TV shows that look and feel like a movie

Time and budget play a major role in this.

And the flip side of the coin, TV shows shot on film that people don't feel look like film?

Gilligan's Island, Seinfeld, Friends, 30 Rock.
 
David W. Jones said:
Time and budget play a major role in this.

And the flip side of the coin, TV shows shot on film that people don't feel look like film?

Gilligan's Island, Seinfeld, Friends, 30 Rock.
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I'm sorry, but "I Love Lucy" (early years shot on B&W film...) look just like "Citizen Kane"(1941) to me... sort of... well when I've had enough beer...

TV characteristics were 'designed' for 1) limited range of the display, 2) lighting that the TV presentation was expected to 'look good' in, 3) use of both B&W and Color 'video' cameras with limited representation of dynamic range, 4) speed of 'setups' or use of multiple cameras (such as "I Love Lucy"...).
 
David W. Jones said:
Time and budget play a major role in this.

And the flip side of the coin, TV shows shot on film that people don't feel look like film?

Gilligan's Island, Seinfeld, Friends, 30 Rock.
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I am genuinely shocked to hear Seinfeld & Friends were shot on film. It just goes to show how lighting makes all the difference.
 
starcentral said:
It's all about the lighting.
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I've come to that conclusion as well. There are also other notquiteasimportantbutalmostso items, and staying on the 'technical' side of things, such as 'color saturation', and similar, with a mind that the presentation of TV is intended to 'work' in a wide range of lighting from a 'sunny room' to dim cavelike conditions.

For movies projected on a screen in a theater the recommended 'bright' value, that is with no film in the projector, just the 'white light'... is 55 candelas/m^2. For TV, the range is 'debated', and ranges form 100 cd/m^2 to 250-300 cd/m^s. This is why there's the 'recommendation' not to view TV in a completely dark room... because the damn thing is really 'bright' relatively speaking... and of course needs to be if there is any room illumination at all... the 'expected illumination' for night time viewing is around 100 lx (10 footcandles).

I've actually turned down my LCD TV 'backlight' to about 10-20 (out of 100) or so, rather than the recommended '90-100', and it seems 'better'... although someone's going to tell me it's all in my head...
 
I think it's more along the lines of the lighting in TV mostly needing to be as general as possible to allow for camera moves without having to change setups. That's been my impression. The lighting for TV shows (that look like TV) is general enough to work for all the angles, which is why it looks flat. Changing lighting for each shot chews up time.
 
Gary Huff said:
I think it's more along the lines of the lighting in TV mostly needing to be as general as possible to allow for camera moves without having to change setups. That's been my impression. The lighting for TV shows (that look like TV) is general enough to work for all the angles, which is why it looks flat. Changing lighting for each shot chews up time.
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Even with using 3 cameras, or 2, 'theatrical' films have a different look that is more than just the lighting. One will find a 'less saturated' image, color casts, or the use of 'cue colors' for various effects, in the grading, as well as less obvious 'flat' lighting. Heck, even for 'live' stage performances one can often see more 'dramatic' lighting...

Then there's the whole 'lived in' aspect. I'm now thinking of my recent viewing of ABC's "Once Upon a Time" series, and even the horse stable looked like it had no real evidence of horses actually 'living there'...
 
Gary Huff said:
Is there a "TV shows that people didin't feel looked like cinema, but now do thanks to Blu-ray?"

I'm specifically thinking about Star Trek: The Next Generation.
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Yes! THIS right here.

I always thought TNG was shot on whatever was state of the art video back then, maybe some form of betacam haha. It always had such a strong video-like vibe to it. Sounds like you've seen episodes on blu-ray, how much different is the look in your opinion? I would love to check that out.
 
there's plenty that look like movies but none that feel like movies - the pacing is totally different. You can see the writing is paced for the ad breaks
 
I'm actually continually impressed by the craft of Castle. It's very film like, in my mind. Truth be told I only started watching it because I like Nathan Fillion and have a major crush on Stana Katic (she's gorgeous) and have since stopped because it's not that great of a show, but Bill Roe's cinematography kept me watching for the first couple seasons.

 
L1N3ARX said:
I always thought TNG was shot on whatever was state of the art video back then, maybe some form of betacam haha. It always had such a strong video-like vibe to it. Sounds like you've seen episodes on blu-ray, how much different is the look in your opinion? I would love to check that out.
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I actually haven't seen it yet, just hearing opinions from those I know who bought the set.
 
Yes shows that were shot on film that don't look like films blows that whole "film look" out of the water. Film is just another acquisition format. There is so much more to the look of a film being magical than just the film.
 
So does this mean older shows like Quantum Leap and the already mentioned X-Files also used a pulldown? Maybe that's why they had the texture of a "movie" but still felt like TV.
 
Sure, they were shot at 24 fps, as television drama pretty much always has been. They'd use a 2:3 (or 3:2; same thing) pulldown for broadcast, just like any movie would.
 
David Jimerson said:
I really don't agree with Twin Peaks. I think it looks VERY TV-like.
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Man, have you seen it in HD? They started streaming it in HD on Netflix and it looks amazing. Very film-like, especially the pilot. Later on in the season they started to get lazy, and you saw more standard issue lighting, but I would never say it looks TV-like at all. Certainly not VERY TV-like.
 
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