One of the news stations here uses cameras that have no human operators... they're run from the control room.

I wonder if this is something like what they have in mind?

They want to "save" ATWT & GL now? It is too late for that. Another World had a stellar cast, was mistreated, and thrown away like trash. The fact is: Daytime is dying.

I like this idea. ATWT has no sets now and GL hasn't for a while. It's time to give these people real homes like the ladies on Wisteria Lane. The location can really add to the feel of a scene. The long-term story plotting needs to be fix but perhaps having real locations can inspire the writers. Couldn't be any worse.

More on the changes: Interview with Ellen Wheeler.

nypost.com

This certainly SOUNDS good to me. British soaps have been filmed this way for decades and they look really excellent. I don't view it as a lowering of production values as much as a shift in production values.

True, the cameras will be a bit jerky (they are not being put in the walls...what the article said is that the sets will have 4 walls instead of 3) but I think, if done well, ATWT and GL will really look fantastic. I hope it all works out and if it does that more soaps will follow suit.

I like what I'm reading too, and I like who british soaps ae being produced so that's good. Filming on location has been sort of a luxury around daytime. So that part of the article is definitely all good! And the ideas of making it more realistic almost sounds too good to be true.

Thanks for the 2nd link miss wolf, interesting.

Edited October 16, 200718 yr by Cheyenne

This sounds like a good idea, as long as they don't make it look 'too' real and by that I mean seriously amateurish and cheap. Remember when some ATWT promo was put on YouTube that was advertising the teen slasher story and instead of sets the characters were seen talking in real homes rather than sets, and it looked really cheap? If it looks like that we're done for. However, if they really do make it look like 'The Hills' and have that glossy effect and good camera work, then I'm all for it. The only thing is, if they're going between exterior footage and sets for the interiors of houses (which I hope they do) they find some sort of way to make it slightly less jarring.

In UK soap Hollyoaks, everything is filmed on location; they have a purpose built set complete with interiors in actual houses rather than sets. There is one house that is a set (the McQueen house) which BLATANTLY stands out from the rest as not being real.

I hope this looks good for GL. BTW, does anyone know if/when the regular opening returns? I'm not really a fan of this cheap thing with the poem anymore, and the opening they had before that was one of the best soap openings, I hope they bring it back.

I always loved Eastenders and the Britsoaps shooting 'on location' or at least on a very realistic artifice that resembled location, but my concern is that that was a stylistic choice, and not something mandated by cost. While I admire some of GL's recent location work, some of the stuff, like Reva and her friend hustling a drugged Lizzie to a doctor's office, came off downright low-rent and cheap, with just the actress, the camera, and a random location, like a frickin' snuff film. There's a fine line between promoting realism and concrete reality on soaps and coming off cheap, and daytime has yet to master that. This move is about cost, not aesthetic, and that's where I think the danger is.

Cut the buget even more, so how exactly will changes be made without it NOT affecting the shows?

So, to "feel real", we get "outdoorsy-ness". D'uh...eliminate evil twins, slashers and show people at work, so they don't talk to the same four people every day.

I'm still not convinced this won't look as cheap as it sounds. If it looks like the "new" stuff on ATWT, it's a failure.

All these changes won't mean diddly as long as the hacks are still running the asylum

pffftttt

So, to "feel real", we get "outdoorsy-ness". D'uh...eliminate evil twins, slashers and show people at work, so they don't talk to the same four people every day.

I'm still not convinced this won't look as cheap as it sounds. ´If it looks like the "new" stuff on ATWT, it's a failure.

If they're gonna do what they're saying in the articles then it won't be anything like what's going on over at ATWT now. It's not the same at all. Previous posts will explain that as well.

I'm all for these changes. They simply has to try something new. At least someone wants to save these shows so we should all be happy for that, because things can't go on like they are now. imo

If it helps save daytime and they can promise the acting budget won't be slashed, I'm all for it.

Just junk the jerky camera motions and we'll be fine.

If they're gonna do what they're saying in the articles then it won't be anything like what's going on over at ATWT now. It's not the same at all. Previous posts will explain that as well.

No, I think they explained that the look will be the same, because they're going to smaller cameras, etc. I don't like the "look" we're getting now. Everything seems nearly claustrophobic, and that will only continue moving to a four-walled set.

If it saves money, fine...but I think it's ignoring the real problem, which is the writing.

Okay I can't comment on ATWT but as a whole, I think this is fantastic news for daytime. If they pull it off, it will demonstrate that these shows can survive on a smaller budget with decent production values. I think it's tremendously exciting -- particularly for GL which is going to go from one hotel room and a fake Main Street to resembling real life. It should go a long way to removing the cheap, dated stigma attached to these shows.

I don't have a problem with the writing on GL so that aside, I think this is the most exciting daytime news I've heard in a long while.

And again this week ATWT has another remote shoot. The last was badly directed though.