Cinescott
Supporting Actor
George Stevens Jr. mentions the day for night scenes in the commentary and says they were done chemically in post-production, since at the time, there were no film stocks fast enough to record actual night scenes.David_B_K said:Speaking of day-for-night: I wonder if some here can esplain when and how the night-time filters are applied to such scenes? Are they added when prints are made? For instance, in the trailer for Shane, he is seen riding off in unfiltered daylight. I assume there are instructions as to where/when to use them?
So, I'm hoping someone can explain how day-for night filtering is done in films.
I imagine getting just the right balance would have been an art, since shadows shouldn't have been too prominent, but the scene needed to be bright enough to see. This is where the Blu-ray strikes a gorgeous balance and we can see the film the way it actually was, not the muddy, dark DVD. I can actually believe that it's just a bright, moonlit western night.
Whenever I think of scenes like this, I think of Deliverance and the part where Jon Voight is climbing the rocks above the rapids. Those scenes were definitely shot during the day, but were made to look like night. Maybe for safety issues in that case. Not sure.