I've seen some videos on the forbidden site of certain silhouette techniques but none that matched the kind we saw on UM; some interviews were done with regular backgrounds (i.e. windows during daylight, etc).

Out of curiosity, in the UM segments where certain interviews were done in silhouette, how did the filming crew create the shadow effects without the use of backdrops?

One thing I noticed in the first 4 seasons that I've watched again for the first time in ages is that RS wore a good number of fabulous tweed sport coats. I'd love to know where those are today. I'm the same build as RS and those beauties would fit me perfectly. All my sport coats are Donegal Tweed. They would be perfect for my collection. I bet RS had the samexact taste in tweed as I do.

I do some video production as a hobby. I too have been interested in some of UM techniques as they look very cool.

I think to achieve the effect you are looking for, the room needs to have very selective lighting. Make certain that all lights in the room are behind the subject. This includes any windows. Do not light your subject from the front in any way. Only light what is behind them. So long as there isn't a lot of ambient light in the room, you should get a similar effect.

Is this what you are asking?

Just to tie this bow together, here's some more (semi-recent thread) discussion on this topic:

http://www.sitcomsonline.com/boards/showthread.php?t=356643

I do some video production as a hobby. I too have been interested in some of UM techniques as they look very cool.

I think to achieve the effect you are looking for, the room needs to have very selective lighting. Make certain that all lights in the room are behind the subject. This includes any windows. Do not light your subject from the front in any way. Only light what is behind them. So long as there isn't a lot of ambient light in the room, you should get a similar effect.

Is this what you are asking?

Yep, this is it. I remember trying to do this before. Also, light it a LOT, to the point that you need to use ND and stop down to get proper exposure on the background. If you look at the silhouette shots in UM, the focus is very deep and the outlines are usually pretty well defined.

One thing I noticed in the first 4 seasons that I've watched again for the first time in ages is that RS wore a good number of fabulous tweed sport coats. I'd love to know where those are today. I'm the same build as RS and those beauties would fit me perfectly. All my sport coats are Donegal Tweed. They would be perfect for my collection. I bet RS had the samexact taste in tweed as I do.

My fall/spring jacket is similar to the long beige trenchcoat type piece of clothing RS wore. I swear i didnt buy it because he had such a coat.

BUT a year or so after buying it a colleague and i were walking to our cars, I was wearing the jacket and somehow UM came up. Colleague asked if I had intentionally bought the jacket because it resembled RS's. I told her no, but maybe it'd be a better story if I had.

That said, and a bit OT, some 30 years ago I asked for and got for my birthday, a brown bomber jacket
I only wanted one b/c Johnny Depp's character had worn one on the tv show 21 Jump Street. Still have that jacket, and for all he has done since then, my favorite Johnny Depp roll will be Officer Tom Hanson.

My fall/spring jacket is similar to the long beige trenchcoat type piece of clothing RS wore. I swear i didnt buy it because he had such a coat.

BUT a year or so after buying it a colleague and i were walking to our cars, I was wearing the jacket and somehow UM came up. Colleague asked if I had intentionally bought the jacket because it resembled RS's. I told her no, but maybe it'd be a better story if I had.

That said, and a bit OT, some 30 years ago I asked for and got for my birthday, a brown bomber jacket
I only wanted one b/c Johnny Depp's character had worn one on the tv show 21 Jump Street. Still have that jacket, and for all he has done since then, my favorite Johnny Depp roll will be Officer Tom Hanson.

My grandfather was a farmer back in Ireland, but he always had on a suit, or slacks and a tweed sport coat. Even when he was working in the fields or out buying cattle. It wasnt till a few years ago that I started buying vintage tweed sport coats. Watching the fist four seasons of UM again thanks to prime Ive really noticed RS's attire. The trench coat is a classic look, along with his tweed sport coats. Stack was a sharply dressed man during filming.

I was thinking about making a "Stack's suits" thread, believe it or not. The guy had some serious class. Pulled off that mid/late-80s casual look with zero effort.