Mass Media & Technology

The Colour Red On Camera

(September 2016)

This site closed in March 2021 and is now a read-only archive
NJ
Neil Jones Founding member
Spotted on the old Art Attack website:

http://www.hitentertainment.com/artattack/meetneil.html posted:
[Speaking about the red jumper Neil Buchanan wore on Art Attack] And did you know that my red sweater is specially made for the programme, from a special material? That's because on camera, the colour red behaves in a strange way. It makes the screen go all funny, unless you use a special material


I presume this still applies today and has done all through the history of (colour) TV and film production. What is it about the colour red that's so problematic please and does anybody know what "special material" could have been used so Buchanan could wear red, presumably there's a few options.
NG
noggin Founding member
Neil Jones posted:
Spotted on the old Art Attack website:

http://www.hitentertainment.com/artattack/meetneil.html posted:
[Speaking about the red jumper Neil Buchanan wore on Art Attack] And did you know that my red sweater is specially made for the programme, from a special material? That's because on camera, the colour red behaves in a strange way. It makes the screen go all funny, unless you use a special material


I presume this still applies today and has done all through the history of (colour) TV and film production. What is it about the colour red that's so problematic please and does anybody know what "special material" could have been used so Buchanan could wear red, presumably there's a few options.


No. Doesn't apply now. Was sometimes an issue with certain saturated reds in the days of PAL composite encoding (though not a massive problem). Those days are long gone.
CW
Charlie Wells Moderator
Neil Jones posted:
does anybody know what "special material" could have been used so Buchanan could wear red, presumably there's a few options.

I believe it was cashmere. The only reason it sticks in my head is because on another CITV game-show there was a multiple choice question about how much his jumpers cost, and thinking at the time it was a slightly unfair question for the kids to know the answer to.
NG
noggin Founding member
Only reason I could think that material would play a part would be because of the thickness and sharpness of the weave pattern in the jumper. Saturated red was always a bit of a stress test for some bits of the PAL chain, and with certain frequencies of luminance information also causing chroma interference I can imagine a repeated red pattern being quite challenging. Cashmere presumably had a much finer knit...
BA
bilky asko
And considering a lot of the shots on the programme would be quite close to him, that seems to make sense.

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