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www.huffingtonpost.com: Check out these cool photos from the original "Addams Family" TV series that ran on ABC from 1964 to 1966. The series was filmed in black and white, which fit the Addams' dark nature, but the set was actually decorated in bright colors
This is a really interesting look at something that we are so familiar with. I wish that more pictures like this from old television and film sets existed. It could even be really cool to see some of these sets recreated to be either in a museum or related area. Sets create on of the most important parts of the world and we lost an important part of scenic design when film was in black and white. To get this back and to show people what it was really like could be very important to students pursuing a career in scenic design. We think these sets were simple because we merely saw them in black and white, when really they had so much life and color. Perhaps some of the purpose was to heighten the shades of black and white to bring the set to life as much as possible.
I guess I have never really thought about what the colors on movie or tv sets were like if they were filmed in black and white. Obviously the sets would have to be painted to see the different tones of black and white but I hadn't thought about it. Now that I am thinking about it the pictures from the adams family set are exactly as I would assume they would be, color wise. The colors are not super rich but there is a variety. I am curious how much time and money actually went into painting the sets because those colors wouldn't actually be seen. But at the same time, a blue and a green with similar tonal values, one in front of the other would be clearly distinguishable in color but in black and white they would blend together. I guess the cinematographer, paint charge and production designer would all have to think about how each color would look on black and white film and that does seem like a lot of work and fairly costly.
I find it really interesting that the original colors of the Adam’s Family Set are bright and vibrant. I know that the members of the scenic and paints crew had to take into account the tonal value of the light to dark, but somewhere inside my mind I had always imagined a black to white painted and draped set. I never thought twice about it. Now knowing this, I have a high level of respect for the time and detail that was put into making the set look good. It makes me wonder if the actors were thrown off at all- being that they were intended to be majorly depressing characters- having had to be surrounded by such an energetic and loud colors. The costume designer would have to use the same type of color matching as well. I love finding out new things about theatre and film because it shows me that there are always things to learn and that art is always evolving.
I wonder what it must have been like for black-and-white movie stars to arrive on set and see the colors of their environment. For horror movies it must have been especially odd -- a series of films that come to my mind would be those of Alfred Hitchcock. I suppose you have to take the design and factor it into the choices your character has made. Or, if you're talented enough, you could probably convince yourself into 'not seeing' the color. It would have been interesting to see the costumes as well in the article. I know that there must have been a range of colors the costumers used to get the shades of gray they wanted to see on screen. Making movies in black and white now for designers must be so much fun -- and also so difficult. I can imagine they would have to take each color to the camera to see how it would contrast against the hue of a person's skin, or the tone of the lighting. It goes to show how much thought went into film before we got color.
4 comments:
This is a really interesting look at something that we are so familiar with. I wish that more pictures like this from old television and film sets existed. It could even be really cool to see some of these sets recreated to be either in a museum or related area. Sets create on of the most important parts of the world and we lost an important part of scenic design when film was in black and white. To get this back and to show people what it was really like could be very important to students pursuing a career in scenic design. We think these sets were simple because we merely saw them in black and white, when really they had so much life and color. Perhaps some of the purpose was to heighten the shades of black and white to bring the set to life as much as possible.
I guess I have never really thought about what the colors on movie or tv sets were like if they were filmed in black and white. Obviously the sets would have to be painted to see the different tones of black and white but I hadn't thought about it. Now that I am thinking about it the pictures from the adams family set are exactly as I would assume they would be, color wise. The colors are not super rich but there is a variety. I am curious how much time and money actually went into painting the sets because those colors wouldn't actually be seen. But at the same time, a blue and a green with similar tonal values, one in front of the other would be clearly distinguishable in color but in black and white they would blend together. I guess the cinematographer, paint charge and production designer would all have to think about how each color would look on black and white film and that does seem like a lot of work and fairly costly.
I find it really interesting that the original colors of the Adam’s Family Set are bright and vibrant. I know that the members of the scenic and paints crew had to take into account the tonal value of the light to dark, but somewhere inside my mind I had always imagined a black to white painted and draped set. I never thought twice about it. Now knowing this, I have a high level of respect for the time and detail that was put into making the set look good. It makes me wonder if the actors were thrown off at all- being that they were intended to be majorly depressing characters- having had to be surrounded by such an energetic and loud colors. The costume designer would have to use the same type of color matching as well. I love finding out new things about theatre and film because it shows me that there are always things to learn and that art is always evolving.
I wonder what it must have been like for black-and-white movie stars to arrive on set and see the colors of their environment. For horror movies it must have been especially odd -- a series of films that come to my mind would be those of Alfred Hitchcock. I suppose you have to take the design and factor it into the choices your character has made. Or, if you're talented enough, you could probably convince yourself into 'not seeing' the color. It would have been interesting to see the costumes as well in the article. I know that there must have been a range of colors the costumers used to get the shades of gray they wanted to see on screen. Making movies in black and white now for designers must be so much fun -- and also so difficult. I can imagine they would have to take each color to the camera to see how it would contrast against the hue of a person's skin, or the tone of the lighting. It goes to show how much thought went into film before we got color.
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