LA has been fitted with over 140,000 street lights, completely changing how the streets look.
The streets of LA have undergone the world’s biggest LED street light revamp, which have seen them go from a bright yellow to a sophisticated white. Films shot before this change will feature the orangey glow of the lights and as Dave Kendricksen said:
In a sense, every night exterior LA-shot film previous to this change is rendered a sort of anthropological artefact, an historical document of obsolete urban infrastructure.
He also added:
The [new] LED light bulbs should very well prove a benefit to existing-light photography – better for the environment, and in nearly every case better for cinematography.
Though this change may have raised mixed views among filmmakers there is a vast improvement in terms of economic and ecological values. Justin Gerdes, who writes for Forbes, states that LA are expecting to save $7 million in electricity bills and $2.5 million in maintenance costs. The light bulb’s life expectancy is between 80,000 and 150,000 hours as well as producing 42 to 81 lumens per watt.
So next time you’re watching a new Hollywood film, see if you can spot the difference.