How Nicolas Cage's 'Spider-Noir' built a dual-format viewing experience

Prime Video’s new superhero series "Spider-Noir" stars Nicolas Cage as a down-on-his-luck private investigator version of Spider-Man in 1930s New York. Viewers can choose to watch each episode in black-and-white or in color, giving the audience a direct role in how the story is experienced.

Production designer Warren Alan Young described making the show in both formats as "the equivalent of making three series at the same time." The series was originally planned as black-and-white only, but the team was asked to develop a color look and shoot both concurrently, a process Young said took ten months.

They used camera filters, extensive tests of colors, textures and patterns in still and motion, and scrutinized every fabric and small prop so each version would read correctly. Young called the work "extraordinarily involved," noting the palette leaned on cyans, reds, greys and violets with splashes of orange, and that the degree to which colors felt warmer or colder proved critical.

nicolas cage, spider-noir, prime video, spider-man, black-and-white, color, 1930s new, production design, camera filters, color palette