Part of my next project will be filmed in black and white. Out of curiousity, would it be better to film it in B&W with the mode on my camcorder or can I change it to B&W in post?

u can do it in post, at least thats what i prefer. In post you can adjust how black how white you want it as well as the brightness. but if you film it in B&W mode then your stuck with what you have. So if the lighting for instance is bad theres no fixing it. (unless you use gamma correction) but thats not the point. Hope it helps.

You can indeed change it to B&W in post production. You need to decide which is more important: being able to use the footage in color in case you change your mind, or seeing it in black and white while you shoot to know what it's going to look like.

be gutsy, take a chance. when I shot my dream sequences in negative for my short "Collective Subconsious," I shot it already in negative, so I couldn't go back and change my mind. it would have looked way worse had I shot it in color and changed it later. of course you should know I got chewed out pretty good in my reviews for doing it, but hey, i took the chance and i don't regret it, id do it the adsact same way again.

Wait, if you shot in negative you COULD have fixed it later - any NLE has an option called invert, and the result would put it back to color. Also, choosing invert on colored footage would put it into negative at the same exact quality

:-O! BURN!... No really. But uhm... I would shoot in color and then B&W in post... I like to play it safe... I leave experiments for when I am just screwing around,

definitley in post. This way if you really like how it turned out in color you can turn in a B&W version and keep a color version for yourself. Personally I really dislike the idea of shooting an entire film in black and white. color can add a lot so why purposly remove it? but i understand you have an assignment, so my advice is in post.

yeah, do it in post.

holdemmrpink, nice sig. lol.

I have to disagree (somewhat) - if you know, absolutely know you're going to use black and white, you should probably shoot it in black in white so you can correctly judge and manipulate the contrast. If you shot in color, it would be much more difficult to judge how the lighting would look if you changed it to black and white in post. Just my opinion.

holdemmrpink - I also have to compliment you on that signature. Purely great.

I'm personally rather fond of Ducky's sig. Though I have no idea what it means.

ideally...get a b/w monitor but shoot color. Short of that, shoot color, but when you set up each location, check your shots in b/w mode then shoot in color. You'll have an idea what you are getting anyway.

Definatly shoot color in production and then B/W in post. It would be a very good idea to toggle between B/W and color before you shoot to make sure you will be happy with what you shot. Keep in mind that there are some colors that when transfered to B/W will blend together (red and green, red and orange) make sure contrast is at the top of your mind when in production.

Always and i mean always do your effects in post
because if you film in that just with the cameras settings you can change it back but it is difficuld (opposites would not work beacause theres no color in the films recordig to begin with

Welcome PA

You can always change the contrast in post. I would shoot in color and remove color in post.

The compromise of entering BW mode on the camera to check shots, and then shooting in color seems like a great idea. Pure genius.

quote:

I'm personally rather fond of Ducky's sig. Though I have no idea what it means.

I think its got something to do with Russel Crowe.

If you are sure you want B&W then I'd recommend filming in B&W, but don't come crying to me if you decide you want to change it to colour later. I said if you are SURE!