AICE Media A Portfolio: Monochromatic fun

Following trends of the films I have researched and films in the arthouse genre as well as neo-noir, I've decided I will be shooting this year's film in black and white. Black and white is typically used in films of a lower budget because you don't have to worry about spending money on color grading or color specific mise en scene elements.
Although I'm super excited to be working with something new, I'm a tad bit nervous because it's so different from what I normally do. I'm such a visual person and a large part of that for me are colors and working with them to create something that is visually pleasing and meaningful. However, working with black and white forces you to rely on lighting and composition to create a stimulating image, two things that I've never really focused on before. I've read multiple helpful websites that advice to not film using a camera's built-in black and white feature, and to instead add the effect in post, allowing you to have more control over the intensity of it.
I'll be looking to films like Ida for inspiration on lighting scenes that will be in black and white (I've even found a blog post online that breaks down major lighting schemes used by the cinematographer Lukasz Zal,) as well as a majority of the films done by Japanese director and master of depth and composition,Ozu, as my ultimate b&w guides. The beauty of Ozu's work is nothing new and has been studied throughout his career and years after. He typically utilizes deep focus throughout his films, having something interesting to look at in the background, middle ground and foreground. Ozu also had an interesting technique, discussed in this commentary provided by Roger Ebert, in which he would place the camera right in between the characters, putting audiences right in the middle of the action.These elements paired with his incredible understanding of blocking and the physical space these characters occupy within the frame, help to create interesting layered visuals.
There's a video essay by Lewis Criswell that further explains Ozu's style that I will link here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2G7oeyOsfSg

I'll keep you guys updated! Let's hope this works!