I’m not really sure how to ask this, but I’ll try. I’ve gotten good at figuring out when a movie (or TV show) was filmed by sight: something new looks very different from a show from the 1980s, which isn’t like stuff from the 70s, etc. There’s clearly something that’s just different, perhaps about the kind of film or cameras that are used. Does anyone know what I mean, and what the difference is?
It’s probaby film and video tape. Film is soft…video tape is very sharp.
You have an innate sense for what you’re seeing on the screen. I can tell you what company is advertising what product within the first 5 seconds before I’ve even seen the ad.
I can do that too. I can tell when a movie or TV show was filmed directly from the look of the image itself (ie, not because of hairstyle, clothing, etc.). Often, its graphics such as text or overlayed images that give it away.
This might be better off in cafe society…
As Reeder says, you’re probably talking about the difference between videotape and film. Television began using black and white videotape in 1956 and color videotape in 1958. Since then, some programs have been shot on film (e.g., all sitcoms before 1971), and others on videotape (e.g., all daily soap operas).
P.S. It’s not a matter of film being soft and videotape being sharp. To the contrary, film has much better resolution. Project a 525-line television image onto a theater-size screen, and you’ll see which medium is sharper.
You’re probably also seeing the difference in the quality of the color. Old movies didn’t do color as naturally as new ones do.
I would argue that Technicolor imbibition prints, used in feature films 1934-1975, and revived in 1998, are actually superior to any color prints made today. Less grain, more intense colors when called for, blacker blacks, and because the dyes were metal based, the colors did not shift or fade.
Eastmancolor, introduced in 1952 as Technicolor’s main competitor, offered a low-point in color film: almost every Eastmancolor negative and print from 1952-1962 has dramatic problems with color shift and fade.