Hey guys, enjoyed your podcast this week, while not coming to be when I first saw your topic, but as you began to discuss various sub-categories of the techniques' use. And that would be the opening sequence (among others) of Tarantino's Kill Bill: Volume I.

Why I feel this is an important movie to mention is that it combined at least 3 of the 'reasons' you mentioned as to why director's may choose to shoot in black and white.

1. Both a short but very disturbing sequence the prologue evokes Tarantino's general and infinitely unique style.

2. to emphasize the fact that the scene is in the past and

3. that the film is stylistic and unrealistic as a whole (also well demonstrated by the famous sword fight sequence) which as you mentioned is a tool by which to distance the audience

I find that since is it an integration of these three aspects the use of black and white feels far less pretentious, forced and contrived, aided by the fact that most of the film is in colour and by the animated sequence which furthers such intentions.

R.I.P. Robert Carradine

Hey guys,

Enjoyed the podcast, although I was a little annoyed about you spoiling Haute Tension, since that's been on my "to watch" list for a while, although I'd already heard it was a slick thriller with a lame ending, so I suppose it wasn't much of a spoiler.

In this episode, you mentioned the use of B&W as a throwback to the ambiance of old films, such as "Good Night and Good Luck". However, there is another modern example of this that you might not be aware of - Frank Darabont's "The Mist". The film was released in color and on DVD theatrically, but there is a two-disc special edition of the film that includes a black and white version. According to the DVD, the film was originally conceived as a black and white film, to make it more of a throwback to 50s sci-fi, such as "The Twilight Zone". There are many other aspects of the small town environment and characters that seem more fitting in a black-and-white film.

What's more, one of the biggest critiques to an otherwise solid film was the occasionally bad CG creature effects. This is one of the only times I've seen computer-generated effects in a black-and-white film, and I have to say, the effect is striking. The color film is, for the most part, beautiful to look at, but the black-and-white film is actually more effective as a sci-fi thriller.

Keep up the good work!

Glenn
Seattle, WA

Now with typo-free goodness!

Hey guys,

Enjoyed the podcast, although I was a little annoyed about you spoiling Haute Tension, since that's been on my "to watch" list for a while, although I'd already heard it was a slick thriller with a lame ending, so I suppose it wasn't much of a spoiler.

In this episode, you mentioned the use of B&W as a throwback to the ambiance of old films, such as "Good Night and Good Luck". However, there is another modern example of this that you might not be aware of - Frank Darabont's "The Mist". The film was released in color theatrically and on DVD, but there is a two-disc special edition of the film that includes a black and white version. According to the DVD, the film was originally conceived as a black and white film, to make it more of a throwback to 50s sci-fi, such as "The Twilight Zone". There are many other aspects of the small town environment and characters that seem more fitting in a black-and-white film.

What's more, one of the biggest critiques to an otherwise solid film was the occasionally bad CG creature effects. This is one of the only times I've seen computer-generated effects in a black-and-white film, and I have to say, the effect is striking. The color film is, for the most part, beautiful to look at, but the black-and-white film is actually more effective as a sci-fi thriller.

Keep up the good work!

Glenn
Seattle, WA

Funny thing is I just finished my second feature, a black & white psychological thriller and have been told repeatedly by Producer's Reps and Distributors that "nobody wants to see black and white films"