Filming colors


The colors in CSI:NY seem dark compared to other shows. In many scenes everything seems dark with very few colors. Why is CSI:NY filmed this way? I understand that it is not a cheerful show, but neither is CSI Miami and it s brighter.

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Each of the 3 shows had a specific color theme - CSI (LV) had more saturated vibrant colors to for the glitz and glamor of Vegas, Miami was done with warm colors (yellows, oranges, sunny). NY had the cooler colors to go with the darker feel of the big city.
One of the special features in the box set for Miami went over the color choices for the shows.



Bobby: "You don't shoot Bambi, jacka$$. You shoot Bambi's mother."

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that makes sense...although I remember way back for the very first season the color theme they used for the show were very dull and greyish and limited, even the early filming sets they used seemed very old and run-down, just the whole visual of the show in its beginning stages seemed very dull, old and murky and more monotone color theme compared to the other CSI shows which had much brighter and more colorful themes and better sets. I knew that CSI:NY was always intended to be a bit darker compared to the other CSI shows, but I think they really went overboard with the very dull and very limited dark color theme and old sets in the beginning. So I'm glad they quickly added more brighter cool colors to the theme and the production moved into new filming sets that actually appear to be up to date and adequate, the old NYPD/CSI filming sets they used in the beginning looked too old and run-down.

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The sets they chose for the first season were supposed to give it the "Old New York" feel, worked for the spin-off pilot because they moved around in the city and mixed in the Miami shots so it didn't seem so dark and dank for the episode. Once they got into production of the first season they quickly saw it was too dark, too limiting, but it was too late to change things for the season. Even while filming the season the producers were looking into ways of changing it. Thankfully they did... Tho... I have to admit I reallly liked the old style set for the morgue better than the new tech one.


Bobby: "You don't shoot Bambi, jacka$$. You shoot Bambi's mother."

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Thanks for letting me know, I didn't know that...to be honest I haven't seen the backdoor pilot on CSI:Miami so I can't really comment on how the visuals looked in the pilot. But they really didn't look good in season 1, the old greyish dark color theme was much too dull and monotone and the old filming sets were much too dated and run-down for such a big and well-funded police department like the NYPD. I just wasn't convinced that for such a large prominent and well-funded police department like the NYPD would be working in such old and dated conditions. The new filming sets looked much better, since they seemed alot newer, up to date, advanced and adequate, and more convincing to me, and I really like the use of the brighter cool colors. I'm glad these improvements were made to the visual production after season 1...the old colors and sets were just too dull and old and frankly quite depressing to watch too.

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Some people tend to compare the color theme of CSI:NY with the other CSI shows especially with CSI:Miami, and complain that the color theme of CSI:NY is too dark. But I beg to differ, like the other poster pointed out CSI:Miami uses brighter warmer colors, while CSI:NY uses slightly darker cooler colors, and I like the fact that they use different color themes for each of the different CSI shows, it sort of makes them each unique individually. I mean, the concept of every CSI show is basically the same, what really sets them apart (besides the characters) are the locations and color themes, the visual appeal of each show.
And the color themes are not just used randomly, they are used based on the location/city where a particular CSI show is set in, the different color themes reflect the city that the show is based in. So for the original CSI show which is set in Las Vegas, they use a more vivid colorful theme behind a dark backdrop to reflect the vividness of the city at night, and notice that most of the time when the LV team first arrives at a crime scene it's usually at night? That also further emphasizes the notion that Las Vegas really "comes to life" at night.
While CSI:Miami is based in Miami (even though it's filmed in LA), and when some people think of Miami, they tend to associate it with bright sunny beaches and more tropical holiday feel, just an overall brighter city, so brighter warmer colors are used for CSI:Miami. While NY is alot bigger and tends to be perceived by some people as a darker city, so darker cooler colors are used for CSI:NY to reflect the darker feel and bustle of NYC.

I think it's great that the different color themes are used to reflect the different cities, it really adds to the uniqueness of each CSI show, there may be alot of similarities between the CSI shows but they each also have their own uniquenesses too.

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