Arrow: 7 Things You Learn Rewatching Season 1
6. The Flashbacks Were Filmed Differently
The flashbacks to Oliver Queen's five years in hell became a fixture of the show for the first five seasons and, following that, even inspired Season 7's futuristic flash-forwards.
Highlighting the journey that the future Emerald Archer went on during his time on Lian Yu, the flashbacks were presented as clearly as the present-day narrative (save for a dull filter to give it a gray look), giving us an up-close-and-personal look at the trial and tribulations that Oliver faced. But they weren't always like that.
In the first couple of episodes, the flashbacks to Oliver's time on the island were presented in a completely different manner, as the show utilised a found footage-like approach. Thus, as the playboy billionaire wandered aimlessly through the wilderness, the footage bounced around as if there was an actual cameraman following him on the rough terrain.
It's a shame that it was changed early-on because this amateur footage-approach made the flashbacks feel that little bit more atmospheric, while the shaky invasive shots of Oliver's face made them all the more uncomfortable to watch.