 Parzival  | 27 Jun 2015 2:59 p.m. PST |
Yes, it does. But in fact, almost all movies with helmets light the interior of the helmets because (shock, surprise) audiences want to see actors' faces. If you light the outside of the helmet, what you get is a mirror. |
| John Treadaway | 27 Jun 2015 3:16 p.m. PST |
Certainly as far back as the (IMHO) Outland, the '80s Sean Connery High Noon in Space epic. John T |
| tberry7403 | 27 Jun 2015 3:43 p.m. PST |
The old, glass dome style, space helmets were much better. Gave the user 360 degree vision and you didn't need interior lights to see their faces.  Interior helmet lighting is also used in underwater movies like Leviathan and The Abyss. |
| Mako11 | 27 Jun 2015 4:27 p.m. PST |
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| Sargonarhes | 27 Jun 2015 4:35 p.m. PST |
You'll find hollywood is full of stupid ideas like this. |
| Parzival | 27 Jun 2015 5:11 p.m. PST |
You'll find hollywood is full of stupid ideas like this. It's not a stupid idea, except as regards to a real space helmet. In terms of actually making a movie, it's a highly intelligent idea. Cameras require significant light sources to operate; if the spacesuit is to be seen by the audience, the spacesuit must be lit by considerably powerful studio lights. However, these lights will reflect off any glass glass-like surface, turning that glass surface into a mirror (that's how one-way glass works, by the way). The only way to counteract this is to light the other side of the glass; in this case, the interior of the helmet. So, in making a movie, you can either light the interior of the helmet and see the actor's face and expressions, and have an unrealistic helmet, or you can have a mirror reflecting back the sight of the lights, cameras and production crew filming the scene. You tell me which would look more stupid in a science fiction film. |
| Dave Jackson | 27 Jun 2015 7:33 p.m. PST |
Well said Parzival. Exactly right. |
| Dan 055 | 27 Jun 2015 8:43 p.m. PST |
Except that everytime I see it I cannot stop myself from rolling my eyes and falling out of the suspension of disbelief. |
| Mako11 | 27 Jun 2015 9:27 p.m. PST |
I think the original Battlestar Galactica may have been the first to do it, at least that I can recall. Silly. |
| UltraOrk | 27 Jun 2015 10:51 p.m. PST |
But Battlestar Galactica didn't have glass visors on those helmets which makes it even more silly. |
| Rabbit 3 | 28 Jun 2015 3:42 a.m. PST |
For that matter the old BSG helmet`s weren`t even sealable, just Egyptian style crash helmets.
Well perhaps they used some sort of force field, maybe!! At one point though they did use some sort of `glass bowl` space suit when Apollo needed to do an EVA. |
| TheBeast | 28 Jun 2015 5:49 a.m. PST |
…the old BSG helmet`s weren`t even sealable,… I remember, as a young man, pretending the lights were actually some kind of mini-force field. ;->= Sometimes sci fi movies require suspension of belief, other times a heck of a lot of rationalizing. 'Here let me fix that for you.' Doug |
| jpattern2 | 28 Jun 2015 3:27 p.m. PST |
Parzival +1.
Lighting technicians often add lights to places where they'd be "stupid" in real life, like in the dashboard of a car being driven at night. |
ponders the woes of a heavy base.
