Why was In Cold Blood filmed in black and white instead of color. I know the black and white makes the film more gritty, but the director tried to make the film as real as possible, filming in the actual locations. The world is not in black and white, but color. The murders and the events did not occur in a black and white world. So, if they were seeking to make it as real as possible to recreate what occurred, color would have been closer to the truth.
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To me, the black and white gave the film a sort of documentary feel that made it very realistic. In the sixties, only a few households had color television; news broadcasts were presented in black and white. Filming In Cold Blood in b&w was a way of making the audience feel(subliminally)that they were watching a news report instead of a Hollywood movie.
Yeah, they're dead; they're--all messed up!
Black and white is a much more intimate medium in which to film, and its starkness makes even the very landscapes seem sinister. B&W fits the dark, foreboding mood of this film far, far better than color ever could.
Take a look at the 1996 TV movie of the story, which is much more factual and more accurately depicts the killers. But color robs it of most of its intensity and feeling. It looks like just another crime movie.
The mid 60's was the turning point. Up until that time color was reserved for musicals, fantasy, biblical epics, travelogues, big budget westerns and other outdoor movies. Black and white was still the domain of serious movies. One famous quote is, "When a film is in black and white you look at the people, when it's in color you look at the wallpaper." Not an inaccurate quote. Black and white seems to capture one's soul so to speak. However with the advent of television, the studios were looking to give people something they couldn't get at home, hence the wider screens, stereophonic sound and more color films. but black and white was still the domain of newsreels, documentaries and anything else of a serious nature. When we think of WWII, those of us that didn't take part in it, our images are always in black and white. IN COLD BLOOD was one of the last major films of the 60's to be filmed in black and white and all the better for it. Think of 1967's IN THE HEAT OF THE NIGHT. How much more dangerous and unsettling would that world look in b/w?
shareOne famous quote is, "When a film is in black and white you look at the people, when it's in color you look at the wallpaper"
Good quote, I almost feel the same way about HD. Love the high resolution detail of HD but often I find myself paying too much attention to the "wallpaper" and not enough to the people and storyline. I do love a great Black and White film on Blu-Ray though, and In Cold Blood looks fantastic in high definition.
The mid 60's was the turning point. Up until that time color was reserved for musicals, fantasy, biblical epics, travelogues, big budget westerns and other outdoor movies. Black and white was still the domain of serious movies. One famous quote is, "When a film is in black and white you look at the people, when it's in color you look at the wallpaper." Not an inaccurate quote. Black and white seems to capture one's soul so to speak.
Black & white was cheaper. Period.
shareSorry, no "period". Black-and-white was an artistic decision, and the right one.
shareExactly, liscarkat-2.
The OP also wrote:
The world is not in black and white, but color. The murders and the events did not occur in a black and white world. So, if they were seeking to make it as real as possible to recreate what occurred, color would have been closer to the truth.
In one of the extras on the new Criterion Collection release, director Richard Brooks says the studio was very concerned about why he was filming in B&W, not color. B&W was not as commercial and most TV stations didn't want to run movies in B&W. (Back in the day the TV networks paid handsomely for first broadcast rights to major films. The studios sometimes factored potential TV broadcast rights into the budgets of their movies. Occasionally they even pre-sold broadcast rights before a film was released.)
The studio head and a representative from Technicolor paid Brooks a visit to ask his reason for shooting in B&W. Brooks's response:
“This picture has to do with fear. And to me, fear. . . I can only picture it in black and white, not color.”
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The studio head's other major concern was the casting of relative unknowns as the leads. He offered to bring in Steve McQueen and Paul Newman instead.
Wrap your head around that idea, boys and girls.
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The Criterion set is loaded with fascinating extras about Brooks, Capote, the cinematography, editing and music.
I just got the Criterion edition and haven't watched it yet, but I've heard that Brooks story. Frankly I think it's partly a product of a faulty memory and his own desire to set himself up as a brave defender of art.
It seems to be true that the studio was worried about his filming in b&w, but the switch to all-color -- in both movies and TV -- was occurring in that same period, 1966 and 1967. The studio was probably more concerned how the shift to mostly color films by Hollywood that year would affect the box-office. They wanted to attract paying customers. Yet b&w movies did just fine at the box office as late as 1965 and 1966, and people were still used to the medium.
As for television, most Americans still had only b&w TV sets at that time. Networks weren't so concerned about running b&w movies -- they'd been doing it for years (and would go on doing so), and even as television was moving to mostly color the networks happily ran b&w films right to the end of the 60s, even early 70s. I don't think television was such an obstacle.
I think Brooks, who had a rather self-important view of himself and his career, overplayed this so-called conflict. I'm sure there were some overwrought concerns -- there always are in Hollywood -- but I have my doubts the situation was as contentious, or Brooks as much of a hero, as he made out. Anyway, he made the right decision about how to shoot so dark a film.
However, I hadn't heard about Newman and McQueen. Oh my God.
It's odd that in the opening credits it says "Prints by Technicolor."
shareYou're absolutely right, jamest155. But expect a flurry of pompous drivel from self-anointed film experts with silly platitudes about artistic technique and creative expression, of the sort you've seen here already. They go from board to board, trolling for "black and white" or "colorized" thread titles, and pontificating to anyone daring to express the heresy that a film can be made just as beautifully - and more realistically - in lovely, subtle, natural color.
shareTo me a major reason why the nearly scene by scene remake of Psycho was a failure was the use of color film.
Had Hitchcock used color I don't think his film would have been as successful.
I don't know if the success of the B/W version of Psycho had any influence on the use of B/W on In Cold Blood, but we are lucky regardless.
winterview, I believe that Hitchcock's decision to film Psycho in B&W was because he had set out to prove that you could make a good horror movie on the cheap. He even had his crew from his TV show working on the film.
I do think that it worked better in B&W. It's much more intense.
"You're absolutely right, jamest155. But expect a flurry of pompous drivel from self-anointed film experts with silly platitudes about artistic technique and creative expression, of the sort you've seen here already. They go from board to board, trolling for "black and white" or "colorized" thread titles, and pontificating to anyone daring to express the heresy that a film can be made just as beautifully - and more realistically - in lovely, subtle, natural color."
Nobody goes from board to board trolling for those titles in order to come off as "self anointed film experts".
movies789 obviously felt threatened by knowledge and ideas that were different from his own. It is apparent that this person doesn't understand the differences in a mood that B&W brings to the table.
Poor movies789. So ignorant. Knows not that he knows not. Sad.
shareBecause it looked awesome. That opening shot on the bus is an incredible image.
shareThe movie is based on an actual crime. The actual crime took place in 1959, before color. The black and white was an effort to convey authenticity.
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