both black-and-white and silent film is the impeccable The Artist by Michel Hazanavicius from 2011.
This style of filming comes from the painting style called Chiaroscuro made famous by the likes of Caravaggio . Yeah it’s basically using pure black as shadow and pure white as light . It could done in color . I think Tim Burton movies do pretty good on that especially the batman And Edward Scissorhands
Nice video :=). As for the film noir in color idea, one idea I've always liked personally is doing both bright lurid colors and the monochromatic tones, personally I always found the juxtaposition worked with a film noir setting, especially if you show the villain or a fabulously wealthy character in the bright colors, but that's just me :=)
Every video essayist needs to come together to do one big mega-essay.
Two days ago I watched Chinatown for the first time. And I thought of this exactly. Great video!
Beautiful and succinct analysis
Black, white, and smoke is just pure beauty
Hey dude, great video! Btw, what's the song playing in the background? Thanks!
Great video as always! What is the parody at 0:43 called? I don't see it in the list of movies.
This is why I liked the film Wings of Desire so much; the Black & White photography had more life in it than the colour sequence in the final act
Have you seen the black and White version of The Mist? It was Frank Darabont's "preferred version" of the film and it's a really great modern example of this style of cinema.
interesting. we were just talking about film noir in my film criticism class this week
As someone who is going through pretty much ALL the classics, and on occasion, not really enjoying them... this is gunna help a lot! (only subbed yesterday... chances of that eh?!)
I've learnt more here than i have all in year in my film lectures...
I was just thinking "man, whens the next 'Now You See It' video coming out?" Lo and behold when I check my sub box...
You had my like at the opening tune goddamn it.
i really wish you would upload more often, or at least slightly longer videos