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Some viewers are mad over the black & white cinematography used in Ripley
“I didn’t last the first episode. The cinematography is so annoying,” said one viewer.
“Why on earth is Ripley filmed in black and white? Surely the only reason to not film in colour previously was technology. Totally killed it for me, the dog seems quite OK with it though,” quipped another.
“Black and white is a good way to keep the budget down but adds nothing,” said one viewer.“Really enjoying Ripley on Netflix except I’m mad as hell that it’s in black and white. What a crime to make a sexy crime show set in 1960s Italy and not do it in colour.”
“I would not have survived before colour television was invented.. tried to sit down to watch Ripley, but it being filmed in black and white makes it a no-go for me. It makes my eyes go all wonky,” complained one person.
Another concluded: “Why is the Netflix show Ripley in black and white? They had colour film in 1955, when the first book, The Talented Mr Ripley appeared. It’s a waste not to film Mongibello in colour.”
https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/news/ripley-black-white-andrew-scott-netflix-b2525684.html
What a bunch of philistines.
“Why on earth is Ripley filmed in black and white? Surely the only reason to not film in colour previously was technology. Totally killed it for me, the dog seems quite OK with it though,” quipped another.
“Black and white is a good way to keep the budget down but adds nothing,” said one viewer.“Really enjoying Ripley on Netflix except I’m mad as hell that it’s in black and white. What a crime to make a sexy crime show set in 1960s Italy and not do it in colour.”
“I would not have survived before colour television was invented.. tried to sit down to watch Ripley, but it being filmed in black and white makes it a no-go for me. It makes my eyes go all wonky,” complained one person.
Another concluded: “Why is the Netflix show Ripley in black and white? They had colour film in 1955, when the first book, The Talented Mr Ripley appeared. It’s a waste not to film Mongibello in colour.”
https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/news/ripley-black-white-andrew-scott-netflix-b2525684.html
What a bunch of philistines.
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True.
But on the other hand, there are people at work who are like "I won't watch anything before the 1980's".
Same as people who refuse to watch anything with subtitles.
Agreed. I love it.
Utter rubbish. Every image is different and what is right is unique to that image and what is being conveyed with it. It also depends on the artist, how they see, and even their mood. It all depends on what you are trying to draw the viewers attention. Sometimes colour is the focus and the story of the image.
Recently I have been largely processing my photography in black and white because to me, at least at this point in time, colour feels like a subject in its own right. So a lot of time I am finding it a distracting element just like any one that would be cropped out. There are still images that are complete nothingness in black and white because it has no ability to convey anything, only the scene itself does that.
To say one is intrinsically better than the other is utter pretentiousness, so is limiting yourself because of it.
Besides, a lot of time television or film uses black and white is because it is a trope. It automatically gives a sense of time or connection with something else. It is a stereotype that filmmakers can easily use as a shortcut to establishing a world. Sometimes it is the right choice for the material, sometimes it is laziness.
I agree with this perspective.
I understand what Ripley is going for with the b&w film noir feel and it seems successful in that respect. Some stunning compositions.
However, I can understand why some people don't go in for it. I was interested to realise that elements of interpreting three-dimensional space using just b&w footage can be very visually confusing to me. For ex. it takes me much longer to find my "focus point" during each scene. For me, I obviously rely pretty heavily on the director subtly guiding my eye to where they want my attention to go.
I'm guessing a lot of directors/film-makers use (or at least have an awareness of) certain colour grading tricks, such as shading to convey depth of field, etc. I think sometimes it can even be as basic as having their main character (or the character they want you to look at first) wearing a strikingly red shirt while everyone else is wearing beige/navy.
I find Ripley visually interesting but I do feel at a remove from the events on the screen, rather than becoming totally immersed the way I often feel with other series.
That is a very good point. It is the opposite to how colour can be distracting, colour can also be very useful to guide people through a scene and is how we navigate the world in our lives.
When designing anything important special care has to be taken for people with colour blindness because what they lose is not just a colour itself how it relates to other colours. In black and white things of different colours but the same perceptual brightness are easily distinguishable will all appear the same shade of grey in black and white. So as well as balancing colours visually, you also need to compensate for how you focus attention.
And widescreen only really became popular in the colour era (mainly because of the cost of film), and it allows more expansive film making in which the subject of a scene is only a small part of the frame. This brings new challenges for how you direct a viewers attention than existed in the black and white era, when most films were shot in 1.33:1 (4:3). That format is more intimate and directs attention to the centre of the frame, which is why like black and white it is still sometimes used by filmmakers where they want to emphasize their subjects and let action fill the frame.
So there is a different experience between how Ripley is using black and white, by retaining the widescreen framing, than the way classic black and white movies were presented. Which means the audience watches it in a different way too, as with the subject being presented to you it can be more challenging having to hunt around a scene to find it in a way that is nor normal when we see in colour so are used to using it to guide our attention.
I never knew I could be so pretentious about film.
Courtesy isn't your strong point, is it? I didn't say that one was intrinsically better than the other or that I limited myself to it. I actually agree with you that it is dependent on subject. There are some that look better in black and white - Film Noir being a case in point. There are others that look better in colour. I did mention that, at its worst, it looks dull and drab. At its best, though, it is a different story. In the days of film, colour had a major weakness. It struggled to produce a truly deep black. This was because it was a mixture of yellow, magenta and cyan dyes - all colours. Black is the absence of light, and therefore colour. In those days, it was really difficult to produce a stark, low key image in colour without losing impact, but it was quite easy to do in black and white. It is somewhat different in the digital age and depends on many variables, not least the printer. Some use photo black inks. That definitely helps. You can see an echo of the problem in modern TVs. Only Oleds and the best LED jobs can manage a truly deep black, and that is what you need for maximum contrast.
Anyway, the subject of the thread was people objecting to Ripley being shot in black and white. This will not have been dictated by the budget, as someone suggested. Before 1960, colour film was expensive and required much more lighting. Therefore, its use tended to be limited to big budget productions. There were films made that would have benefitted from colour, but didn't get it because of the cost. None of that applies these days. Modern digital sensors perform much better in low light than any colour film ever did, and they produce a coloured image by default. The decision to convert it to black and white is, therefore, a creative one. Some people are clearly upset by that, but you can't please everybody.
So at its best one is intrinsically better than the other?
You originally said that "Done properly, though, with a full range of tones, it has a depth and tonality that colour struggles to match." To me that would suggest you think that black and white in intrinsically better, unless you are saying that that it is better to have a lack of depth and tones?
I fundamentally disagree with both that claim and the value it seemed you were putting on it. I am sorry if you think doing so is not courteous.
I also said that each is better for some subjects. In addition, I described how colour film always struggled to produce a deep black - which is true - and how this is also a limitation of most modern TVs - which is true as well. A full range of tones cannot be achieved without a deep black. That being the case, black and white is intrinsically better on occasions when that is required. Similarly colour is intrinsically better on other occasions - especially those that require colour to make it meaningful. Often, it doesn't make a great deal of difference which is used. It's a case of swings and roundabouts.
You are fully entitled to your opinion, and to disagree with whatever I, or anybody else, says. That wasn't the discourtesy. It was the fact that you dismissed my observations as 'utter rubbish' and called me 'pretentious'. You have, however, apologised, and I accept that. Thank you.
We got as far as Episode 5 last night, there is one very brief scene in that that is in colour. Any more detail would create a spoiler.....
Yes a very tiny scene of one colour. I thought it might’ve been cool if they’d done that in every episode. Just one detail per episode in colour, like the blue of the sea from the cliffs near San Remo or as glimpsed from the stairs in Atrani they kept going up and down.
Anyway, enjoy. As you say, there’s no way to discuss the colour or the context of its appearance without spoilering it for those who haven't seen it. I suppose you can say it’s the same colour that appeared in the otherwise black and white Schindler’s List without any spoiler.
Yes I would totally watch that. He conveyed so much with a raised eyebrow and a knowing look. Thought the actor was excellent.
Yes, he was great, and a real fox.
I'm a bit more shallow than all that and would have much preferred to see all that gorgeous Italian scenery in colour !