That "80s" Look

[BrendanLeahy]

Hope this question doesn't date any of the veteran members on here!

I was wondering what to keep in mind when shooting an 80s-style music video? It seems that there's generally a soft filter, hard edge light, and tungsten light is a must. Anything in particular you can think of, though?!

 

[Guy Staley]

Big hair and shoulder pads.

 

[Jake Wilganowski]

Bad everything

 

[BRANDON JAMESON]

16mm

 

[Marc Wielage]

Grain, colored lighting, fast camera moves, saturated color... but "it depends." There were a lot of looks in 1980s music videos, even going back and forth between 16mm and 35mm negative, like the old 5294 (ISO 400). Grainy stuff. We sometimes had session where we'd transfer every take with one particular extreme look, then re-rack the footage and do it all over again with (say) a normal look or a B&W look, to give them two choices during the edit. This was back in the day when the film that was transferred pretty much set the final look.

 

[sam karr]

Interlaced scanning.

 

[Bob Gundu]

 

[BrendanLeahy]

Hah awesome responses so far! (And Bob - absolutely terrifying.)

Were there specific lighting setups that were predominant back then for music videos?

 

[Jake Wilganowski]

Bob,

What. The. Hell.