Art Theory

The Real Reason Soap Operas Look So Different – Cheddar Explains



Cheddar

If you compare a daytime Soap Opera with a primetime television show you’ll likely notice that Soaps just look different. This look has been described as dreamlike, hyper-realistic, or soft. So what’s the difference and why? Well it can be traced back to a money saving technique from the 1960s that’s still being used today. Cheddar Explains.

Sources:
Lifetime
The Televiewing Audience By Robert Abelman, David J. Atkin
Early Television Foundation
Mental Floss
Cinema5D
Popular Mechanics Magazine

Subscribe to Cheddar on YouTube: http://chdr.tv/subscribe

Connect with Cheddar!
On Facebook: http://chdr.tv/facebook
On Twitter: http://chdr.tv/twitter
On Instagram: http://chdr.tv/instagram
On Cheddar.com: http://chdr.tv/cheddar

Source

Similar Posts

34 thoughts on “The Real Reason Soap Operas Look So Different – Cheddar Explains
  1. My late great-grandmother LOVED her soap operas! She would watch it every time I was over at her house in the mornings. She was a huge fan of "The Young and Restless" and "The Bold and Beautiful." My mamaw, her daughter, would always say "why do you watch this stupid junk?" Granny loved the engaging tone brought on by the series, no matter how silly the story got. She would even go as far as asking "did you hear so-and-so had her baby on B&B? It was a little baby girl!"

  2. I guess I'm just not getting it. Maybe it's because I hate soap operas and don't watch them. Maybe it's because I own a 2016 model Samsung TV. I don't know, but I'm just not seeing the difference. I get that films are traditionally shot at 24 FPS and NTSC TV is shot at 30 FPS. But somehow, I don't see how the difference is even perceptible to the human eye. Could someone please produce a side by side comparison of the exact same sequence with soap opera effect on, and off, so can actually see what you are talking about? I need a long sequence, several seconds long, of the exact same action, side by side, so I can see the difference. Maybe even show the same sequence in both regular motion, and again in very slow motion? So far, no one has created any video that allows me to actually see the difference! Thank you!

  3. No see there's more than one channel right? You know how you can turn the antenna on the roof? Well that's why the soap operas look different it's just that the antenna is rusty so it won't turn. If you go up on the roof you can turn it yourself to a different channel. Honest.

  4. There was one daytime soap opera that looked like it was recorded at a lower frame rate like a night time show. I don't know which one it was because it was one my mom didn't watch and I only got a glimpse of it if she hadn't switched her show on yet. But I remember remarking that it looked like a regular tv show and not a daytime soap.

  5. Soaps, like TV in general, look more real (albeit we associate it with being more cheap), so the question should be "Why do Films look so different?". On one hand films enhance real life because being recorded on film (the used to) they have better colours, better contrast, but it's also limited to 24 frames per seconds. Both of these things make films very recognisable and not like real life (but we associate it with a premium look). Soap operas and tv programs in general have high frame rate but dull colours, like real life. In France, in the 80's and 90's the question was "Why do American series look different?", as opposed to French series. The reason was that American (non-soap) series were recorded on film, so they looked like films, when French series, for the most part, were cheap, and looked like soap (even if they were not technically soap, they were recorded on video).

  6. soap opefras are filmed with HD video. while the more expensive productions are filmed with film (35 m or higher) …the picture depth and definition is different.

  7. What is conveniently left out of the equation is LIGHTING. Ever since high-def came out, the LIGHTS WENT DOWN to protect the aging actors faces. No need for vaseline, snap-chat filters, when the lights are so low.

  8. The "soap opera effect" also applies to many half hour sitcoms that were shot on videotape as opposed to film.

    All of the Norman Lear sitcoms of the 70's and a sizeable portion of sitcoms from the 80's were recorded on videotape. The practice started to fade out in the 90's and by the 2000's it was pretty much gone

  9. The budget explains everything, the writing, acting, direction, editing, framerate, lighting, design and even costume and make up. It's made fast and slick with little nuance and flaws that comes with more attention to detail. It's overall like a plastic feeling which is why it feels unnatural. Movies would be similar and sometimes are because a lot of "polish" is actually the opposite. Adding more depth and flaws and style helps disguise the fact you are watching something that's ultimately fake. Low framerate actually blurs the image more so you notice less of the unnatural look of an artificial element like the set.

  10. I like how the higher quality option was the budget option
    gaming had this whole 30 vs 60 fps argument for years
    and ended with pretty much everyone comming to the conclusion that 60fps was just better
    I wonder how long before the same thing happens to film?

  11. The main thing that makes the difference is that movies are shot at 24fps with a shutter speed of 1/48, which gives it a little bit motion blur. Normally cameras will shoot with the same fps and shutter speed, like cellphones. It's not that soap operas are hipper realistic, movies and series are the ones being shot in an odd way, but we got accustomed to that.

  12. This video has good information but I think the narrator is a bit off in her assessment. The soap opera effect actually looks more realistic than film does. And that is what the man from Young and the restless was trying to tell her. The video tape look provides the appearance of what the naked eye would see. when we actually look around and see things they look much more like soap operas and videotape in the real world than highly stylized film on prime time TV shows. And I feel like the narrator has a bias.

  13. When I brought this up to friends and family who had new TVs, they said they didn’t even notice there was a difference. Only after I brought it up did they understand it and could see it

  14. Who is doing research for these videos?? I've tried to watch several videos now and the content on this channel simply doesn't cut it. This façade of research and information is very flimsy throughout.

Comments are closed.

WP2Social Auto Publish Powered By : XYZScripts.com