[20:20 Sun,30.March 2025 by Thomas Richter] |
The filmmaker and YouTube film critic Patrick Tomasso complains in a video essay that modern films often look muddy and appear "flat, boring, and lifeless," while older films had rich shadows, vibrant colors, and more depth. Many newer films exhibit this desaturated "mud look," such as "Wicked" or almost all Marvel films. With around 10,000 comments and 3.3 million views, his criticism seems to have struck a nerve.
His prime example of a good film look is the family film "The Parent Trap" from 1998 (in German "Ein Zwilling kommt selten allein," which is amusingly based on Erich Kästner&s "Das doppelte Lottchen"): The images are deliberately designed, have vibrant colors, are high in contrast with deep shadows, and sometimes appear almost picturesque. ;) Screenshot from "Wicked" But what are the reasons for the mud look? Tomasso lists a whole range of reasons that have led to so many films looking so dull these days: Many films are uniformly lit (among other things, so that image parts can be replaced later via VFX), which leads to a flat and lifeless image. Meanwhile, the ability to create certain looks through design decisions is being lost due to lack of practice. ;) Screenshot from "The Parent Trap" He sees a main reason in the now extremely high dynamic range of modern cine cameras, which tempts people to record quite "realistically," but which, without a conscious design will (at the latest through grading in post-production), leads to the visually uninspired look of many modern films. ;) Screenshot from "The Parent Trap" However, the problem has indeed existed for some time – we already wrote about the mud look of many Hollywood films three years ago:  New Trend Look: Why are so many Hollywood films so colorless?, based on a discussion that a Vox article had triggered at the time. Here, there is further speculation about how the new flat look has come about over the years. On the other hand, the prediction that the audience would get used to the new, desaturated aesthetic does not seem to have come true. ;) The Marvel look Avengers Endgame Have you also noticed the mud look of modern films?  more infos at bei www.youtube.comdeutsche Version dieser Seite: Warum sehen so viele neue Hollywood-Filme öde aus? |
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