Lighting and film in television

Cafe Society
1

It seems that television shows, when compared to movies, have a lot more variation in the lighting and film styles. Sometimes a show, like “Scrubs”, will spoof a scene from some other television show. They don’t always get it to look right, because the lighting (or film type) is different (ignoring other factors like not having the same props and actors as the original).

How can I find out how certain shows were filmed, especially those with a unique style? I would like to be able to duplicate them as close as possible.

For example, “The Young Ones” has a uniquely different style when compared to something like, say, “The Cosby Show”. Soap operas especially have unique lighting when compared to other television shows.

2

You’re talking about two different things.

First, what you need to know is: was the show shot on video or on film? Then you need to know what type of video, or what type of film.

From there, you want to ask: who was the lighting designer?

I can tell you that there are many different ways to light things to achieve a certain look, but it’s difficult to give you a one paragraph summation of what was done. It’s nearly impossible to get specific about the equipment used and the placement of fixtures without knowing what the medium for recording was (film stock or video).