Filmic Effect

There is another explanation for this if you were watching a DVD release. Some DVDs are re-mastered, and if the original film inserts exist as film, they are sometimes re-telecined using modern telecines, and are graded using current grading gear. Doing this can massively improve the quality of the result you see. This is certainly the case for the Dr Who releases. However, if the film inserts no longer exist on film, you are reliant on attempting to improve the quality of the transfer made using a 1970s or 1980s telecine, where the TARIF (Technical Apparatus for the Rectification of Inferior Film) grading was basic, and often done in real-time.

Could be that the Reggie Perrin you were watching included re-transfered film, but one scene only exists as a VT transfer in the final edit.

On the other hand the final scene could have been shot on different stock, in different lighting conditions, transferred using a different telecine, on a different day, by a different operator!

When the location film work of shows like Blake's 7 and Doctor Who was done on film, would it of been as grainy and scratchy on it's original transmission? I just find it odd watching Blake's 7 DVDs and seeing the VT shots so crisp and clear yet the film sequences are heaving with scratches. One would think that shows that far back would only have copies of the show rather than the original VT tapes and films.

If you go to BBC Four right now, you can see a remake of a 1950s gameshow - and it's filmic. They've even gone so far as to add vignetting (darkening) at the corners of the screen - what's next, black and white with scratches and dust added? And the shots of Hugh Dennis and the member of the public look chromakeyed, although I don't think they are because they're only sitting in front of a red curtain, and I don't think the budgets are so low that they can't afford real curtains.

David

Well, yes I grew up on those convetions, and it's part of the reason.

I'd just be interested to know if anybody would notice (apart from people in the know) if a modern programme was made in the way it used to be.

Yes - it is likely that DVD transfers of shows like Blake's 7 include the film inserts as originally shown.

The BBC DVD releases have a lot of work put into them by a volunteer group of Dr Who enthusiasts (most on BBC staff) who de-blob, de-scratch and otherwise improve the quality of film and VT inserts for the DVD releases. Other series aren't so lucky. If the original 16mm inserts exist on film, Dr Who DVD re-mastering usually means these will be retransferred - at much higher quality. (TKs have improved quite a bit since the 80s - and the now have just a few high-quality TKs these days, rather than loads of mid-range ones, as these days transfer requirements are fewer and higher profile)

It is important to remember that in the 70s and 80s, material shot on film was usually also edited on film (that is why there are both film and VT editor credits on many shows). Therefore the film sequences included were often quite a few generations old, and there was more time for scratches, dirt etc. to be accumulated. These days much more care is taken with film, and it is often edited on tape from transfers made directly from the camera negative.

Hmm... Pity if they added the filmic effect because :

1. Shows like that in the 50s would have been shot live and had fluid video motion, the filmic effect was only added by the film telerecording system used instead of VT. (Very few BBC 405 line VT recordings exist - the bulk of 405 line stuff only exists as film recordings) Telerecordings were used as easy ways of selling shows to other countries - and meant no standards conversion for the US!

2. Shows that exist on telerecordings are being converted back to the "video look" using a process called VidFire where possible, if the recordings are high enough quality. Most Dr Who B&W stuff is now released with the studio elements vidfired (they leave the location film as filmic) - as was the last installment of the recent Quatermass DVD release.

The difference it makes is amazing - the shows suddenly feel "real" rather than "old".

Funny you should mention VIDFire actually.

I've watched a few of the VIDFired episodes of the 60s Doctor Who and i hate the VIDFire process because it just looks like a film copy that has been stuck through a processor. It looks fake. Just like the filmic process that everybody is complaining about. I know the original footage was VT so they are trying to get it back to its original format but it just makes the already bad quality footage look worse in my opinion.