As The World Turns Discussion Thread

[DramatistDreamer]

I came across this episode in which the recently departed Susan Brown was featured as part of the cast.

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[soapfan770]

 

Wow never seen Brown in the role of Adelaide before! I've only seen Beverly Penberthy scenes which was such a treat. Given Brown's daytime fame, I wonder if ATWT had originally planned to keep her a lot longer but by that point I'd assume Brown lived on the west coast? 

[John]

Well I believe Susan was recurring at ATWT and this was the time Dawn came to GH and Monica was looking for her daughter so even though GH offered her recurring I thnk Susan chose GH because of history and closeness to home

[soapfan770]

 

Would make sense! I  count Brown in with group of historically NYC soap actors that later found massive success with West Coast soaps. 

[DramatistDreamer]

@Soapsuds mentioned that yesterday September 17th marked the anniversary of the final episode of ATWT and I wanted to mark the occasion but I got so busy yesterday that I didn't have much time to do the type of post I envisioned and I wasn't satisfied with the clips I'd edited.  I'm still not satisfied but, oh well.

 

We often discuss the best (and the worst) of the writing, storylines, production values and characterizations but I wanted to highlight an aspect of the show that often went unheralded-- the high level of technique involved in how scenes were shot, when ATWT was truly at its height.

 

Having written, drawn storyboards and filmed scenes myself, I can appreciate the level of skill the crew had in filming some of these scenes.  The three scenes I'm going to present here represent some of the reasons why imo ATWT was a standout in how they shot the sequences on this series during the 80s, in particular.  These scenes consist of group scenes because I think these ones standout as the most vivid examples of what ATWT did so well-- these sequences are almost entirely continuous (little to no cuts), which is not easy and I imagine, not cheap because you have to get it right or you have to start over.

 

*I apologize in advance, the software I used made the edited video loop continuously, so I advise that you just either press Pause when the video tries to begin again, or just refresh this page.  You'll likely have to do this for each video.  If anyone knows a good free, uncomplicated editing software, please let me know*).

 

 

 

Is it just my computer, or do these videos look humongous on anyone else's screen?

[~bl~]

These videos are larger than normal, thanks for sharing them.

[DRW50]

Thanks for taking the time to make those. I don't know how you do it.

[DramatistDreamer]

You're welcome @~bl~  @DRW50.

 

I wish that the second video was a bit clearer, sharper but since PGP/P&G won't upload episodes on a streaming platform anywhere, beggars can't be choosers, I guess.

 

I've been wanting to post clips for sometime but had to get myself in the mood to do it.  There are other editing software that are much better but they have to be installed and until I can get myself a new hard- drive (either portable or internal), I don't want to install any more software on my computer.

 

Soaps back then were likely always multi-camera but the seamless movement of these tracking shots are just beautiful.

Another reason why this is probably not done on today's soaps is because, clearly the director had to do blocking with the actors, so they know when to move out of frame and when and where to enter.  Today's soaps don't seem as if they even use a director.

 

I can't really recall when ATWT ceased doing these types of tracking shots but I'd guess somewhere around the mid 90s when the 'old guard' started to depart and the accountants really started to have a bigger say, which was a shame because ATWT really began to lose its visual beauty, frame by frame and the show began to take on a more generic look.

[Brolden]

I agree @DramatistDreamer! I love those scenes. Such a sense of community.

 

When I started watching 80's episodes, this is exactly the thing that I found most noticeable and was most attracted to. 

I guess I've seen so many of them now that it doesn't even feel all that special anymore, but once you watch a non-80's episode for a change, you'll definitely find yourself missing that feeling. So thanks for spotlighting that!

[DramatistDreamer]

@Brolden Glad you enjoyed that.  

I'd love to ask someone who made the creative decisions on how scenes were shot.  Was it decided during meetings or was it left up to the director and/or camera operators? 

It seems that those people had to be skilled to shoot these almost entirely continuous sequences because they had to shoot so much script material in a relatively brief amount of time so they had to be efficient.  It is unlikely that they had a lot of time to do re-takes.  

 

Today's shows do a couple of scenes with from a funky angle and they make a big show of what they've done but ATWT was so fluid and seamless, that they it had an understated quality about it.  This is might be why the show may not have gotten much credit for a lot of the technical feats that they accomplished. They made it look so easy!

 

I'd love to do other clips highlighting other aspects that ATWT accomplished technically but the editing of clips was kind of a chore because the software was so clunky.  Maybe down the road, I'll do some having to do with my favorite musical cues in scenes-- there were some memorable ones.

 

[EricMontreal22]

Yes and (reportedly) even when AMC's ratings were declining in the late 90s it still remained the most recorded *soap opera* (of course I'm sure that didn't last...)

[Paul Raven]

Eric returns!

[EricMontreal22]

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[Soapsuds]

Nice to see you posting again! Your awesome Aidan Turner was classic....:)........

Edited September 21, 2018 by Soapsuds

[EricMontreal22]

Ha from Geri's Bag it Up video!  I forgot about that, I'll have to pull it out again

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