Post B4MpiPcGRyk2vusAds by jsatk@sfba.social
(DIR) More posts by jsatk@sfba.social
(DIR) Post #B4Gexzg8O9RUg79Oym by Gargron@mastodon.social
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I know 100% that people will argue with me over this, but I miss when movies were professionally lit, when actors were intentionally blocked, and when more than teal, orange and beige were allowed to be on the screen. The medium has something to do with it--film made a lot of these things fundamentally necessary--but I think it's more complex than just that. The last few years' movies are just not pleasant to look at, with very few exceptions, and the change occurred sometime around 2015.
(DIR) Post #B4GfZKQwBXoplMqSC8 by Pineywoozle@masto.ai
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@Gargron Interesting about the colors. I do miss the curated lighting and blocking That said I’ve seen quite a few actors IRL and maybe they’re just getting better at hiding how artificially they’re lit and positioned cause it’s been jarring every time LOL. (I used to live in Santa Fe and the place is littered with em)
(DIR) Post #B4GfkbpZqHrUuCkV96 by swanksalot@toot.community
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@Gargron also the sound staff seems to have all been fired - dialogue etc. hard to hear
(DIR) Post #B4GfxfcT4GfCQ6qTAW by photovince@mastodon.social
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@Gargron You place that cutoff remarkably late. Otherwise, who do you expect to argue? I won’tMoney is the reason. Movies have become investment vehicles, and investors want safety. Thus aiming for the biggest audiences, and most people want slop. Not just the looks, the storylines, characters, anything, aren’t much better. Am I too cynical? Think not
(DIR) Post #B4Gg3ScYJF2hqKe6ds by BettyCanRip@macaw.social
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@Gargron I also miss when the actors didn’t narrate the plot for you.
(DIR) Post #B4GgjjaNcleocamsds by foobarsoft@mastodon.social
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@Gargron Gaming went through a similar pallet in the early 2000s. I’m glad that passed. And I know how you feel. It may be part of why I like animation so much, it hasn’t been hit so hard with browning. It’s so great when a movie has colors that really pop. Yeah a movie about a guy trapped in the middle of the Sahar or Death Valley is going to be low on color. NY, LA, Minneapolis, other real cities have colors.
(DIR) Post #B4GiItyR5sFsveN9Tk by undergrounds@mastodon.social
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@Gargron if you haven’t seen ‘The Eight Mountains’ by Groeningen you should. Came out in 2022, and gave me a lot of hope about what films can create these days. Another standout is ‘Happy as Lazzaro’ by Rohrwacher in 2018, unusual in plot and beautiful cinematography.
(DIR) Post #B4GiVbOtSa2Z5bntTs by vanitalo@mastodon.social
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@Gargron The obsession with HDR — super dark scenes to mimic realism in light levels is also annoying. It’s more difficult to enjoy what you’re watching if you’re struggling to see what’s even on the screen. I get that in real life, something might be happening in pitch black conditions but I think for cinema it’s still better to just give the suggestion of darkness rather than the complete actuality of it. 🤷♂️
(DIR) Post #B4GjYdeDf42ksjz49Q by HamonWry@mastodon.world
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@Gargron I can’t argue with you about this because you’re 100% right.
(DIR) Post #B4GkcCwsy9KJBmys6q by zephyrxero@layer8.space
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@Gargron everything getting soft lighting so they can make decisions in post rather than committing on set is a scourge on cinematography
(DIR) Post #B4GmWLugvSxTABI39c by makeitmythic@mastodon.social
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@Gargron i mean, ok, but my kingdom for proper sound mixing. im so tired of music/sfx being so loud and dialogue being so quiet. even w subtitles (enshittified by ai), it sucks.
(DIR) Post #B4GmuOdYS2B0Ynjuwi by darren@c.im
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@Gargron La La Land was the last great movie. There, I said it.
(DIR) Post #B4GngQYub3wEQmTG9w by jeremyjackson@mastodon.social
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@Gargron No, no, you’re right.
(DIR) Post #B4Gnqj7MSiaCsNUmQq by bob_zim@infosec.exchange
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@Gargron It seems to me like there are about as many well-lit, well-graded movies as there have always been, but that there are more movies overall than there ever have been in the past. A lot of movies—even from big studios—are basically shovelware, yes. A lot of really good production and post techs have gone to prestige TV rather than movies, yes. Still, there have been tons of expertly-produced movies in the last decade.
(DIR) Post #B4Gr1L3yXKxXJtfCYC by mason@partychickens.net
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@Gargron The thing that bothers me the most is the sound quality. Older things took pains to be audible. Modern stuff, half the time I can't understand what they're saying. But it's not my ears. I go back and listen to older stuff, and it's still clear.
(DIR) Post #B4GrdDGDzhtk7pS8cy by mim54@mstdn.social
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@Gargron I agree entirely, I stop watching when I can’t see the details of the scene and sometimes even give up entirely 🤭
(DIR) Post #B4GtNmLxx8vuEouGZc by gryphonmyers@mastodon.social
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@Gargron on the topic of movies that look good: The Ballad of Narayama (1958) 🤌
(DIR) Post #B4GtcczT2vB7XkSns8 by sturmsucht@mastodon.social
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@Gargron nothing to argue here. The movie industry right now is a noob photographer who thinks "great, with that dynamic range I don't even have to expose correctly anymore". And that's what they are literally doing.When has "I don't know if this scene will be in daylight or night time right now, let's shoot anyway and fix it in post" became a thing?
(DIR) Post #B4GzxStaNCNm2b21AG by bsm@swiss.social
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@Gargron Die Film-Industrie ist aber auch immer ein Spiegel der Gesellschaft. Seit einigen Jahren gibt es kaum mehr Komödien.Die Filme sind sehr häufig düster, dunkel, dystopisch und auch immer wieder so seicht, dass das Meditieren einer Schnittblume fast schon als spannend bezeichnet werden kann.Ja, die Krisen, Kriege, Konflikte machen etwas mit den Menschen - dies sehen wir heute auf den Leinwänden. Leider!Als Gesellschaft müsste uns dies zu denken geben.
(DIR) Post #B4H111KMucZ1eWon8S by Michelineandresa@mastodon.social
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@Gargron I totally agree. Nowadays, it feels like movies are afraid of real shadows and vibrant colors. Everything has turned into a gray, digital mush to accommodate streaming and CGI, but we lost the soul of cinematography in the process. Older films had a texture and depth that today's color grading algorithms simply cannot replicate.
(DIR) Post #B4H4S7hZcXSt6THsae by o_O@mastodon.nu
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@Gargron watched the 1955 Austrian movie Sissi the other day, not a masterpiece by any means but good god it’s nice to have natural (though I suppose in reality it was anything but natural) lighting and colours.That said, there are plenty of beautiful looking movies made today too, just not the norm.
(DIR) Post #B4H5IH7ZqQG1NLJnTU by seanbala@mas.to
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@Gargron RE: Blocking in Film - you are reminding me of director Mike Nichols (The Graduate, The Birdcage). He and his stage partner Elaine May were some of the earliest improve comedians in the US. His films were meticulously acted because the casts would rehearse the films like a play for weeks before filming. That allowed them to inhabit their roles, have natural reactions, and to get the blocking just right.
(DIR) Post #B4H5V9eSvYiryQqKWm by danielpree@chaos.social
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@Gargron yesterday I just watched Therminator from 1984, not the best film but I loved everything how it’s made. Can’t watch today’s movies anymore.
(DIR) Post #B4H6z4ROxtWESFYrsu by eobeara@mastodon.ie
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@Gargron I agree, mainly American movies.
(DIR) Post #B4H74wLzwhTl6tpgzw by fabienmarry@mastodon.social
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@Gargron what about tv shows? Pluribus was one gorgeous shot after another.
(DIR) Post #B4H8avIFWXmX2ftTe4 by shiawase@mastodon.social
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@Gargron "90% of everything is crud" - SturgeonYou don't like the aesthetic, but unfair to imply it's 'unprofessional'. Maybe you need to look elsewhere besides Hollywood. Digital production and distribution has opened up filmmaking to so many talents that couldn't afford it previously. Drama aside, nature photography and documentary can be better quality now. The most interesting drama I've seen is no-budget Japanese films. "One Cut of the Dead", "River", "Beyond the Infinite 2 mins".
(DIR) Post #B4HCg4wfSuo6F2Vs9o by Hanya@mastodon.social
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@Gargron Absolutely! It's enshittification across various industries
(DIR) Post #B4HEQ7Zw6g3JgSOoHQ by gorfeld@masto.es
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@Gargron Some movies started to look like they were made by AI before they were actually made by AI
(DIR) Post #B4HlWyzBkX1BY45ecK by raindrops_and_roses@mastodon.social
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@Gargron 💯 The point to watching is a movie is for the fun of it. Nothing's fun anymore. Everything has to be a big statement. Broody. Moody. Real. We all live in broody moody real. I don't want to see it for "fun"!
(DIR) Post #B4IAQkZkuYG3yMJqPQ by horqua@mastodon.social
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@Gargron and the level of gratuitous violence is over the top. I can see literal snuff becoming part of the movie industry because they can.
(DIR) Post #B4IAeWJej0oNnjM2sa by ayo@ayco.io
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@Gargron As a normie, I didn’t really notice until I read this. Something did change. Now I miss old films.
(DIR) Post #B4IyZQ2De8yka2xYsS by tvaziri@mastodon.social
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@Gargron I think you should stop watching movies
(DIR) Post #B4J0kEzPFkV5PwvqVs by Gargron@mastodon.social
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@tvaziri Why?
(DIR) Post #B4J1DM6ZsNjhstAYmu by MamaLake@beige.party
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@Gargron streaming *killed* intentional filmmaking. Now we have content and I’m not content.
(DIR) Post #B4J1muI8lOZ02zWuno by Gargron@mastodon.social
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@David Hugo is from 2011 and despite being full of CGI it still looks vibrant and very different visually to let's say Wake Up Dead Man, which is one of the better looking modern examples, so the cut-off point is sometime after 2011.
(DIR) Post #B4JcPxzuW0RVBVvZA0 by odin@mastodon.gamedev.place
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@Gargron @David Hugo is a fantastic movie, but is famously almost all teal and orange. That’s not a knock against it, I just feel like maybe your issue isn’t use of those colors, but with movies not making *good* use of color
(DIR) Post #B4JqflLSisubw4Qzho by tvaziri@mastodon.social
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@Gargron it just seems like you don't like moviesI can give you twenty movies made in 2025 that challenge what you wrote in the above post and you'll scoff at every single one. It just seems like you don't like the medium (past a certain year).
(DIR) Post #B4Jrqm9y8OaBbMsEnQ by Gargron@mastodon.social
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@tvaziri That's a ridiculous proposition.
(DIR) Post #B4JsF7Jj7i0eAc2q0W by tvaziri@mastodon.social
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@Gargron “I miss when movies were professionally lit, when actors were intentionally blocked, and when more than teal, orange and beige were allowed to be on the screen.”I mean, come on. Unless you typically speak in hyperbole, this is gibberish unless it's coming from someone who wants nothing to do with the art form.
(DIR) Post #B4JsZfFWfpdbCVsTKq by Gargron@mastodon.social
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@tvaziri I love cinema. I want nothing to do with you.
(DIR) Post #B4Jvp7LOnffuXcgWXI by marcintosh@mastodon.social
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@Gargron @tvaziri “I know 100% that people will argue with me over this”Don’t complain when you get what you want.
(DIR) Post #B4LFgrROElK78tmsd6 by wombatpandaa@mastodon.social
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@Gargron I won't argue with you about this at all. I find watching older movies very refreshing for this reason.
(DIR) Post #B4MpiPcGRyk2vusAds by jsatk@sfba.social
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@Gargron @tvaziri Todd, you are coming off really aggressive and rude here. You changed it from Eugen’s personal observation to an attack on his intelligence and telling him an entire art form isn’t for him. That’s just rude.