Resource for TV shows to see if they are/were done on Film or Video?
03-05-07, 08:20 PM
#1
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Resource for TV shows to see if they are/were done on Film or Video?
Long time lurker, first time poster.
I would like to grab some of my favorite TV shows but i know that eventually whatever was shot on Film will end up in HD at some point. Is there a place i can check to see what has been done in what format to know which shows are safe to buy in DVD knowing they will never have a HD counterpart?
I would like to grab some of my favorite TV shows but i know that eventually whatever was shot on Film will end up in HD at some point. Is there a place i can check to see what has been done in what format to know which shows are safe to buy in DVD knowing they will never have a HD counterpart?
03-05-07, 10:30 PM
#2
DVD Talk Legend
You can try the "technical specs" section at IMDB. Here's a link for the technical specs for Friends:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0108778/technical
You could also potentially check the end credits.
Really though, there's very few shows that aren't at least shot on film. Some may have been later edited on video, and late 80s, early 90s FX heavy shows had their FX done on video, but both of those could be eventually overcome by re-editing and rerendering.
Most shows that are shot on video are daily and/or live affairs like news broadcasts, talk shows, soap operas, and the like. SNL would be an example of a weekly show shot on video, largely because it's LIVE.
However, for most weekly shows, they'll shoot on film, even if it's just 16mm, because it tends to look better. Old NTSC video has a certain quality to it that typically makes the image look "cheap". Season 2 of the original Twilight Zone had 6 episodes shot on video, and they look noticeably different than the rest of the series.
From:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0052520/trivia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Whole_Truth
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0108778/technical
You could also potentially check the end credits.
Really though, there's very few shows that aren't at least shot on film. Some may have been later edited on video, and late 80s, early 90s FX heavy shows had their FX done on video, but both of those could be eventually overcome by re-editing and rerendering.
Most shows that are shot on video are daily and/or live affairs like news broadcasts, talk shows, soap operas, and the like. SNL would be an example of a weekly show shot on video, largely because it's LIVE.
However, for most weekly shows, they'll shoot on film, even if it's just 16mm, because it tends to look better. Old NTSC video has a certain quality to it that typically makes the image look "cheap". Season 2 of the original Twilight Zone had 6 episodes shot on video, and they look noticeably different than the rest of the series.
From:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0052520/trivia
Due to budgetary constraints in its second season, the network decided to cut costs by shooting some episodes on videotape rather than film. Because videotape was a relatively primitive medium in the early 1960s, the editing of tape was next to impossible. Thus, each of the 6 episodes was "camera-cut" as in live TV, on a studio sound stage, using a total of four cameras. The requisite multi-camera setup of the videotape experiment, pretty much precluded location shooting, severely limiting the potential scope of the story-lines, and so, the short-lived experiment was ultimately abandoned. The 6 videotaped episodes were titled: "The Lateness of the Hour" (12/2/60); "Static" (3/10/61); "The Whole Truth" (1/20/61); "Night of the Meek" (12/23/60); "Twenty-Two" (2/10/61); "Long Distance Call" (3/3/61)
Five weeks into The Twilight Zone's second season, the show's budget was showing a deficit. The total number of new episodes was projected at twenty-nine, more than half of which, sixteen, had, by November 1960, already been filmed. CBS suggested that in order to trim the production's $65,000 per episode budget, six episodes should be produced in the cheaper videotape format and then transferred to 16-millimeter film. The studios of the network's Television City, normally used for the production of live drama, would serve as the venue. There would be fewer camera movements and no exteriors, making the episodes seem more akin to soap operas, with the videotaped image effectively narrowing and flattening perspective. Even with those artistic sacrifices, the eventual savings amounted to only $30,000, far less than the cost of a single episode. The experiment was thus deemed a failure and never attempted again.
Last edited by Jay G.; 03-05-07 at 10:34 PM.
03-05-07, 10:44 PM
#3
DVD Talk Hero
Originally Posted by Jay G.
Really though, there's very few shows that aren't at least shot on film. Some may have been later edited on video, and late 80s, early 90s FX heavy shows had their FX done on video, but both of those could be eventually overcome by re-editing and rerendering.
And for those shows that had all their effects edited on video, there's really no satisfactory way to rerender that stuff if they were pre-CG. ST:TNG, for instance.
03-05-07, 11:45 PM
#5
DVD Talk Legend
Originally Posted by Tracer Bullet
Not true. The vast majority of 70s and 80s sitcoms, for example, were shot on video. If you ever see All in the Family on an HD format, it will be to fit an entire season on one disc.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_in_...ily#Production
All in the Family is also historic as being the first major American series to be videotaped in front of a live studio audience. At the time, sitcoms were shot on film in front of an audience, and the 1960s had seen a growing number of sitcoms filmed on soundstages without audiences, with a laugh track simulating audience response. After the success of All in the Family, videotaping sitcoms in front of an audience became the standard format for the genre.
And for those shows that had all their effects edited on video, there's really no satisfactory way to rerender that stuff if they were pre-CG. ST:TNG, for instance.
03-05-07, 11:48 PM
#6
DVD Talk Legend
Originally Posted by QuePaso
Here are some of the shows i am interested in:
Threes Company
Threes Company
Golden Girls
Wings
Frasier
03-06-07, 08:48 AM
#8
DVD Talk Hero
Originally Posted by Jay G.
Do you know when the transition of shooting sitcoms on film again took place?
03-06-07, 07:41 PM
#9
DVD Talk Legend
Originally Posted by Tracer Bullet
I'm not sure, but my feeling is the transition occurred in the mid-90s. Seinfeld and Friends were both shot on film, for example.
It looks like Cheers was shot on film despite starting in 1982.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheers#Production
It seems to have been an exception, although I wonder if its success encouraged other shows to revert back to film.
03-06-07, 09:29 PM
#10
DVD Talk Hero
Originally Posted by Jay G.
The IMDB links above show that Wings (1990) and Frasier (1993) were shot on film, so it might've started at the beginning of the 90s.
It looks like Cheers was shot on film despite starting in 1982.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheers#Production
It seems to have been an exception, although I wonder if its success encouraged other shows to revert back to film.
It looks like Cheers was shot on film despite starting in 1982.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheers#Production
It seems to have been an exception, although I wonder if its success encouraged other shows to revert back to film.
03-07-07, 01:23 AM
#11
DVD Talk Legend
Of course, shows that started on video would typically continue on video. Home Improvement (started in 1991) didn't end until 1999, but it stayed on video throughout its run. It may have been the last sitcom on video.
03-07-07, 08:33 AM
#12
DVD Talk Hero
One thing I don't understand- what was the rationale for shooting All in the Family on tape instead of film? The reason given doesn't seem to preclude shooting on film. Was film technology not able to be used in front of an audience then?
03-07-07, 07:39 PM
#13
DVD Talk Legend
Originally Posted by Tracer Bullet
One thing I don't understand- what was the rationale for shooting All in the Family on tape instead of film? The reason given doesn't seem to preclude shooting on film. Was film technology not able to be used in front of an audience then?
I'm guessing that shooting on videotape made the standard 3-camera setup for an audience show more economical. The original move from live audience to laugh-track shows might've been to reduce the number of cameras running at any one time.
03-08-07, 09:02 AM
#14
DVD Talk Hero
Originally Posted by Jay G.
Film technology had been used in front of an audience back when I Love Lucy first revolutionized the use of film for shooting a TV show in 1951.
I'm guessing that shooting on videotape made the standard 3-camera setup for an audience show more economical. The original move from live audience to laugh-track shows might've been to reduce the number of cameras running at any one time.
I'm guessing that shooting on videotape made the standard 3-camera setup for an audience show more economical. The original move from live audience to laugh-track shows might've been to reduce the number of cameras running at any one time.
03-08-07, 09:16 AM
#15
Moderator
Of interest are old BBC shows, where all the studio work was shot on video and all the location work was shot on film. The effect is very jarring when you watch these shows, and it was even the subject of a Monty Python sketch.
