Let me first start off by saying I’m not trying to start a feud or war in here haha. There has long been a debate on what is screen accurate when it comes to the flux bands colors, blue or white. Yes, I am aware that the car used had white lights, however, on screen, they were blue due to special effects. So, wouldn't a car with blue flux bands then be screen accurate? Personally, I prefer the blue, that is what you see on the movie, that is what most people expect in my opinion. There will never be a 100% screen accurate car, but just wondering everyone’s take on this? Blue or White?
Let me first start off by saying I’m not trying to start a feud or war in here haha. There has long been a debate on what is screen accurate when it comes to the flux bands colors, blue or white. Yes, I am aware that the car used had white lights, however, on screen, they were blue due to special effects. So, wouldn't a car with blue flux bands then be screen accurate? Personally, I prefer the blue, that is what you see on the movie, that is what most people expect in my opinion. There will never be a 100% screen accurate car, but just wondering everyone’s take on this? Blue or White?
you could try to get very cool color temperature white that looks blueish. happy medium. I think the blue flux bands that i've seen are too blue but that could also be caused by camera settings. But of course its all down to personal preference.
In my mind screen accurate = white but best appearance = blue.
As I understand the term "screen accurate" it means staying as true to the original prop as possible. So if you are going for a 100% screen accurate car and all originally sourced parts (which is now nearly impossible) then white is the way to go. In fact, how can you be screen accurate if you aren't using the same type of neon tubes used in the movies? I doubt most time machines use neon these days. If you have replica parts and are trying to make a car that looks awesome but only an expert would know it isn't 100% screen accurate, then go blue.
That is my $0.02.
Last edited by DavidProehl; 03-31-2016 at 01:17 PM.
I think I read somewhere that during the A-car restoration, they decided not to reinstall the white flux band neon lights, because A. difficulty, and B. the white bands were never actually seen in the movie (as they were CGI'd over in blue later). This doesn't really help as to which is correct, but if we talk about the A-car, it may be relevant.
Screen accurate always. Who cares what it looks like in real life, everyone who knows it knows it as blue. Millions upon millions saw the blue lights, a few hundred saw the white lights. Many of my sci-fi models I build are screen correct. If for example my Enterprise model I built were a studio replica then half of all the detail would be missing because it was added afterward. The shuttlebay for instance was never in the real 6' studio filming model, it was cropped in afterward, but it's in my 3' model, and with full lights. The same applies to the garden and captain's quarters, so which version do you think is more impressive in person, the one with a blank green card in the shuttle bay opening or this?
Same applies to the BTTF Time machine, you can say white lights are an exact replica of the filming DeLorean, but the screen correct version is much more appealing.
Sometimes when building models of ficticious subjects you have to ask yourself: Are you copying the subject itself or are you copying someone elses model of the subject?
And that leads to the question of really what is considered screen accurate? In Star Wars (or a New Hope as it was later titled), R2's back right panel is silver, and then in other shots it's white. And in some shots his dome is dented, then it's not. Add in that the blue color changed from movie to movie, the HP's changed their color scheme, and so on and so forth. Unless there was a continuity person on set with a Polaroid camera taking shots of every single thing (most likely they were) and time permitted to get each shot/prop matched (less likely) anything you see pretty much that even changes from scene to scene is screen accurate.
The trick is to make it as believable as possible. I get dozens of people asking me if my R2 was the one from the first movie. I didn't plan on making him that screen accurate, but he just kinda turned out that way as that's what most people remember - and he just happens to match one or two shots in the movie, even down to the grime.
Last edited by Timebender; 03-31-2016 at 08:42 PM.
I think I read somewhere that during the A-car restoration, they decided not to reinstall the white flux band neon lights, because A. difficulty, and B. the white bands were never actually seen in the movie (as they were CGI'd over in blue later). This doesn't really help as to which is correct, but if we talk about the A-car, it may be relevant.
Personally I've always preferred a cool blue.
On the restored A-car the neon tubes were omitted at the request of Universal Studios. There were a couple of reasons why, but the decision was mainly due to potential breakage issues which would require maintenance & repairs and there were also possible issues with electric shock from the high voltage transformers.
There is an often repeated story that in the 90's when the A-car was on display near the tram tour queue (with functional neon) several people were mildly electrocuted because they touched the flux bands/neon tubing. As the story goes, this is what lead to the removal of the neon tubes and was the reason the original flux bands were removed at one point. It's not known for sure if that story is actually true but there are photos from this time period of the car with the flux bands in various states of removal so that would seem to substantiate it.
I have a soft spot for the white neon since our build team was the first to recreate a time machine with actual neon tubes. I dislike the dark blue LED strips since that color does not match what you see on screen either. If I ever did a car for myself it would have real neon tubes with a medium blue/aqua color.
RGB strips...any color, any shade, any brightness.
I had neon on my car in the 90's when it first trended. It's a PITA to keep clean. You run clear outer tubes to protect the glass from breaking but it only mildly protects it. I had to have one or 2 new tubes blown for my ground effect kit. Also, no matter how hard you try, water and dirt get in there.
Screen accurate always. Who cares what it looks like in real life, everyone who knows it knows it as blue. Millions upon millions saw the blue lights, a few hundred saw the white lights.
To me this is the best answer I've ever seen on this subject.
We're replicating the actual functional time machine from the BTTF Universe; not the movie prop used to film with.
Mark, as far as I know, my 6th build, was the first replica to feature real white neon tubes, as seen on the Discovery Channel show, "Auction Kings" in 2011.
My 7th car also featured them as well, but I decided not to continue to use them because of the breakage issues, the "corona" effect experienced in the static electricity build up on the bands and mesh that would give mild shocks when touched.
Also, powering the 15,000 volt transformer was consuming.
I have built all of my 24 builds with white lighting, as far as I know, I am the only one to do so.
Almost every single other Time Machine replica built has blue or aqua lighting, I like this, it sets my cars apart from everyone else.
I like the way the white light looks, it is also legal to operate in all states where as it is illegal to have blue lights of any kind on your car (in most states).
The blue lights tend to look very purple on camera, blue light doesn't look natural in my opinion.
That being said, In all the years of my showing these cars no one has even mentioned the color of the bands.
I say that you should build your car for you the way you want it.
Originally Posted by Mark D
On the restored A-car the neon tubes were omitted at the request of Universal Studios. There were a couple of reasons why, but the decision was mainly due to potential breakage issues which would require maintenance & repairs and there were also possible issues with electric shock from the high voltage transformers.
There is an often repeated story that in the 90's when the A-car was on display near the tram tour queue (with functional neon) several people were mildly electrocuted because they touched the flux bands/neon tubing. As the story goes, this is what lead to the removal of the neon tubes and was the reason the original flux bands were removed at one point. It's not known for sure if that story is actually true but there are photos from this time period of the car with the flux bands in various states of removal so that would seem to substantiate it.
I have a soft spot for the white neon since our build team was the first to recreate a time machine with actual neon tubes. I dislike the dark blue LED strips since that color does not match what you see on screen either. If I ever did a car for myself it would have real neon tubes with a medium blue/aqua color.
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Originally Posted by EngineerGuY
