Timothy Fransky Posted August 23, 2018 Share Posted August 23, 2018 I'm a big fan of Monty Python's Flying Circus and Blackadder, along with a number of other English series from the stated era. I know all the exteriors were 16mm film (in some scenes Python is clearly using Arri 16m cameras). My question: what is the technical reason for the gritty look? The colours are quite soft and buildings look quite dirty. I'm sure you all know what I'm referring to. It's a very distinctive look and I always wondered why. I feel like they had to settle for the quality because of budget restrictions. Maybe I'm wrong? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Holland Posted August 23, 2018 Share Posted August 23, 2018 The technical reason for the "gritty look" is mostly because the 16mm Easman Colour 7254 used was quite grainy compared to the studio video camera used on the interiors . If you watched a BBC single camera drama it was not so noticeable as there was no inter-cutting between formats. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Dunn Posted August 23, 2018 Share Posted August 23, 2018 (edited) Seeing only telecine cut-ins doesn't help the film now. On the occasions when you see a modern scan of 16mm. original from the period the quality is startling, but AFAIK film wasn't usually retained, so the transfer is all we have. As John says, it's the comparison that jars. Watch one of the film dramas, such as Bergerac or Shoestring, and there's no problem, even though the actual resolution probably isn't much better. It was a party trick of mine always to be able to tell the difference in a programme- it was much less obvious to the untrained, or disinterested, eye. Before I went to film school, I never met anyone else who could tell. Now video can be made to look like film, of course, even I can't tell with modern material. Edited August 23, 2018 by Mark Dunn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Drysdale Posted August 23, 2018 Share Posted August 23, 2018 The telecines of that period aren't as good as modern ones and also they used low contract TV prints, rather than the negatives., Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timothy Fransky Posted August 23, 2018 Author Share Posted August 23, 2018 I always noticed. It wasn't "bad" necessarily; it just was noticeable. I just thought that's what the UK looked like. :lol: My grandmother was from Hampshire and all her photos had a similar appearance. I agree that it's less noticeable in mini-series like Pride and Prejudice from 1994. The resolution is certainly not HD, in its original form, but it is charming somehow. The latest HD scans are a completely different thing altogether. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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