Black and White in Color

Technicolor either represents over exaggerated almost blinding colors, or a unique, almost paint like representation of real colors. Either way, you have to regard Technicolor in a high fashion when talking about old movies and how they evolved. Back when this was still a novel technology directors and cinematographers would use color to their advantage. The greatest example of this would have to The Wizard of Oz, where the beginning and end of the movie are in black and white, but the majority is in color. They used this as a set piece - it was part of the movie. The way the skin looked, the brick, and the flowers, were all an integral part to that movie; almost as much as the characters and plot. In fact it was a reason people went and saw movies to begin with, the color was a showpiece.

There was a fight in the industry when color was arriving and some directors specifically chose not to colorize (although initially usually based around expense). They used black and white to their advantage; used its sharp contrast to represent plot lines and character actions.

There is a somewhat large group that wants to colorize these old black and white favorites. Popular movies like Casablanca and Notorious are being colorized - the problem with that is the original meaning of the movie is taken away. Characters are shown through light and dark, good and evil are portrayed in these films in some way through the use of sharp lighting in the black and white art form. These deliberate choices to alter an original work because some feel it is missing something from not being colorized is interesting. Yes older black and white movies have a totally different aesthetic value. I mean a modern example (a film which certainly could have been shot in color) is Good Night and Good Luck. This movies uses black and white to tell its story, what would happen if it were colorized? The meaning - the impact - would be lost.

It is interesting to think that there was a struggle to popularize color movies, but at a closer analysis we can see how some movies used black and white purposefully. Others used color purposefully. Overall, it would seem most important to leave any film in its original form.