Casualty VS E.R. (the technical side)
 

Hello there
A question. I'd just been watching the English low budget soap "Casualty,' i then switched over to the higher budget U.S prog. 'E.R." I noticed a significant difference in quality as far as the format was concerned (obviously in all other regards, casualty sucks and.... well, E.R.'s... ok). I was wondering if someone could tell me why that is. Aspect ratio's aside, i think its because Casualty is shot on DigiBeta or something and E.R.'s shot on Hi Def., and if that is the case is it also because one is using 24p and ther other is using an interlaced format? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

thankyou Henry

I think ER is usually shot on film.

well i know that ally mcbeal is shot on film..explains all that superb de-focusing!

Casualty is shot on PAL Digibeta (interlaced)
It's not exactly low-budget in UK terms either :-)

Robin.

ER used to be shot on film, not sure if it still is.

Many years ago they tried to "film look" Casualty, and they did a really bad job of it. I complained, and I still have the letter from the producer apolgising and promising not to do it again.

Graeme

As far as I know, E.R. has been shot on HD in the last few seasons.

c

Casey, you are right. Last few seasons are made on HDCAM. I read recently about shooting ER, and some guy had full mouth about benefits of shooting in HD. The steadicam work is also great!