Help me pick a black & white movie

niccig · Oct 29, 2006

It seems off topic, but really it isn't. For my photo class, our next assignment is to watch a black and white movie, and then choose a character and do a series of self portraits as that character. It sounds really fun - but I don't know what movie to pick! Any suggestions?

x107x · Oct 29, 2006

How about Gone With the Wind?

Puscas · Oct 29, 2006

How about 'The Elephant Man'? It's beautiful.
Ok, a portrait as the Elephant Man is probably not your first choice...

, but there are more characters to choose from.

pascal

craig · Oct 30, 2006

"Citizen Kane" Ground breaking film as far as cinematography goes. Plus Charles Kane is a pretty eccentric character. "Duck Soup" or any Marx brothers film. These guys are stupid funny and very photogenic. "Lolita" by the incomparable Stanley Kubrick. Check out movie database before watching this one. Adult themes to put it mildly. "Shadows and Fog" by Woody Allen. This is a tribute to the film noir days.

cal_gundert05 · Oct 30, 2006

Man, you should talk to my boss...his job is pretty much to order movies from Amazon for the university library's media resource center where I work. He could probably tell you about any movie ever created, and if we have it in our collection of over 16,000 movies, just off the top of his head.

Unfortunately, I'm no help. The only b&w movie I can think of is It's A Wonderful Life.

Torus34 · Oct 30, 2006

Doing self-portraits of the narrator in "Citizen Kane" would be a gas. His face is never shown! Your only problem would be to simulate the clothing of the era.

danalec99 · Oct 30, 2006

Pi: Faith in Chaos - by Darren Aronofsky

niccig · Oct 30, 2006

I knew if I asked here I'd get some great ideas! Thanks guys!

W.Smith · Oct 30, 2006

Charlie Chaplin

Digital Matt · Oct 30, 2006

Yojimbo, by Kurosawa. That would make for a fun costume and self portrait.

KevinR · Oct 30, 2006

You could go slightly newer, but not the most happy movie. Shindler's List.
A fun one would be The Maltese Falcon.

terri · Oct 30, 2006

Great ideas here. We could go on for days.

I like the Marx Bros. idea, because any of them would be a fun costume, and fairly recognizable, too.

That said, I'm also down with any movie that has Peter Lorre in it.

Fun project! Whatever you decide, be sure to post your pictures here, okay?

markc · Oct 30, 2006

Digital Matt said:
Yojimbo, by Kurosawa. That would make for a fun costume and self portrait.

You guys hit my two main recommendations: Kurosawa films and Citizen Kane. Just watching those films is an education in composition and cinematography, regardless of the assignment.
As an interesting exercise, you could try Night of the Living Dead.

And I have to give another nod towards Pi. It's one of my favorite films.
How about Sin City? It's not completely b&w, but might count.

Digital Matt · Oct 31, 2006

Kurosawa films are amazing. Ask Lucas and Spielberg who there biggest influence was.

Arch · Oct 31, 2006

Digital Matt said:
Kurosawa films are amazing. Ask Lucas and Spielberg who there biggest influence was.

:thumbup: :thumbup: ... i would go Kurosawa.

... another great b+w film for me is kubricks... Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb ... but it may be difficult to get a distinguishable portrait out of it!