TV shows that look and feel like a movie

stefancolson said:
I'm surprised nobody has mentioned The Walking Dead.
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The Walking Dead does not feel like a movie judging by the cinematography. It looks great and all, but it's not lit by movie standards (I would guess).
What makes TWD work for me is the make-up, the characters and the somewhat raw lighting - It feels more real, partially I believe because of the 16mm and partially because of the lighting that isn't over-worked. It creates a consistent and modern look that works - Both on screen and on-set.

But movie - no ^^
 
Patrick McGoohans "The Prisoner" was very much like an extended movie. Of course it was filmed on 35mm colour stock and had extensive location shooting. Though it also had the shortfalls of the type of filming done in the 60's and earlier with back projection and studio mockups. It even borrowed the odd set or back drop from 2001 which was being filmed next door at the time!

Now released as a Blu-ray it looks glorious !!
 
The Wire came to mind straight away. Every episode feels like a 1 hour film. For me, it's still the best TV series ever made.
 
A lot of HBO stuff works well.

Band of Brothers worked well and looked pretty amazing. The more recent show about a journalist embedded with recon marines at the beginning of the 2nd Iraq war was also pretty good (I cant remember the name, but I do remember it was shot on 16mm film).
 
Game of Thrones also looks spectacular in most episodes. Some of the larger set piece battles tend fall to pieces (the lack of numbers really becomes obvious) - but apart from those instances it works really well; as good as most big scale Hollywood fantasy films I reckon.
 
I personally feel that Person of Interest looks very cinematic, as does BBC's Sherlock, but the latter is a series of 90 minute films, so that could be a reason.
 
The Killing had fantastic cinematography, often very movie quality.

Also basically everything else on AMC.

Game of Thrones.

Sherlock.
 
Mad Men, or really any of the AMC shows. Also most premium channel shows: Homeland, Dexter, etc. Gotta agree with the Pushing Daisies comment. That show looked fantastic. Sherlock looks pretty great and has some really interesting coverage at times
 
dust'n the callipygous said:
Mad Men, or really any of the AMC shows. Also most premium channel shows: Homeland, Dexter, etc. Gotta agree with the Pushing Daisies comment. That show looked fantastic. Sherlock looks pretty great and has some really interesting coverage at times
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I just watched the Season 5 "Mad Men", and a large number of shots were in very 'low key' settings, very 'unlike' typical TV. At one time I think they were shooting single camera Film film, but now from the IMDB specs they are shooting with an Arri Alexa.

There are still some TVesque shots, which have to do with budgets, but for many of the interiors and 'sets', it seems they are trying to achieve a more theatrical look.

What is very interesting is that I also recently watched the ABC "Once Upon a Time..." series, also listed as shot with an Alexa... and the series looked like TV... difference between that series and "Mad Men" is like night and day.
 
Game of thrones doesnt really look cinematic, its all close ups and setting is always small, I might be wrong. Downtown Abbey feels a lot like a movie and that Strike Back is basically an action movie.
 
dioxholster said:
Game of thrones doesnt really look cinematic, its all close ups and setting is always small, I might be wrong.
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The small settings is when it looks its best though (its when they try to do epic battles that it falls to pieces). A lot of Hollywood movies use confined spaces and small settings (think Reservoir Dogs for instance). Game of Thrones looks amazing because its the whole package (set design, wardrobe and make-up are all top notch). When they do use locations they are usually quite good and varied (Northern Ireland exteriors for Winterfell, the Wall, and the Islands, using Iceland for the wilds above the wall, and using locations in Malta and North Africa for the Southern deserts, and then using a city in Croatia for Kings landing) - thats some seriously expensive location work, and it shows!
 
Josh Bass said:
I think it all comes down, visually speaking only, to lens choice and lighting. Almost all the tv shows seem to use zooms, which gives everything that flat telephoto look even on wide shots, most of the time. You see, in movies, a lot more wide angle lenses and the resulting distortion the bring, even on closeups, in my opinion.
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Care to elaborate a little? How does using zoom lenses on a wide setting give a flat telephoto look?
 
I'm going to throw in a comedy. Bored to Death. It's shot better than most comedies on film and carries a movie like pacing which is crazy for a 30 minute show.
 
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