 For the new pilot , Fox made it clear that they would not air the episodes in the widescreen format . Whedon and company felt they had to " serve two masters " by filming widescreen for eventual DVD release , but keeping objects in frame so it could still work when aired in pan and scan full frame . To obtain an immersive and immediate feel , the episodes were filmed in a documentary style with hand @-@ held cameras , giving them the look of " found footage " , with deliberately misframed or out @-@ of @-@ focus subjects . As Whedon related : " ... don 't be arch , don 't be sweeping — be found , be rough and tumble and docu [ mentary ] and you @-@ are @-@ there " . Computer @-@ generated scenes mimicked the motion of a hand @-@ held camera . This style was not used , however , when shooting scenes that involved the central government , the Alliance . Tracking and steady cameras were used to show the sterility of this aspect of the Firefly universe . Another style employed was lens flares harking back to 1970s television . This style was so desired that the director of photography , David Boyd , sent back the cutting @-@ edge lenses which reduced lens flare in exchange for cheaper ones . 
