So what have you guys been watching lately?

[BurningDoom]

Mmm. Syfy has a Twilight Zone marathon on tonight.

One of the all-time classics that will never get too old. It's still fantastic today. Why don't they make television like that anymore? And why hasn't anyone gone back and colorized those original episodes yet?

[sabrage]

And why hasn't anyone gone back and colorized those original episodes yet?

With all due respect (I agree with your other points)... Fuck dat.

[Michi]

And why hasn't anyone gone back and colorized those original episodes yet?

...Fuck dat.

^ That's why

[Forlorn Drifter]

And why hasn't anyone gone back and colorized those original episodes yet?

With all due respect (I agree with your other points)... Fuck dat.

I'm with Sabrage. I can tell if a Twilight Zone episode is good by whether or not it has color.


Anyways, I've always found black and white to be one of the better forms of filming for movies. I generally prefer the black and white to colored when I can get it.

[BurningDoom]

I don't see how colorizing wouldn't make it better. Who wants only 2 tones of color when you can have full color? It's not like your changing the story or scenes.

[Forlorn Drifter]

I don't see how colorizing wouldn't make it better. Who wants only 2 tones of color when you can have full color? It's not like your changing the story or scenes.

Why do some people want subtitles when it could be dubbed? Personal preferance. Anyways, B&W>Color.

[Gamerforlife]

I don't see how colorizing wouldn't make it better. Who wants only 2 tones of color when you can have full color? It's not like your changing the story or scenes.

While I'm not as offended by this as others, I think I see where they are coming from.

It's about more than story. TV shows have directors, lighting people, set designers, etc. Every scene of a show is supposed to be conveying something visually, and the black and white format could have been a factor in those decisions. Switching to color could possibly take something away from whatever the makers of the show were trying to convey from a visual perspective.

It's like taking Robert Rodriguez's Planet Terror movie and removing the graininess. By doing so, you take something away from the movie's "grindhouse" nature.

Or playing Resident Evil 4 on the Wii. People always talk about how quickly and easily they can aim in the Wii version. While I'm not firmly against that, the game was originally designed to be played with a standard controller on the Gamecube. I think the Wii remote makes the game easier than it was intended.

Plus, the black and white just adds to the nostalgia factor. It gives it that old time quality. When I see I movie in black and white I feel like I've been transported to a different era and that's kind of cool

[Michi]

Sometimes color can be an integral part of the film. Like in The Wizard of Oz when Dorothy first steps out into Oz and the film switches from BW to Color. And not just color, but almost a neon color palate. It's done to elicit a specific response.

When color is used properly it can trigger specific emotions and when it's not it can make you sit there and go WTH? Like that instant in Transformers when you're watching it and suddenly go, "Hey...



"....why the hell is everybody so orange?"

Instead of setting up the shot with nice contrasting orange and blue colors, something very pleasant to the eye, they just shoved a photo filter over the whole movie and turned a large part of the cast into Umpa Lumpas. Very sad.

In black and white film you can get that same contrast and same emotional response from the viewer, but instead of relying on color the film makers have to rely on contrast and light and shadow.


A visual aid

Take Rashomon up there. Sure you could colorize it (blasphemy!), but then you'd be loosing much of the emotional responses that the original black and white one was trying to convey. Adding color would not only strip the film of the mood it was tying to set, but it would strip it, stomp on it and blow it to smithereens.

The same could be said for watching The Wizard of Oz in black and white. Sure you could do it, but I think taking away the color would just kill the scene where Dorothy first reaches Oz.

Each medium has it's strengths and weaknesses.

Also, colorizing black and white film today, even with digital colorization, is still really labor intensive. Remember, if they were going to do it they'd still have to go though and edit the films frame by frame. I'd imagine it's a real pain in the a$$.

[sabrage]

How would you feel if someone came along and "fixed" your original Da Vinci sketches with crayon? Same thing.

[Forlorn Drifter]

I'm sad to admit I'm pretty excited for the Black Dynamite cartoon coming out on the 15th. It has an interesting animation style, like Boondocks but with more of a seventies and disco vibe with bright colors and such.

Its based off of the Black Dynamite movie from 2009, which is a spoof of the blacksploitation series about Black Dolomite. I've seen the movie, but it was on at a party and I honestly missed most of it. The previews seemed good, but I was slightly offput about a physical joke inserted with a bunch of white womens panties dropping because of the fact Black Dynamite is, um, black. It fits with the blacksploitation and all, but it seems in bad taste to promote the idea that someone is more attractive due to race.