It's hard to explain in words, but look at an episode of, say, BSG, and then one of B5. The camera angles are lot more sophisticated--and there are more of them--on the former than the latter. BSG, you're also getting lots of stuff going on in the background; in the latest episode, for instance (I'll be vague so as not to spoil you if you haven't seen it yet), there's a shot of Kara at the bar, looking at her from sort of in front and a foot or so below her face, but also taking in the guest star in the top righthand corner and some extras in the top left. It switches focal lengths to alternately focus on her and the guest star as they converse, and pans back and forth sometimes between Kara and a mirror set up to her left, reflecting her face. It also has the tiniest bit of shake all the time--I'm guessing it was filmed with a stedicam. B5, the camera seems to plop itself down at a medium length from a couple of people against a boring background, and pan back and forth between them occasionally, always keeping at least one person's head and shoulders in the frame. Probably this is in part a result of budgetary differences, so I guess I can't complain too much, but it is noticible. (Especially against the times when they do good shots!)
The blocking is less obvious than the photography, but there seems to be a feeling of "hit your carefully-measured mark and DON'T MOVE" in these early episodes. Possibly it's related to everyone being new to the characters, but having read things like this (scroll down to the two comments by "nevermore") make me think not.
JMS himself speaks here on the staginess of the dialogue, which I finally seem to be getting used to, thankfully. And I've always loved the alien costumes and makeup! Londo looks like some kind of cross between a Hessian soldier, a Russian noble, and the Bride of Frankenstein, and it's awesome. :)
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2009-03-01 11:36 pm (UTC)The blocking is less obvious than the photography, but there seems to be a feeling of "hit your carefully-measured mark and DON'T MOVE" in these early episodes. Possibly it's related to everyone being new to the characters, but having read things like this (scroll down to the two comments by "nevermore") make me think not.
JMS himself speaks here on the staginess of the dialogue, which I finally seem to be getting used to, thankfully. And I've always loved the alien costumes and makeup! Londo looks like some kind of cross between a Hessian soldier, a Russian noble, and the Bride of Frankenstein, and it's awesome. :)