Is there anybody here who can enlighten me on why, in certain scenes, light would be shone upon an actor’s eyes in TOS? I believe they stopped that during the first season.
I would bet it’s because they were still filming with black and white TVs in mind, so some of the lighting choices reflect how it will look in black and white. Example.
Eye lights were common back in the day because film stocks were extremely slow (needed a lot of light to expose properly). It’s always important to ensure eyes are well lit, since they’re so important for expression, even if it’s a bit overdone here.
It’s just a variant of “Chiaroscuro”, the Renaissance artstyle. It’s an easy way to guide the viewers focus and to give a scene some “drama”.
This particular style is probably most famous because of the 1931 Dracula with Bela Lugosi. It’s become an overused trope for sure, the same way the venetian blinds cucoloris became a stereotypical “film noir” thing. See Anjelica Huston as Morticia Addams where it just acts as an ironic gesture towards the Dracula movie.
I’m not sure if the lighting director in TOS already saw it as a trope, but it’s definitely possible.
Is there anybody here who can enlighten me on why, in certain scenes, light would be shone upon an actor’s eyes in TOS? I believe they stopped that during the first season.
I would bet it’s because they were still filming with black and white TVs in mind, so some of the lighting choices reflect how it will look in black and white. Example.
Still I find the lighting unnatural (personally), so there must have been some special reason to do it.
Eye lights were common back in the day because film stocks were extremely slow (needed a lot of light to expose properly). It’s always important to ensure eyes are well lit, since they’re so important for expression, even if it’s a bit overdone here.
It’s just a variant of “Chiaroscuro”, the Renaissance artstyle. It’s an easy way to guide the viewers focus and to give a scene some “drama”.
This particular style is probably most famous because of the 1931 Dracula with Bela Lugosi. It’s become an overused trope for sure, the same way the venetian blinds cucoloris became a stereotypical “film noir” thing. See Anjelica Huston as Morticia Addams where it just acts as an ironic gesture towards the Dracula movie.
I’m not sure if the lighting director in TOS already saw it as a trope, but it’s definitely possible.
Thank you.