Placebo
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Sun Jun-12-05 12:59 AM
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Cap Lesesne, a New York plastic surgeon, hears from a lot of women worried about aging. Late last year, he says, he had one visitor, a female newscaster, whose inquiries puzzled him. She was only in her 30's, he says, and still looked terrific. (Lesesne, citing doctor-patient confidentiality, wouldn't identify the woman.) When he asked her why she wanted surgery, she explained that her show was about to begin broadcasting in ''high-definition,'' the hot new digital technology that makes TV images look as crisp and sharp as IMAX films. On normal TV, she said, you can't see her few tiny wrinkles; in high-def, they stand out like folds of origami. ''When she walked in here,'' Lesesne says, '' 'high-def' was the first thing that came out of her mouth.''
Celebrities are considered attractive at least in part because they're suited to the technology of the age. The transition from silent movies to talkies destroyed many actors' careers, as did the shift from black-and-white to color. While almost all prime-time TV on the major broadcast networks is shot in high-def, there are only 18 million of the pricey, wide-screen sets in use. But that number is expected to more than triple by next year, and the new scrutiny that comes with high-def is already making some on-camera talent nervous. ''There are a lot of people who are going to be affected by this,'' says Deborah Paulmann, a makeup artist for ''Late Night with Conan O'Brien.''
To understand why high-def is so unforgiving, consider the numbers. Today's new top-of-the-line HD televisions can display two million pixels, nearly 10 times the resolution of a regular, old-style TV set. Also, the screens are the size of a tabletop. Watching a show in high definition is thus rather like being Gulliver in the land of Brobdingnag -- where every pore on the giants' faces looms like a shell-blasted crater. Many new HDTV owners have tuned in to high-definition celebrity events, only to discover that their favorite stars suddenly look downright haggard.
''I'm seeing people in a whole new way,'' says Phillip Swann, president of OnHD.TV, an online magazine. ''If somebody's aging or if they've got any old acne damage, it just jumps out at you. They've got no chance.'' The editors of OnHD.TV examined several dozen stars and compiled a list of heartthrobs who (they claim) wither under the unblinking gaze of high-def, including Cameron Diaz (''littered with unfortunate pockmarks''), Jewel (whose makeup ''looks like it was done by Ringling Brothers'') and Bill Maher (''scary''). I've seen the effect myself: when I recently watched a high-def close-up of Bradley Whitford -- a handsome star of ''The West Wing'' -- a normally insignificant mark on his forehead suddenly stood out like a third eye. I couldn't stop staring.
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nickgutierrez
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Sun Jun-12-05 01:17 AM
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1. There was an article in the New York Times not too long ago... |
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...talking about how technology affected the way we perceived beauty for our actors. The move to a somewhat undefined screen like we have now tends toward exaggerated facial features; the black-and-white screens that came before it tended toward a vibrant complexion, and so on.
Of course, now that I've thought of this article, I'm unable to find it.
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Dirk39
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Sun Jun-12-05 01:39 AM
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2. Now if only HDTV would mean: High Definition Truth Visible |
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Hello from Germany, we do not need high definition pictures to see all these plastic boobs and smoothed newscasters. We seriously need brains and listeners and spectators with a higher resolution. The higher the resolution of the pictures we watch, the more stupid the recipients get.
Dirk
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Placebo
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Sun Jun-12-05 02:54 AM
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displacedtexan
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Sun Jun-12-05 06:24 AM
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4. My daughter is a professional movie makeup artist... |
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and she was lucky enough (Timing IS everything!) to be in the first class to be trained in HD makeup application.
She's never out of work.
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Atlas Mugged
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Sun Jun-12-05 07:07 AM
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6. Does "HD makeup application" involve spackle and a trowel? |
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Since the major issue seems to be "craters" and "fissures" how does she....iron(?)....them out?
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displacedtexan
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Mon Jun-13-05 08:07 AM
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8. She starts by airbrushing a layer of pigment-less color... |
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on the exposed skin. Then she blends and adds the appropriate skin tone makeup to the actor. Only then can she begin to apply the glamor or special effects makeup.
In HD, almost everyone looks blotchy because skin is actually many different colors. Look at your hand right now. You should be able to see lots of individual shades of colors.
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KittyWampus
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Mon Jun-13-05 08:26 AM
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9. Very True, When Learning To Color Faces On My Cloth Scupltures... |
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my guru/teacher taught us to go for olives, blues, grays... colors we might not automatically use in coloring faces.
Once you do, faces become more realistic.
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Placebo
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Sun Jun-12-05 02:31 PM
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God only knows how many hours of makeup I'd need before I went on TV. :P
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Deja Q
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Sun Jun-12-05 06:26 AM
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5. Oh for god's sakes. I am sick of our phony hyped-up image-driven society. |
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People in tv-land, get a fuckin' grip. YOU are not immortal, you'll age like us peons you lie to with those stories you distort or butcher.
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SmokingJacket
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Mon Jun-13-05 08:30 AM
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10. Does anyone remember that Kurt Vonnegut story ... |
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in which the news casters had to wear masks? A smiley-faced mask for happy news, a frowny-faced mask for sad news. That would work!
(I think in the story it was because they wanted a society where everyone was equal... so that attractive people had to wear masks, strong people had to wear weights, etc...)
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Ivan Sputnik
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Mon Jun-13-05 08:50 AM
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11. Is HDTV any more high-definition |
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than what you would see on a movie screen (when the film is well projected)? It seems like Hollywood could figure out how to deal with this TV problem using movie techniques: lighting, special lenses and film-style makeup.
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Pryderi
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Mon Jun-13-05 09:52 AM
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12. I remember watching the Dinah Shore show, and it was blurry as hell 'cause |
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Edited on Mon Jun-13-05 09:52 AM by Pryderi
they used the softest focus lens in existence. I thought my parent's tv was broken, or I was going blind.
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LynzM
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Mon Jun-13-05 09:58 AM
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Not, "HDTV Makes People Ugly", but "HDTV Makes People Real"
Maybe the realization that people on TV are still people, no, wait, can't do that. TV might lose some of its sway if people started to realize that...
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DU
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Mon May 13th 2024, 07:32 PM
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