03-21-2008, 08:30 AM
'Guiding Light' goes hi-tech & some fans get ticked
'Guiding Light' goes hi-tech & some fans get ticked
Tuesday, March 18th 2008, 4:00 AM
David Hinckley
Things are looking a little shaky these days at "The Guiding Light," history's longest-running soap opera, if you don't count the British royal family.
The producers don't think that's a bad thing, either. A little shakiness, courtesy of hand-held digital cameras, is just one part of a major makeover they hope is transforming the look and style of the 71-year-old show from staid and traditional to fresh, contemporary and provocative.
" 'Guiding Light' has always been at the forefront of technology," says producer Janet Morrison. "It's just a way it continuously becomes a better version of itself.
"We've gone from three-wall sets to four walls and a ceiling. Now when the characters drive a car, it's a real car, not a car sitting there with fake trees.
"Last week, for the first time ever, we showed the outside of the Spaulding mansion. That's been a Springfield icon for years, and now people can see it. This has opened up our whole palette."
Even the Spaulding mansion, however, isn't enough to sell all the fans on camera work they say sometimes resembles a cross between home movies and a CAT scan.
"The cameras are shaky and constantly moving, the sound is inaudible and the extreme closeups are unsettling at best," writes reader/viewer Jill Waunsch of Levittown. "You will be amazed at the amount of wrinkles, laugh lines and nose hairs you can count in just one scene. It's like an amateur rendition of 'The Blair Witch Project.' "
In the age of YouTube, the "home movie" look does say "contemporary." But that doesn't mean it automatically works on television, as the quick crash and burn of the Internet-spawned drama "quarterlife" on broadcast TV proves.
Since many soap viewers have been watching their shows for years - Waunsch says she's a 35-year fan of "Guiding Light" - having a camera suddenly jump to within six inches of an actress' face, or cut away to a panorama while a conversation is in progress can be distracting.
But Morrison says viewer response has generally been "great," and notes that "Guiding Light" has made technological leaps before, like moving to television in 1952 after spending 15 years on radio.
Discussions about the new transformation, she says, considered the Internet and podcasts and the possibility of high-definition in the future. Anyone who sees laugh lines now will love high-def.
The larger truth is that soaps, like almost all programs in "traditional" media these days, are working to hold their niche in an evolving media world where a new generation gets audio and video entertainment in places that didn't exist 20 years ago.
Ultimately, says Morrison, the "look" is just the means of showcasing the story.
"At the end of the day, people watch 'Guiding Light' because it has characters they relate to," she says. "That's what matters."
Most message board discussions still center on Harley and Cyrus, or Jonathan and Lizzie, or other characters and couples. So far, no one seems to have suggested that if someone says she has a headache, it's an inside joke about the camera work.
'Guiding Light' goes hi-tech & some fans get ticked
Tuesday, March 18th 2008, 4:00 AM
David Hinckley
Things are looking a little shaky these days at "The Guiding Light," history's longest-running soap opera, if you don't count the British royal family.
The producers don't think that's a bad thing, either. A little shakiness, courtesy of hand-held digital cameras, is just one part of a major makeover they hope is transforming the look and style of the 71-year-old show from staid and traditional to fresh, contemporary and provocative.
" 'Guiding Light' has always been at the forefront of technology," says producer Janet Morrison. "It's just a way it continuously becomes a better version of itself.
"We've gone from three-wall sets to four walls and a ceiling. Now when the characters drive a car, it's a real car, not a car sitting there with fake trees.
"Last week, for the first time ever, we showed the outside of the Spaulding mansion. That's been a Springfield icon for years, and now people can see it. This has opened up our whole palette."
Even the Spaulding mansion, however, isn't enough to sell all the fans on camera work they say sometimes resembles a cross between home movies and a CAT scan.
"The cameras are shaky and constantly moving, the sound is inaudible and the extreme closeups are unsettling at best," writes reader/viewer Jill Waunsch of Levittown. "You will be amazed at the amount of wrinkles, laugh lines and nose hairs you can count in just one scene. It's like an amateur rendition of 'The Blair Witch Project.' "
In the age of YouTube, the "home movie" look does say "contemporary." But that doesn't mean it automatically works on television, as the quick crash and burn of the Internet-spawned drama "quarterlife" on broadcast TV proves.
Since many soap viewers have been watching their shows for years - Waunsch says she's a 35-year fan of "Guiding Light" - having a camera suddenly jump to within six inches of an actress' face, or cut away to a panorama while a conversation is in progress can be distracting.
But Morrison says viewer response has generally been "great," and notes that "Guiding Light" has made technological leaps before, like moving to television in 1952 after spending 15 years on radio.
Discussions about the new transformation, she says, considered the Internet and podcasts and the possibility of high-definition in the future. Anyone who sees laugh lines now will love high-def.
The larger truth is that soaps, like almost all programs in "traditional" media these days, are working to hold their niche in an evolving media world where a new generation gets audio and video entertainment in places that didn't exist 20 years ago.
Ultimately, says Morrison, the "look" is just the means of showcasing the story.
"At the end of the day, people watch 'Guiding Light' because it has characters they relate to," she says. "That's what matters."
Most message board discussions still center on Harley and Cyrus, or Jonathan and Lizzie, or other characters and couples. So far, no one seems to have suggested that if someone says she has a headache, it's an inside joke about the camera work.