black and white

[allythealto]

not sure if i should post this in the general video forum, but...

i just watched the aluminum studios video "house on the moon" and i love the black and white, but i was wondering if anyone knew when it was appropriate to use black and white in a video. i mean, i liked it, but i can't say exactly why. what does black and white give you that color doesn't? are there any other videos that use black and white?

[inthesto]

Let's see, I used a greyscale filter in two of my AMVs.

In Fighting Flowers, I used it to indicate flashbacks. Not particularly artistic, but it gets the point across.

In Holy Experience, I used it during the bloody scenes, to give some sort of feel that fighting is how Alita discovers herself.

It kind of depends on what the idea behind your video is. If there's really no point in using a greyscale filter, then why bother?

[Voices_Of_Ryan]

I've used black and white in everyone of my vor videos to date.

59 people think it's okay

[Unfound]

[url=http://www.animemusicvideos.org/members ... hp?v=37859]Angelic Ballad[/ur] (Shameless Advertisement), one of my videos, uses it because it just plain fits the song. Black and white can be used for a number of things, especially moody and slower parts of music videos.

[Unfound]

Angelic Ballad

(Damn no edit button.)

[Mr Pilkington]

I've used black and white in everyone of my vor videos to date.

59 people think it's okay

The voices in you head don't count.





Mine do! And 57 out of 72 say no it isn't

[Jebadia]

You want inappropriate uses of black and white, you should check out some of my drama vids (mostly the AMG ones...)

[SarahtheBoring]

not sure if i should post this in the general video forum, but...

i just watched the aluminum studios video "house on the moon" and i love the black and white, but i was wondering if anyone knew when it was appropriate to use black and white in a video. i mean, i liked it, but i can't say exactly why. what does black and white give you that color doesn't? are there any other videos that use black and white?

It's "appropriate" whenever the hell you feel like using it. Is it the most effective trick to use at that moment? Depends. Every video, and every moment of every video, is different.

There are no answers for this kind of thing. We can tell you when it has been used, or when it's often used, but questions like "When is it okay for me to do this?" make me sad. Do it if you want to, see how it looks. If B&W intrigues you, experiment.

Seriously, there aren't rules for this. There are guidelines, and predictions, but everything comes down to trying something and seeing how it turns out.

I happened to use Color Pass, which is very nearly B&W, in one of my vids to indicate characters' thoughts and to keep overlays from looking too muddy/cluttered. I thought it would look wrong (Color Pass is the Schindler's List filter), but it turned out being my favorite part of that video. You just have to try things out.

[Otohiko]

If you do it, just do it well and make sure it works with the music and the general context.

It irritates me when it's used at random.

It pleases me when it's used selectively and in proper context (for instance, when you're portraying past events in characters' lives, or using it to show something that happened 'in history' - like the excellent videos Victims of War by Brain-Carnival and Consequences of War by flint the dwarf do)

It fascinates me when it's used to indicate a musical mood contrast, but that's kinda rare.

[badmartialarts]

I think it works well for horror-type videos as well. Right now I'm experimenting with partially greying out scenes in a video, then cutting quickly to brightly colored ones for the shock value and contrast. Seems to be working, but I'm not done yet....