They tried it recently with Down with Love, but they did it in a jokey and ironic manner that showed a lot of contempt for the material.
That’s the one I was trying to think of-- with Ewan NacGregor and Rene Zelwiger. Yeah, it sucked.
I haven’t seen it. I’ve just taken a very brief look at the IMDb page though. It says it’s set in 1962, and is an homage to the early-'60s sex comedies. The images on the page do have that certain ‘look’. The trailer seems to have the ‘look’, but it’s a little hard to tell the way it’s cut.
But if it’s done in a ‘jokey and ironic’ manner, then that’s not what I’m looking for. My experiment wouldn’t be a period piece, BTW. Back in the day, movie equipment was much heavier and bulkier than it is today. There were fewer camera movements. Zoom lenses were in use, but they weren’t as prevalent. Now, a nice slow zoom is an excellent technique. But it still seems a little ‘modern’ for my purposes.
Another thing was lighting. Decades ago film was not as sensitive as today’s film. A lot of scenes were seriously overlit by modern standards. Annd they didn’t seem to be as concerned with shadows back then. In Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds, as the first example that popped into my head, there are obvious multiple shadows everywhere. A lot of effort goes into lighting today to eliminate shadows. In The Birds Hitchcock seemed more concerned with the acting and the story than the lighting. I grew up – at least fromwhen I started noticing things like lighting – with films that tended toward realism in their shots. Lighting had to have a source, and you didn’t want too many shadows on the wall if you could help it. I think this might be the hardest part about making a film in a retro style: having just the right amount of shadows.
What I’d like to do is make a film set in the present day, only using the classic techniques. I want to use establishing shots and panoramas like they used to use. I don’t want too much camera movement. (But I also don’t want it to be static.) I want the film to be carried along by the story and the acting instead of rapidfire cutting and the types of shots that modern audiences are used to.
Would people like it? I don’t know. I’m sure many people wouldn’t understand my intention and hate it. But it’s still something I’d like to try.