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Podcasts Take Two
LED lights will change the way LA looks on the big screen
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Feb 19, 2014
Listen • 5:40
LED lights will change the way LA looks on the big screen
While new LED streetlights have a positive impact on the environment and on energy savings, it also affects the way the city itself looks on film. And Hollywood will never be the same.
Hoover St in LA. On the left is the street lit by high pressure sodium bulbs. On the right is the same street with newly install LED lights.
Hoover St in LA. On the left is the street lit by high pressure sodium bulbs. On the right is the same street with newly install LED lights.
(
LA Bureau of Street Lighting
)

While new LED streetlights have a positive impact on the environment and on energy savings, it also affects the way the city itself looks on film. And Hollywood will never be the same.

When filmmakers capture the city of LA at night, it's always had a certain look and feel. It might be dark, intimate, or moody, like in these stills from classic movies set in Los Angeles:

(Clockwise from top left: Collateral, Heat, Chinatown, LA Confidential)

But a change has been slowly underway by the city, converting many of its outdated streetlights into new LED bulbs. While that has a positive impact on the environment and on energy savings, it also affects the way the city itself looks on film. Hollywood will never be the same.

Dave Kendricken, author at the blog, No Film School, explains the science behind the new lights and how this will impact how you see the city on the big screen.