I've been steadily working my way through the second season of The Twilight Zone, and the other night I caught an episode that was so different from the bulk of the series it was as if it had been filmed in...well, the Twilight Zone. The episode, titled The Lateness of the Hour, opened with that highly recognizable, anxiety-inducing music, it had the usual stand-up introduction by the even-speaking Rod Serling, and it was what I would deem a "classic" episode, ending with an ironic twist that left the characters and viewers in a state of melancholy, tinged with a bit of hopelessness and sprinkled liberally with loneliness. So what was so utterly bizarre about this episode? The visual quality.
It wasn't poorly shot, or lit or blocked; but, it was actually shot using a different medium, rather than film they used videotape. It doesn't take an experienced eye to notice the difference between these two methods of visual recording: think of the way a soap opera or a game show looks of a lesser video quality than an hour long television drama. While in this day and age videotape as a medium has seen vast improvements, back in the 1960's the qualitative difference was staggering. Film had such a rich quality about it, allowing the viewer to notice all the subtle shifts in grays (since the second season was shot in black and white), and it also gave a nice sense of depth; on the flip side, blacks and whites are very strong on videotape, but the grays get lost and blurred, not to mention that the sense of space and depth feels odd. I guess one way to put it would be to say that watching The Twilight Zone shot in film feels like watching a small movie, while watching it shot on videotape feels like you are watching a play that was taped with a camcorder.
Noticing how much this episode looked like a staged play, I began to wonder if The Twilight Zone was actually doing something fairly innovative by originally airing this episode live. There were few scene changes, and costume changes were minimal as well. There was a slight waver to most of the camera shots, and an observant viewer could even notice the slight shift in the picture as it was switched from camera to camera, which usually denotes some issues with the synchronization and timing of cameras being switched live. I had always felt that this anthology paid a great amount of attention to detail, so I gave CBS the benefit of the doubt and theorized that this must be a live taped special.
I was wrong.
The history behind this episode (according to the handiest web site I know, Wikipedia) is summed up thus: Serling and Co. were running up a budget of roughly $65,000 an episode. In order to save some money, CBS decided to videotape six episodes thereby saving money on editing and film stock. The end result was only $30,000 saved altogether, and all the episodes looked poor when compared to the beauty of the rest of the series. After these six were shot, it was never attempted again for The Twilight Zone.
I haven't watched all six episodes, but the The Lateness of the Hour was pretty good. The acting was solid and I liked the story that was penned by the Serling himself, but sadly it is an episode that is doomed never to garner the same respect as so many others that it rivals. This is all due to what should be regarded as a poor decision that may have saved $5,000 at the time but forevermore ruined The Lateness of the Hour.
Same to same,
Capt. Patrick Hendry
ps. more to come as I watch the other episodes that befell such a sad fate
It wasn't poorly shot, or lit or blocked; but, it was actually shot using a different medium, rather than film they used videotape. It doesn't take an experienced eye to notice the difference between these two methods of visual recording: think of the way a soap opera or a game show looks of a lesser video quality than an hour long television drama. While in this day and age videotape as a medium has seen vast improvements, back in the 1960's the qualitative difference was staggering. Film had such a rich quality about it, allowing the viewer to notice all the subtle shifts in grays (since the second season was shot in black and white), and it also gave a nice sense of depth; on the flip side, blacks and whites are very strong on videotape, but the grays get lost and blurred, not to mention that the sense of space and depth feels odd. I guess one way to put it would be to say that watching The Twilight Zone shot in film feels like watching a small movie, while watching it shot on videotape feels like you are watching a play that was taped with a camcorder.Noticing how much this episode looked like a staged play, I began to wonder if The Twilight Zone was actually doing something fairly innovative by originally airing this episode live. There were few scene changes, and costume changes were minimal as well. There was a slight waver to most of the camera shots, and an observant viewer could even notice the slight shift in the picture as it was switched from camera to camera, which usually denotes some issues with the synchronization and timing of cameras being switched live. I had always felt that this anthology paid a great amount of attention to detail, so I gave CBS the benefit of the doubt and theorized that this must be a live taped special.
I was wrong.
The history behind this episode (according to the handiest web site I know, Wikipedia) is summed up thus: Serling and Co. were running up a budget of roughly $65,000 an episode. In order to save some money, CBS decided to videotape six episodes thereby saving money on editing and film stock. The end result was only $30,000 saved altogether, and all the episodes looked poor when compared to the beauty of the rest of the series. After these six were shot, it was never attempted again for The Twilight Zone.
I haven't watched all six episodes, but the The Lateness of the Hour was pretty good. The acting was solid and I liked the story that was penned by the Serling himself, but sadly it is an episode that is doomed never to garner the same respect as so many others that it rivals. This is all due to what should be regarded as a poor decision that may have saved $5,000 at the time but forevermore ruined The Lateness of the Hour.
Same to same,
Capt. Patrick Hendry
ps. more to come as I watch the other episodes that befell such a sad fate
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