MovieChat Forums > The China Syndrome (1979) Discussion > They still used to film in 1979?

They still used to film in 1979?


Would've thought they would've used video tape at that point.

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I think it came down to powering large portable cameras back then, film had better portability & resolution than portable video then... and "KXLA" appeared to be an independent station and not part of a network [abc,cbs..] so film was cheaper

Thats why many BBC tv series back then [Doctor Who for example] had outdoor scenes filmed and studio scenes videotaped.

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Nope. Film was still very often used in news shooting even at that point.

The problem is, video cameras back then had a lot going against them:

1) They were big and heavy and required both the camera and a separate video deck to record video. For live broadcasts, you only needed the camera portion, but adding that deck required carrying a 25-30 pound monster of a video deck.

2) Video cameras were very fragile, despite their size due to using tubes instead of digital CCD imagers. Plus, those tubes made them risky to use in uncontrolled lighting due to potential burn in issues.

3) Experienced shooters at that time likely were used to film, so they probably resisted switching to video longer than the younger shooters just getting into the business.

4) Video cameras were incredibly expensive well into the 90's compared to now. A proper pro setup back then would run $50,000 to over $100,000. Compared to continuing to use film cameras that had paid for themselves by that point. Plus you needed video editing equipment. At that time, laying in video shots was pretty laborious, requiring a lot of fast forwarding and rewinding to get to the shoots you need. A good cutter with a moviola and a block splice could likely snip together film footage as quick or quicker, especially if the shooter was taking note of how far into the reel he was while shooting what he thought were good shots.

5) There's a reason for the phrase "film at 11". That's when the news was. Many stations had barely more than a 6pm and 11pm news broadcast, unlike now with several morning, afternoon, evening and night news broadcasts. The result was, there was more time to get back to the station and process the film than there would be now with the faster pace of extended news programming.

By the way, electronic over the shoulder on camera graphics that appear next to an anchor were also pretty rare then. Often, they were projected film slide on a screen next to the anchor on the set. Around then, many stations were still using magnetic boards for weather since chromakey technology was still new and pretty poor.

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