George Clooney recently helmed “Good Night, And Good Luck”, a biopic feature that was shot printed entirely on black and white film. Millimeter has an article that discusses some of the issues involved in that decision, and provides a tiny glimpse into the production of the feature.

“We shot tons of tests in black and white. Our problem was black-and-white footage is so much more about lighting. The lighting package alone is literally double — not just the cost, but [the time]. We really wanted to pre-light as much as we could so that we could just run into a room and shoot, and you can do that on color stock. You couldn’t do that on black and white; you really needed to light the hell out of it.â€?

Clooney shot everything on long lenses with two cameras rolling at the same time. “The secret for us was that we wanted to be able to always overlap the dialogue. I don’t have a single looped line in the film, and it was important to us because I hate loops. I think they look like shit.â€? The film was then printed on black-and-white stock, which was more expensive, but as Clooney says, “It gives it a hell of a look.â€?

On color correction:
Clooney notes, “Since color wasn’t an issue, the only thing we had to do was sometimes use it to lighten one corner of an area and darken another. We did the color correction (if that’s the word you want to use) in about a day and a half.â€?

The film has earned critical acclaim, as evidenced by the 94% FRESH rating at rottentomatoes.com.

(Via DVGuru)