“Raiders of the Lost Ark” in Black and White
- At December 11, 2012
- By evanerichards
- In Cinematography
9
“Raiders of the Lost Ark” in Black and White
Recently there was a list published. A list of movies, TV shows, books and short stories that Steven Soderbergh had watched or read over a period of 12 months. He also included at the end what he called “An almost comically basic syllabus” with suggestions for books to read and films to watch for color cinematography, B & W cinematography, editing and screenwriting.
You can check out the list here: http://media.wnyc.org/media/resources/2011/Apr/06/Soderberghs_list.pdf
An interesting observation from this list is that Soderbergh watched Spielberg’s Raiders of the Lost Ark three times in a single week. In Black and White. That is very interesting to me. Why did he watch it in black and white? I couldn’t find an answer to that anywhere. Perhaps since Raiders is such a throwback to all the old Saturday matinees and serial films it is only appropriate to watch it in black and white to match the look of all those shows. I don’t really know. In any case, I’ll let you be the judge. Let me know what you think.
Alan Veucasovic
I found myself more focused on the shadows and camera angles.
evanerichards
Yeah. It makes you look at thing you might never have seen before. I was surprised initially at how well it works on B&W. Some scenes look like they were made for B&W. The scenes in the submarine bunker for example.
Graham Ross
I heard from a co-worker that a lot of the film was lit like you would light a black and white movie. it certainly looks amazing in B&W.
James
Where does one get a copy of this film in B&W? I have it in color on DVD and any searches for it send me back here and a few other places all talking about this very topic.
evanerichards
Well I don’t think a B&W version has been released, so you probably won’t find one that has been color corrected for an optimal B&W look or anything like that. The best I can suggest to to adjust your TV. Most monitors and TVs have the ability to adjust the hue and saturation of the picture. Just turn the saturation down all the way and see how it looks. That way you could even watch the Blu-ray in B&W.
Celeste
I have to say, I didn’t know I wanted to see this until I read this article. Now I would *kill* for a copy of this film in B&W!
evanerichards
Celeste!! Check on your tv to see if there is a saturation control setting. There is one on most TVs. If you turn it all the way down you’ll get a black and white picture.
Rockwoodcomic
This isn’t as surprising as you might think. “Raiders” cinematographer was Douglas Slocombe, who had been shooting movies since the ’40s, when they were all black and white. People who have only lit for color might not know how to light for b&w, but obviously Slocombe knew how to do both.
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