Almost near the end of my DVD of Shadow of the Vampire (set in the 1920s), every scene where the crew are filming, we see them wearing darkened goggles. Is this done for any particular reason?
When I took my one and only film class many years ago, we would use a red filter when shooting b/w film to sharpen the contrast. Could your crew have been using red goggles to see the shot without being distracted by colors?
IIRC, the director’s commentary on the DVD says that the goggles were to protect the eyes from the glare of the lamps.
When shooting in black and white, you need something like three times the light of an equivilent color set, so set lights would be very bright, especially at that time.
Not in my experience. Monochrome film is usually faster (more sensitive to light) than color. One reason is color requires light to pass thru multiple layers.
So the actors just had to suck it up?
Didn’t get a chance to listen to the commentary, so when I read the post that’s what I thought too! 
The lenses I’ve seen have been brown. For the life of me, I can’t remember what they’re called. :smack: They were just a filter in a metal ring, about 30mm in diameter. I’m not up on my 1920’s film history, so I don’t know what they used then.
Film stock was much slower in the olden days. That’s one of the reasons why the first stages were sometimes set up outside. Edison’s ‘Black Mariah’ was an enclosure covered with black tarpaper, and had a large window do allow sunlight in. It was built on a turntable so that it could be rotated to follow the sun.
In the sets I’ve been on it’s customary to warn actors and crew when a light is to be turned on, so that they can avert or cover their eyes. When we did a live news shoot the reporter mentioned that he was used to looking directly into 2K lights.
I’ll have to listen to the commentary on the DVD next time I watch Shadow Of The Vampire.