Color was out back then and a lot of people she didn't want to see black-and-white movies anymore. It wasn't "cool" anymore. I assume it was because maybe color was more expensive but I'm not sure. Either way I love this movie. No matter what zombie movie we have coming out since this movie it's all thanks to Night of the living dead.
shareI remember correctly, I believe they said color was too expensive at the time so they opted for black and white.
shareOh okay. Thanks. I wonder if a movie could get away with being black and white today.
http://shadows-in--the-dark.tumblr.com/
I wonder if a movie could get away with being black and white today.
The Artist, but I just had to look it up to know that. Glad to see b&w movies can still make an impact.
http://shadows-in--the-dark.tumblr.com/
There are many others as well. Woody Allen often makes films in B&W.
shareI never hear of these movies. Why don't they market them like they do other movies that I can't stop hearing about?
http://shadows-in--the-dark.tumblr.com/
They do market them. Just not to your cohort, because they know you won't watch them.
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There aren't "many". Or certainly not many good ones, as I have been watching all the top rated movies, form various lists and never have come across a single one yet that was in black and white (other than a few old ones, of course).
shareThere aren't "many". Or certainly not many good ones, as I have been watching all the top rated movies, form various lists and never have come across a single one yet that was in black and white (other than a few old ones, of course).
A bit stinging, but a helluva good answer
shareBecause B&W is better especially in horror films ---
share3d is out but not every movie is 3d
shareIt could've been a logistics issue considering the extremely low budget of the movie ($114,000 according to Wikipedia), or it could've been an artistic decision, like the leadership rivalry between Ben, a black man, and Harry, a white man, being projected through the black and white view of the movie both figuratively and literally.
shareAt one point, Romero and the producers had the choice between 16mm color film stock or 35mm b/w film stock. Finally they chose for the better quality, which we (after the theatrical releases) finally can see on BluRay again. (The earlier VHS and Dvd's didn't have that quality.)
-I don't discriminate between entertainment
and arthouse. A film is a goddam film.-
It has been discussed in several interviews with the four original creators.
In the beginning, they bought a used camera and shot the cheapest they could find. At that time, that was 16 mm. black and white. Later, when the project got better financing, they chose to stay with black and white as they already had a lot of material they were quite happy with. There are no other explanation. It has nothing to do with it looking cool in black and white, higher quality or anything else. In the beginning, it was purely a financial decision, and later a practical decision of convenience.
Well from what I have heard is that they shot some of the movie originally in color but the film was too expensive which is why they switched to black and white.
shareWhat's your source of information?
shareCommentary from Night of the Living Dead DVD circa 2002 or so, the one released by elite.
It had Romero talking about it.
I wish I had the DVD still to post it but mine got stolen when my place got robbed back in 2006.
They actually went back and added color to it. I have a copy. You can't even tell it was originally black and white.
shareRomero and co. talk about this in the commentary (on the 2008 Dimension DVD) and nobody really gives a clear answer. The general consensus seems to be it was done as a cost-cutting measure.
Anyone here mentions Hotel California dies before the first line clears his lips.
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There was a colorized version of it released some years ago. This film is (or was?) in the public domain, which means it has been one of the most ripped-off and re-sold films in history. So pretty much anyone who feels like it can release their own version of it in any format. Neat, huh?
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