Black and white vs Colour film

We are currently deciding if our film should be in colour or in black and white. Obviously classic noir is in black and white but we may decide to use some more modern influence and more of a neo noir style in terms of the colour. Here are some advantages for both.

Colour advantages / Black and white disadvantages

The equipment available to us is not all of the highest quality and so we may have some problems in terms of quality. Black and white filmed on a cheaper camera often does not capture all of the different shades and can look flat and too dark. We also have limited lighting as well and this also makes it harder. If we were to film in black and white we would have to make sure that it did not end up looking flat and boring. It is easier with colour to distinguish everything in the frame.

Our film is aimed at a modern younger audience and the use of black and white film may not be as popular with this audience as colour film. This is a large problem as if our audience does not want to see the film then it can not be successful.

Some people may claim that black and white film is dead especially in terms of film noir. Why go back to black and white when it can be done in colour?

Black and white advantages / Colour disadvantages

We want to replicate a classic film noir and this cannot be properly achieved without the use of black and white film as it just would not be the same. This would result in our film being more of a neo noir than classic noir.

Shadows and lighting are a huge part of film noir and it is easier to get more powerful and striking shots with the use of shadows and lighting in black and white. These can be achieved in colour but perhaps not to the same extent.


So how are we going to resolve this problem? First of all we are going to do some tests in both black and white and in colour. We will then show both clips to a sample of our target audience and ask them which one they prefer.
We will likely film the trailer in colour and if we chose to make it black and white do this in the editing process so we could also make two different cuts of the actual trailer and test audiences with those.