Where are the colors??

I do admire the traditional 35mm film look in Hollywood Films. And the realism of skin tones and richness in colors was one of the reasons why. I don't see any of that in the examples I've posted, quite the opposite in fact, I think it looks ridiculous.

 
Anyone remember those old Sony promo tapes they'd send out with shots of flowers and the saturation so pumped up that your eyes would bleed just looking at them? I don't think we should go there either, but yeah...ungraded LOG is not the same as a slight desaturation.
 
Batutta said:
Probably something to do with the proliferation of variable nd's as well, which are convenient, but are polarizers that will sap the shine and vitality out of skin tones.
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Variable ND's ? In Matteboxes as well? I somehow doubt it, but you could be right.
 
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You can control the polarization effect of variND if you want, so I don't it's really an issue.
I shoot with variND all the time, I think it's a no brainer, if you know what you are doing.

Regarding that look, there is noting wrong with it, when it supports the story, or is at least
motivated by the story.
IMHO they pretty much nailed it in "Inside Llewyn Davis" - I find the highlight blooming a bit over the top though.


Also "True Detective" has a very nice mood, created by the CC, again supporting the story, nut just because it is a fashion,
or just because they can.
 
Kholi;. That's actually a bigger issue said:
This is right. Digital cameras that are 4:2:0 do look better when you pull out the saturation. The newer cameras are getting there. Alexa has been there for a while and every one else is catching up. You can pump up saturation on a Red or F55 without that trouble. It is a matter of how much info is there.
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color grading is very subjective as we all know. It seems the pics of phil are the look of the new trend. I'm not to crazy about it, It has that kind of weird HDR look about it, again that's just personal opinion.

I've always been a fan of the diffused look as in the example above. (True detective)
 
I could go on a screed about modern western pop culture in general being bland, shallow, homogenous, lifeless, and completely afraid of depth and extremes, and "flat" simply being an unconscious symptom of that... but yeah, it's probably mostly due to wide-DR cameras and shrinking budgets and deadlines.
 
EDV said:
I do admire the traditional 35mm film look in Hollywood Films. And the realism of skin tones and richness in colors was one of the reasons why. I don't see any of that in the examples I've posted, quite the opposite in fact, I think it looks ridiculous.
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Here's a poster from "Romeo and Juliet"(1968) which seems to be pretty 'flat'.

film02.jpg
 
I have had this conversation a few times with colorists and the general feeling is that yes, the look emerged from the fact that de-logging dailies wasn't as common a few years ago, and a few directors caught onto it and it became the flavor of the month look. I've managed to dodge the bullet so far (thankfully, my primary director hates that look) and like all other things it will subside into the next trend, whatever that may be. I don't believe variable ND's had anything to do with it since those are not something that appear on higher end productions.
 
Could the pale, lifeless look have anything to do with the zombie frenzy that invaded Hollywood and TV series a few years back? :grin: But seriously, I was never a fan of "shooting flat" on set. Nail the look on set by manipulating lights and camera settings, and then improve on it further in post.
 
A couple of high resolution screen grabs from "Jersey Boys"

2cekoeq.jpg


2pzjna1.jpg


I can see how this kind of look suited that particular film looking at these images. Obviously a lot more skill went into attaining this look compared to the other examples I've shown.
 
One year later and the trend continues
I see it everywhere, every day now.


There was another one by Audi posted on facebook recently, big budget, same look. Tried to post it but can't find it.
 
I find it very ironic that now that sophisticated color correction tools are readily available to almost every editor, and cameras have more dynamic range than ever before, we end up with flat rubbish pictures like these.
 
I like Philip Blooms style of color grading. He tends to go more with milky blacks and a slight hue depending on the footage. He uses film convert a lot which I love. I tried Magic bullet film, while it has some great features it doesn't have the parameter options of film convert. Like everyone else stated it's a stylistic choice. People are raising the low end and dropping the mids, it gives a perceived boost in dynamic range because we can see into the shadows more. About five years ago everyone was crushing the blacks. It changes every so often.
 
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