Black and White

Origianly, we planned to have either the dream or the real life sequence in black and white, to give an immersive feel that is at first not encourageing, but ultimately enhance the ideas, themes and morals of the film. This desicision was inspired by several emotionally complex modern films, with somewhat deeper narratives than typical American blockbusters, such as Control (2007), American History X (1998) or Pi (1998).



However, our definitive usage of black and white sequences juxtaposed with colour sequences was more directly inspired by such narrative techniques used in memento (2000) and Johnny Got His Gun (1971). It is able to provide direct contrasts between the two sequences, and evoke audience discussion about how such decisions can intensify the binary opposites and themes explored in the film.

Our two options were thus:
1) Have the flashbacks in black and white, to represent the simpler, more clear cut life of Julek, and the present sequences in colour, to help modern audiences become involved with the complex narrative, or;
2) Have the present sequences in black and white, to signify the gritty reality that is now his life, and the flashbacks in colour, to evoke empathic feelings of nostalgia.

However, we previewed a selection of our shots in iMovie, and played them in black and white. Unfortunately, the final product was a mess. It was as if sucking the colours out of the shots also sucked the life out of them, and they became fuzzy, blurringly-focused scenes rather than the sharp photographic images we had hoped to emulate. The results were so uninspiring that we abandoned the idea of using black and white to distinguish between the sequences, and instead looked at rapid white-fades as a (somewhat overdone, but successful trope) method of representing a flashback.