5 ms·

As I looked through the shots of the chairs in the episodes, I noticed that the old shows had some wild lighting: sometimes like a Halloween set, sometimes like

As I looked through the shots of the chairs in the episodes, I noticed that the old shows had some wild lighting: sometimes like a Halloween set, sometimes like a task light was just set up on a tripod next to the camera, and sometimes like a cube farm. The new shows all seem to go for web developer's / Twitch streamer's dungeon with no overhead lighting, wall-mounted spotlights, and RGB rim lights everywhere.

hammock 3y ago
I notice in old James Bond movies (and others) the lighting was rather simplistic. A big spotlight casting harsh shadows on the walls behind the main actors that don't make any sense if you stop to think about it. It seems more thought / technique is put into lighting design these days and it's probably better, though of course our current age has its own cliches (the Twitch dungeon style for example)
- sonofhans 3y ago
  My son and I just watched our way through the Bond movies, and I remember this exactly. Was it “On Her Majesty’s Secret Service,” or one of the later Roger Moore gigs? I remember that one in particular was lit and shot exceptionally poorly. This isn’t a matter of time period, it’s skill and attention. At the time of the Bond films it was well-known how to do good lighting, and people had been doing it for decades. Contrast the crappy Bond films with any beautiful old movie, like “The Third Man” or “Citizen Kane,” still legendary for great cinematography.
- anonymfus 3y ago
  Visual style of old James Bond movies was heavily influenced by Hitchcock's movies, specifically by North by Northwest
charlieo88 3y ago
Lighting in black and white movies was much more important where you didn't have the additional dimension of color. My understanding was the Star Trek lighting team came with black and white experience.
- noduerme 3y ago
  A lot of people were also watching it on black and white TVs.
  - ghaff 3y ago
    The networks were just switching to color en masse around the time that Star Trek came out and the penetration of color TVs was still pretty low--well under 50%.
  - aidenn0 3y ago
    I recall B&W TVs still being available as a budget option in the early 80s, though by then most middle class homes had a color TV.
    - dboreham 3y ago
      Where I came from, although most families had a colo[u]r primary tv, if there were any secondary tvs (kitchen, bedroom,...) those were b&w up until around 1985.
      - l72 3y ago
        Even later! My grandparents still had a black and white "portable" in the kitchen in the early 90s. My friend (who was wealthy) still had a black a white portable that my friend's sister would watch soap operas on in the mid-90s.
        devilbunny 3y ago
        We had a B&W portable that lived on top of the refrigerator but was dragged into the dining room to watch Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy for weeknight dinners. The TV itself was from the 70s, but we were still using it in the early and mid 90s. It still had paint dried on its case from when my parents watched it while painting the rooms of the house.
        3y ago
harimau777 3y ago
Arg! I can't find it now but a while back I read an amazing article discussing the set design on the original series; particularly for the alien planets. From what I recall, their overall assessment was that the set designers used strong color design and bold shapes to compensate for their lack of budget. In that respect, while later entries in the series had much "better" sets, TOS had the strongest aesthetic.
- justsomehnguy 3y ago
  > to compensate for their lack of budget of the scanlines wink
- dragonwriter 3y ago
  > From what I recall, their overall assessment was that the set designers used strong color design and bold shapes to compensate for their lack of budget. I thought it was specifically because of (1) the color film process used at the time required it for faithful (-ish) reproduction, and (2) the need to make something that looked good on both black and white and color TVs, as lots of people were still using black and white.
  - aidenn0 3y ago
    As to the latter, my mom watched it on B&W originally, and then when it was rerun she had a color TV and was astonished that the skies on the alien planets weren't blue!
  - arp242 3y ago
    It's also just an artistic design choice. They tried very hard to make things look "alien" and "otherwordly" as much as possible, ranging from the set design to the costumes to the music to Starfleet sideburns. For example sky can be any colour except blue, and doors can open every which way (except downwards, because that would require digging a hole in the set) and they make all sorts of sounds – as long as they're not "just" doors (they're "alien" doors!) They used those awkward holsters for phasers because pockets looked too "common". Other more technical factors probably played a factor as well, but this also worked two ways and limited creativity: IIRC the origin skin colour for Vulcans was supposed to be red, but was changed to the off-white because the red didn't work on B&W.

hammock 3y ago

I notice in old James Bond movies (and others) the lighting was rather simplistic. A big spotlight casting harsh shadows on the walls behind the main actors that don't make any sense if you stop to think about it. It seems more thought / technique is put into lighting design these days and it's probably better, though of course our current age has its own cliches (the Twitch dungeon style for example)

sonofhans 3y ago
My son and I just watched our way through the Bond movies, and I remember this exactly. Was it “On Her Majesty’s Secret Service,” or one of the later Roger Moore gigs? I remember that one in particular was lit and shot exceptionally poorly. This isn’t a matter of time period, it’s skill and attention. At the time of the Bond films it was well-known how to do good lighting, and people had been doing it for decades. Contrast the crappy Bond films with any beautiful old movie, like “The Third Man” or “Citizen Kane,” still legendary for great cinematography.
anonymfus 3y ago
Visual style of old James Bond movies was heavily influenced by Hitchcock's movies, specifically by North by Northwest

charlieo88 3y ago

Lighting in black and white movies was much more important where you didn't have the additional dimension of color. My understanding was the Star Trek lighting team came with black and white experience.

noduerme 3y ago
A lot of people were also watching it on black and white TVs.
- ghaff 3y ago
  The networks were just switching to color en masse around the time that Star Trek came out and the penetration of color TVs was still pretty low--well under 50%.
- aidenn0 3y ago
  I recall B&W TVs still being available as a budget option in the early 80s, though by then most middle class homes had a color TV.
  - dboreham 3y ago
    Where I came from, although most families had a colo[u]r primary tv, if there were any secondary tvs (kitchen, bedroom,...) those were b&w up until around 1985.
    - l72 3y ago
      Even later! My grandparents still had a black and white "portable" in the kitchen in the early 90s. My friend (who was wealthy) still had a black a white portable that my friend's sister would watch soap operas on in the mid-90s.
      - devilbunny 3y ago
        We had a B&W portable that lived on top of the refrigerator but was dragged into the dining room to watch Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy for weeknight dinners. The TV itself was from the 70s, but we were still using it in the early and mid 90s. It still had paint dried on its case from when my parents watched it while painting the rooms of the house.
        3y ago

harimau777 3y ago

Arg! I can't find it now but a while back I read an amazing article discussing the set design on the original series; particularly for the alien planets. From what I recall, their overall assessment was that the set designers used strong color design and bold shapes to compensate for their lack of budget. In that respect, while later entries in the series had much "better" sets, TOS had the strongest aesthetic.

justsomehnguy 3y ago
> to compensate for their lack of budget of the scanlines wink
dragonwriter 3y ago
> From what I recall, their overall assessment was that the set designers used strong color design and bold shapes to compensate for their lack of budget. I thought it was specifically because of (1) the color film process used at the time required it for faithful (-ish) reproduction, and (2) the need to make something that looked good on both black and white and color TVs, as lots of people were still using black and white.
- aidenn0 3y ago
  As to the latter, my mom watched it on B&W originally, and then when it was rerun she had a color TV and was astonished that the skies on the alien planets weren't blue!
- arp242 3y ago
  It's also just an artistic design choice. They tried very hard to make things look "alien" and "otherwordly" as much as possible, ranging from the set design to the costumes to the music to Starfleet sideburns. For example sky can be any colour except blue, and doors can open every which way (except downwards, because that would require digging a hole in the set) and they make all sorts of sounds – as long as they're not "just" doors (they're "alien" doors!) They used those awkward holsters for phasers because pockets looked too "common". Other more technical factors probably played a factor as well, but this also worked two ways and limited creativity: IIRC the origin skin colour for Vulcans was supposed to be red, but was changed to the off-white because the red didn't work on B&W.