Mall Lights - Were they on or not?

[Philly_SWAT]

I hate long threads...it is hard to navigate where the last post was, and see posts in order when there are 60+ posts like in the "Nitpick" thread. So I will start a new one. This is from that thread... Everyone keeps saying that the lights were off....the lights were on. Where? When they look down into the mall through the skylight, the place is sunlit, and that's it. There is no light. If they're on, those are the darkest lights I've ever seen anywhere. There are several quite clever and funny comments that come to mind in regards to the wording of that quote, but I will refrain from any such silliness while discussing such a serious topic. Here is a screencap from my Divimax Edition at time stamp 28:30, the first time when Peter and Roger are looking down into the mall. I think it shows, quite conclusively, that the lights were in fact on.

[SRP76]

Those are the base lights, that always stay on. If the main overheads were on, the mall would be much brighter. Have you ever been in a mall that dim? I sure haven't. ...and on another subject, if you can get screencaps like those, we've been looking for several (like the football schedule and the hadshot/not headshot body on the escalator)...

[Philly_SWAT]

Those are the base lights, that always stay on. If the main overheads were on, the mall would be much brighter. Have you ever been in a mall that dim? I sure haven't. ...and on another subject, if you can get screencaps like those, we've been looking for several (like the football schedule and the hadshot/not headshot body on the escalator)... Just cant admit defeat about the lights, can you? The "dimness" of that shot is due to the resolution of my monitor. I made a point of giving the timestamp so people can see it on the movie for themselves. Trust me, the mall is very lit up. In regards to your other requests...from the other thread.. I swear the one on the escalator was 1) a woman, and 2) shot. Wound right in the forehead, with the blood runner down her nose. I'm heading to youtube to check again... Actually, it is hard to imagine you dont have a DVD to look at. Head to youtube? Come on dude, get with the program! Could be a shot in the forehead, or some other wound, hard to tell. Again, the real reason is "lack of thought by movie makers". But it is definately a man, not a woman. Here is a shot of the football schedule (the dates may be blocked for the line that says Homecoming, but it is odd that there isnt a school listed there) but I submit that this doesnt really tell anything as far as a definite date. Support of that statement: whoever was writing those scores down could have stopped for any number of reasons. He could have stopped the week of the outbreak, or several weeks (or months) prior, no way to know.

[SRP76]

Actually, it is hard to imagine you dont have a DVD to look at. Head to youtube? Come on dude, get with the program! I lost my DVD. It was just the theatrical version anway, and I just haven't got around to buying a new one yet. Here is a shot of the football schedule (the bottom two scores are not blocked, there is just nothing there) but I submit that this doesnt really tell anything as far as a definite date. Support of that statement: whoever was writing those scores down could have stopped for any number of reasons. He could have stopped the week of the outbreak, or several weeks (or months) prior, no way to know. It does prove that all hell broke loose after November 4. I can't see anyone in their right mind holding highschool football games with ghouls wandering onto the field. Things had to have still been ducky on that date. And I forgot how it went, but I traced arrival to late November/early December using Fran's calendar. It was based on what month ended on a Friday, or something. Can't recall. But I actually figured out what month she was "x-ing" in that scene. EDIT - and I owe you rep for the screenshots, if the feature ever gets turned on again.

[Philly_SWAT]

I lost my DVD. It was just the theatrical version anway, and I just haven't got around to buying a new one yet. It does prove that all hell broke loose after November 4. I can't see anyone in their right mind holding highschool football games with ghouls wandering onto the field. Things had to have still been ducky on that date. And I forgot how it went, but I traced arrival to late November/early December using Fran's calendar. It was based on what month ended on a Friday, or something. Can't recall. But I actually figured out what month she was "x-ing" in that scene. Yes, it is difficult to go back in that other thread and find things. But logically, a date after Nov 4 could be Nov 5th, or Nov 3rd of the next year. We have no idea "when" it is in relation to that schedule, and as someone else had pointed out, it could be an old schedule there that is not recent at all. And if you mean THIS calender... This doesnt really prove anything either.

[SRP76]

The schedule is definitely from 1977. Only year in the decade in which September 2 and September 9, etc. fall on Friday (which is when the games are played). And Fran's calendar is a 31-day month that ends on a Friday in 1978. Which can only be March. And if the movies are "timeless" (taking place "now", whenever "now" is), the year can be disregarded. The only way the days of months would line up is if the schedule and Fran's calendar are in back-to-back years, regardless f decade.

[Philly_SWAT]

The schedule is definitely from 1977. Only year in the decade in which September 2 and September 9, etc. fall on Friday (which is when the games are played). The movies are supposed to be "timeless" and not be set in a specific year (or decade, for that matter). As a viewer, you are supposed to think that the movie is set in the present, or the near future. That is why no year is ever mentioned in any movie. The fact that we can see "197X" on the schedule was not intentional....no one thought that in the year 2008 someone would actually be looking that closely at something that was no doubt just happened to be there, was not put there by the director, and was not important to the scene, and in fact no attention was brought to it. NOTE: When I made this post, the previous post only contained what you see here. SRP76 was editing it as I posted

[krakenslayer]

Emergency/base lighting was on. Peter and Roger later switched on the full "shopping mode" lighting. Simple.

[axlish]

The name of the School is Gateway, I have a close up of the schedule with final results posted on my site somewhere.

[EvilNed]

The movies are supposed to be "timeless" and not be set in a specific year (or decade, for that matter). As a viewer, you are supposed to think that the movie is set in the present, or the near future. That is why no year is ever mentioned in any movie. The fact that we can see "197X" on the schedule was not intentional....no one thought that in the year 2008 someone would actually be looking that closely at something that was no doubt just happened to be there, was not put there by the director, and was not important to the scene, and in fact no attention was brought to it. What George A. Romero "intends" and what is actually IN the film are two different things. The dates ARE in the film. Even if George A. Romero intended them to be or not, and thus that is when the film is set. We can only interpret what we see, and not what Romero says. As for the lights, I have no idea. Probably a continuity error. But they do seem rather dim when they go in there, lots of shadows. So it's probably the "night lighting".

[jim102016]

Great pics, Philly. With the emergency/base lights on, I can't help but think the mall was invaded during the night time bottling up processing, or right after the main doors were opened in the morning for the merchants. The close up of the dead guy with the blood trail running down his face, combined with the security guy in the boiler room and the janitor in the store, indicates there must have been some kind of struggle during one of the above periods. I remember the book approached it a bit differently? I wish GAR has at least left some more bread crumbs around the mall for our enjoyment since he obviously didn't find it important enough to develop in the bigger scheme of things. But, then, what the hell would we talk about?

[sandrock74]

Lights on! Lights off! Lights on, lights off....the Clapper! Maybe that's all it was a matter of?

[FoodFight]

It couldn't be the clapper. That technology wasn't developed until the mid '80s. Nitpicky mode off.

[Philly_SWAT]

What George A. Romero "intends" and what is actually IN the film are two different things. The dates ARE in the film. Even if George A. Romero intended them to be or not, and thus that is when the film is set. We can only interpret what we see, and not what Romero says. So, by this line of reasoning, if we see the reflection of a film crew in a window in any movie, are we to assume that the characters are walking down the street and dont seem to notice a motion picture crew following them around filming them? If a boom mic sinks into frame during a bedroom scene, are we to assume the couple having sex dont notice a big microphone hanging over there bed? There are some things the audience has to accept as not being supposed to be there.

[sandrock74]

It couldn't be the clapper. That technology wasn't developed until the mid '80s. Nitpicky mode off. Check, my friend. Then, a midget was at the main light switch control, just having fun with the switch. Checkmate.