Ramsey's Kitchen Nightmares
another example of good grading use of the 'filmic' effect in my opinion. I would have thought it's very rare indeed for television programmes other than drama and documentaries to be shot on film, and even then it's usually Super 16.
One of the best film-effects I've seen recently was used on The League of Gentlemen TV series - not perfect, and in many ways the show had a look of its own - but it certainly didn't look like "bright and shiny" video.
Yes, The League of Gentlemen is one of the best examples of filmic effect, as is Little Britain - even though some sketches take place in a studio, to have them filmed separately on video alongside the others wouldn't make the show flow very well. But with comedy shows it should only be restricted to sketch shows I think, unless it's ALL done on location, i.e. Last of the Summer Wine.
Yes, The League of Gentlemen is one of the best examples of filmic effect, as is Little Britain - even though some sketches take place in a studio, to have them filmed separately on video alongside the others wouldn't make the show flow very well.
Although apparently the title sequence for Little Britain was shot on film.
Very interesting thanks for that. I have another question about it though. Did you ever see when they made Red Dwarf with new effects? They did something to the tape to try and make it look like it was shot on film but instead it looked fuzzy. Why didn't it work there and yet The Office and Heartbeat had no problem making videotape look like film?
From memory - at least one series of Red Dwarf was shot normally on video, and shown in this form. It was then "re-mastered" and a not-very-good film-effect added - which didn't really do it any favours. Some of the Red Dwarf stuff may even have been shot on tubed cameras...
Film effects usually only work when the material is shot specifically for the effect to be added - and specific grading to be performed. If you shoot straight video, for video viewing, then adding a film effect will not be that effective.
I'd also not bracket Heartbeat in the same "film effect" quality as The Office and The League of Gentlemen. Heartbeat has always looked pretty dreadful (poor vertical resolution, jagged diagonals, not particularly filmic grading, loads of video artefacts on highlights, high levels of aperture correction etc.) - I'd certainly not consider it a high quality film effect...
Film effects usually only work when the material is shot specifically for the effect to be added - and specific grading to be performed. If you shoot straight video, for video viewing, then adding a film effect will not be that effective.
River City is a fine example of this. For a time BBC Scotland played trails for the upcoming episodes which *hadn't* had the filmic effect applied. The shots featured looked rather peculiar (whether it was very bright keylights or something else I'm not sure); but once processed the show looks expensive and slick.
Oh, and I got to walk around the outdoor set yesterday.
I'm watching the Demon Headmaster repeats on the CBBC channel- made in 1995 before producers ruined everything by filmising and it shows that quite simply there is nothing wrong with non-filmised drama at all.
I'm watching the Demon Headmaster repeats on the CBBC channel- made in 1995 before producers ruined everything by filmising and it shows that quite simply there is nothing wrong with non-filmised drama at all.
I think you have to use production techniques appropriate to the programme. My view is that most drama and documentary style programmes benefit from looking like they are shot on film, whether they are or not. Most people would agree that high quality drama such as Midsomer Murders or Spooks, or documentaries such as Walking with Dinosaurs or any of Ray Mears series look far better looking like film, and would certainly look most odd looking like video.
It can work both ways. I believe that the producers of The Bill made a conscious decision many years back to keep the programme looking like video - it added a gritty, immediate, newsy feel to the show.
There is something about a programme looking like film that aids drama, detachment from reality (the opposite of what The Bill seeks to achieve) and helps to immerse the viewer in the narrative. That's not to say that the 'filmic' effect is better - it just a tool that needs to be used appropriately.
But let's be honest, The Demon Headmaster is hardly an example of recent, high quality television drama!
EDIT: As I've said before, I agree that indiscriminate use of the 'filmic' effect for no good reason is very annoying. I remember once catching one of the Saturday morning kids' shows (not sure which channel) which was clearly live, but every time a band mimed along to their latest hit in the studio a very poor 'filmic' effect was switched in - and then switched out again when they'd finished. Not good.
To be honest, whilst I love the new Doctor Who (and the film effect is done very nicely), there's something really nice about the old video look - *precisely* because it's more immediate, and so makes it feel more real to me. I suspect I'm in a rather small minority there, though. And there's certainly nothing wrong with the look of the new show.
As for Dwarf - the first three series were remastered, and the film effect added - and yep, it doesn't work (as noggin says, it just wasn't shot for it.). These briefly became the preferred version to use, although the original versions are now used for broadcast in the UK (although UK Gold occasionally shows the remastered ones - not seen them do it in a bit though) - and, of course, the DVDs. Overseas, the remastered versions are still used - Japan, for instance (and cut down even further!). Amercian stations seem to have copies of both the original and the remastered, as far as I can tell.
Conversely, Series VII *was* shot to be treated with a film look - and whilst I'm not technical in any way, to my eyes it looked very good. Whether it was artistically suitable is a different matter, though.
Incidentally, noggin - what should I look out for to tell whether a series was shot using tube cameras or not? Is it stuff like the trailing pattern on the picture left by a moving bright light source?
(Incidentally, the Red Dwarf eps are remastered for DVD - but this just involves the usual cleaning up the picture of the original eps. This can be quite confusing, as the VT clock for them correctly states they are remastered, despite being the original eps...