Black and White Films: Purposefully Lazy, or Purposefully aesthetic?

After watching the following film on DeviantArt (Yes, it has a beautiful film section), it reminds me of the best film entry for the first Shanghai Student Film Festival. They are very similar in style, especially in terms of the cinematography and composition (Metafor, the linked film above, uses narration, where as Reverie was almost silent). What brings me to write the blog, however, is the impact of making the film black and white in both narratives.

I remember the lesson after "Reverie" recieved best film at S2F2. We students had an almost full blown argument as to whether the black and white effects made it look aesthetically pleasing, or was simply a short cut of making everything philosophical. I kind of just stepped out totally of the argument, because some rather unreasonable and stubborn stance was being made, and hence, voicing my argument would have had no effect whatsoever. Personally, I thought "Reverie" would have never quite had the great impact it had if it had not been black and white.

Black and white films can be tricky; it is like trying to draw a life drawing using only charcoal (Fine arts students should know this well). You have to see the light and shade of the picture, and that takes practice. And because a film is in black and white, the film maker will have to ensure that the lighting is in the right position to bring out the neccessary contrast. If color was present, lighting (whether natural or not) would not such a hassle. Taking footages that are in color, and then DETERMINING whether they are suitable in black and white is also an issue. It will be an aesthetically critical decision.

Another thing about black and white films is that they simplify things down, to a point where the composition of the scene is what creates the beauty of the film, not color. Sure, you can have a sudden blast of bright colors in films and wow the audience, but that is colored films. In black and white films, the colors are no longer there. Hence the audience is forced to look at the composition of the scenes to determine whether they are pleasing aesthetically or not. This especially struck out at me in "Metafor". The composition predominated my analysis of the film, whereas I believe, if it was in color, would not be so apparent. One of the things that stuck out to me was that because of the dimensions of the film, the theoretical points of focus and actual points of focus were often a little off. I would definately not even noticed this, had the film not be in black and white. And it is also the reason why "Reverie" stuck out so as a "peice of art" to the judges of S2F2. It's composition and contrast by lighting were almost (note I say almost) perfect.

With that being said, black and white films could be used as a result to train film students the importance of composition of a scene, as well as the importance of lighting to create the necessary contrast. So next time, if you see a black and white film, do not just call it lazy immediately...analysis and decide!