As creatures of comfort, we have enjoyed the warmth and familiarity of the film medium for what seems an eternity. From its original presentation as cinematic screen wonders, to the more compressed, yet still highly entertaining television medium, film and television seem to share a twin like history even though each entertainment form was presented to us ages apart from each other. It is this gap in their ages that begs us to ask the question, how can two things which seem so similar still be different from each other? What are the factors that we should consider when discussing the history of film and television? This paper begs to answer some of the questions surrounding the history and magic of film and television.
In order to understand how somethings so similar can still be so different from one another, we have to first understand the medium by which the two present their story for telling to the viewing public. It just so happens that people tend to perceive the two presentations differently and therefore concentrate on differing aspects of the film presented to them. However, there are always going to be visual film techniques utilized in television presentations. These techniques are actually so subliminal in presentation that as viewers, we do not tend to notice it at all.
If we look back in the history of film making, we will notice that the basis for shooting or creating a television show is no different from that of making a full length movie. Television and film share highly similar filming techniques that have not changed over time. Both mediums require the use of technical hardware such as cameras for capturing the images, projectors for film presentation, lenses that allow the director to present various aspects of story sequences and scenes, and a slew of film making crew members whose sole job is to make sure that all the separate aspects of story telling on film come together in a coherent package for the viewer..
Television however, requires some additional hardware in order to to present the film. Hardware such as a transmitter to send the film via airwaves into individual homes, individualized projection device (such as a CRT or LCD screen) for personalized viewing, and a small sound amplifier.
One must admit though that though television formerly borrowed heavily from the technical aspects of film making on a downscaled capacity, film makers also then and now also tend to borrow from the technical side of television filming aspects as people continue to turn more and more towards television as their primary source of entertainment. Take for example the case of camera usage. Prior to the canned/ taped televised showings of “I Love Lucy”, movies and television shows had a repetitive aspect of filming due to the limited cameras in use.
Desi Arnaz came with the idea of using 3 cameras during filming in order to present the audience with varying degrees of story aspects. One camera each solely devoted to a close up, mid-length shot, and long range shot. This small change in the technical aspect of television film making totally revolutionized the way both movies and television shows were shot and presented to the public.
There was once a time when television and film were considered as different as night and day by the people involved in their creation. Films had a higher budget and therefore could concentrate not only on the story being told, but on the other guilty pleasures such as the aesthetic aspect of the presentation as well. During the early days of television, everything was filmed, just as film once as, on a sound stage with sets depicting the era or area the story takes place in. Later on, location shooting became the norm for films and the backdrops of the story, such as Anchors Away and The Last Time I Saw Paris turned New York and Paris respectively, into living and breathing parts of the story.
People then flocked to the cinemas in order to see places they could only dream of visiting. Television at the time was only limited to staged sets and could not actually go on location shoots because weekly or daily shows would be more expensive than film to produce at that point in time. But later on, as advertising revenue picked up, it then became possible for television shows to shoot on location as well. Although television shows still tend to use stock footage and sound stages for their sets, it is now possible for shows, such as Ugly Betty, to shoot totally on location to give the shows a more authentic feel.
I must admit that during my research for this paper, I came across a startling discovery in relation to the way film and television seem to have a symbiotic relationship in terms of giving each other’s stories longevity. Surely we have all noticed by now that films, more popularly known as movies, all end up on personal home video or television cable channels at any given time in the future thereby extending the life of the product. Prior to the advent of television, films could only be viewed once, at the cinema, and then never again. Making the film enjoyable to only generation of people on a limited time basis.
Due to the rise in the quality of the shows being produced on television these days, the line dividing film and television continue to blur. Technology has allowed film and television producers to present their different products on highly similar platforms the continue to awe and leave the viewers pondering the question “If television and film were never meant to be so similar, why can I barely tell the difference now?”
Work Cited
The relationship between film and television. n.d.. Web.
Midnightanjel. (2009). Television and film. Web.
Newman, Michael Z. (2006). Television’s visual appeal. Web.