There ’s a cause that most sitcoms , fromSeinfeldtoFriendstoThe Big Bang Theory , all depend similar . That intimate bright aesthetic can be follow back to one adult male , concord to a late TV explainer produced byVox . This trailblazer , explains Vox ’s Phil Edwards , was none other than Karl Freund , the cinematographer behind the open up 1927 sci - fi filmMetropolisand the 1931 Bela Lugosi interlingual rendition ofDracula .
Freund would go on to work onI Love Lucy , essentially inventing the three - tv camera sitcom , a course that ’s still placeable today , though you might not be able-bodied to put your finger on why .
It basically come down to the much - derided laugh track . situation comedy likeI Love Lucywere snap in front of live audiences , which Freund argued brought out dear carrying out . But in rules of order to have a show that did n’t ask to hesitate to re - stage shots or move lights around , shoot had to encounter in a specific way . Freund helped figure out that problem .
He rig up three cameras , one on each side of the stage to capture close - ups , and one in the centre to capture wide shots . These cameras were on move dolly that allowed them to shift . Even more crucially , the set had fixed lighting . There were lights placed above the circle , down on the storey , and under the tv camera . Actors were brightly lit from every slant so that shot never had to stop . Actors could move around the hardening as much as necessary , and the cameras could fall out them .
That even lighting is why sitcom all have that bright look . motion picture and undivided - camera shows , by contrast , are more dramatically light , with dark shadows and a tighter camera focus . Film directors can play with kindling and focus as much as they want , while a studio audience watching a situation comedy would n’t have much forbearance for all those stinger — nor would a nasty shooting schedule for a weekly sitcom likeI Love Lucyhave room for them .
See the difference in the video below .
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