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Balance of terror - shatners lighting

See, being a leading man isn't all looking handsome and smooching Yvonne Craig.
I would be quite ok with that alone…. ;-)

Going back to the original point, I do find it fascinating that the creative team purposely lit Shatner differently… possibly to “hide his toupee “ as one person claims… but also possibly to highlight the fact that he was the STAR of the show. I’d love to learn more about those creative decisions.
 
I would be quite ok with that alone…. ;-)

Going back to the original point, I do find it fascinating that the creative team purposely lit Shatner differently… possibly to “hide his toupee “ as one person claims… but also possibly to highlight the fact that he was the STAR of the show. I’d love to learn more about those creative decisions.

Yeah, except that it's baloney. :sigh:
 
Shatner's not the only one who gets it.

Mystery Science theater 3000 once did some movie that starred the actress who played the heroine in "From Russia With Love" and Sean Connery's brother. There was a scene in a rug store or factory and they were making cracks about that's where Sean gets his rugs.

Robert
 
I would be quite ok with that alone…. ;-)

Going back to the original point, I do find it fascinating that the creative team purposely lit Shatner differently… possibly to “hide his toupee “ as one person claims… but also possibly to highlight the fact that he was the STAR of the show. I’d love to learn more about those creative decisions.
I always got the impression the lighting was done that way to focus attention on Kirk's eyes...
 
Anyone who thinks the lighting on Kirk in the early TOS episodes was unique to Star Trek needs to watch more old movies.
Typically the soft lighting is reserved for the female leads in “old movies” , not for the leading man (look at Casablanca, for instance , which one could argue is the height of the genre at the time. Rick isn’t bathed in soft focus and light , whereas else is) …

…it’s this that I find fascinating. Apparently I’m the only one, however, so I admit my observations could be inaccurate.
 
Typically the soft lighting is reserved for the female leads in “old movies” , not for the leading man (look at Casablanca, for instance , which one could argue is the height of the genre at the time. Rick isn’t bathed in soft focus and light , whereas else is) …

…it’s this that I find fascinating. Apparently I’m the only one, however, so I admit my observations could be inaccurate.
The soft lighting in not the “Kirk light” so I’m confused what point you are making.
 
The soft lighting is not the “Kirk light” so I’m confused what point you are making.

Agreed, that's not what Kirk got. I'm given to understand that the "soft" look in close-ups of female guest stars was achieved by putting a diffusion filter in front of the lens. They probably also put a diffuser gel in front of the harsh studio lights. And of course a back light to put a glowing halo in her hair. It gave Star Trek beauties a dreamy appearance as seen through Kirk's eyes. Fans often referred to it as "soft focus," but the actual lens focus was sharp.

Gerry Finnerman went on to photograph Moonlighting (1985- ), and he gave Cybill Shepherd the same look, only more so. She was almost hazy at times. And absolutely drop dead gorgeous.
 
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It's not an entirely uncommon look, and I've seen it elsewhere on 60s TV, but such dramatic lighting takes longer to set up so a lot of color shows from the mid-60s on were lit pretty flat.
 
It's not an entirely uncommon look, and I've seen it elsewhere on 60s TV, but such dramatic lighting takes longer to set up so a lot of color shows from the mid-60s on were lit pretty flat.

Oh, yeah. If you watch an indifferently photographed show like Adam 12 or The Brady Bunch, and then put on your Blu-ray of "Mudd's Women" or "The Conscience of the King," it doesn't look like the same technology.

Everybody was using 35mm color film and fine, expensive lenses, but the plain shows are not in the same league as Star Trek. They aren't even playing the same sport.
 
The RKO style lighting and use of color in those early TOS episodes is beyond gorgeous. Whenever I'd live tweet TOS episodes airing on H&I, I'd often comment on the great lighting and include screenshots of what I was talking about. The show still looks great, particularly in the first half of the first season.
These techniques were also used for Mission Impossible, just to show the emphasis on quality at DesiLu.
 
By the way, I’m learning more about lighting for tv here than I ever did anywhere else….er….not that I was anywhere else. I watched a old episode of Hawaii 5-0 (the jack lord version) and realized how crappy it was lit.
 
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