It’s not you - movies are getting darker.

Blame technology for how often you can’t see anything in your favorite shows.

There’s a trend in movies and TV that you’ve probably noticed: everything has gotten extremely dark, and for some audience members, too dark to even see.

It comes down to both aesthetics and technology. The first one’s pretty simple: as popular content leans grittier and darker in tone (i.e. The Batman, Stranger Things, Game of Thrones etc) the visuals tend to reflect that.

But productions have also moved from shooting on film to shooting with digital cameras - and the way scenes get lit has changed dramatically. Shooting on film meant that you couldn’t see the final product until everything was developed. Under those limitations, it made more sense to flood dark scenes with light to ensure the footage would be usable. With digital cameras and digital monitors, it’s easy to see what the final product will look like — and that can embolden a cinematographer to film scenes darker and darker.

But how dark is too dark? And how do filmmakers ensure that their vision gets accurately represented on the screen you’re watching it on? Check out this Vox video to find out.

[Vox]

Brett told me that cinematographers typically work with colorists to create a basic “look” for the film, which gets used on onset monitors, and for when directors are reviewing dailies.

When shooting darker scenes, instead of closing down the aperture or giving a scene less light, Brett will usually ask the colorist to make a darker version of that look. This way he can keep the information of a brightly lit scene, while still knowing what it would look like a little darker.

It’s one way shooting digitally is much more flexible than shooting on film. See more of Brett’s work on Instagram @dpbrett! Thanks for watching. —Ed

[withoutsound]

Can we now talk about how dialogue in movies is ridiculously too soft compared to the other sound effects in said movie?

[ArnovanZelst]

I don't mind darkness when it's used as a tool to highlight something else. But if everything is dark, what's the vision?

[larrystone]

To sum it up: for all their powers of imagination, filmmakers can’t envision me watching their movie in my living room. On a TV.

[nuloom]

“What you’re watching is dark.. but it’s exactly what the filmmaker wanted you to see” sounds like a funny conclusion less than a minute after explaining how they grade the colour in perfect conditions and then *expect* the effect to trickle down into devices normal people use [which clearly does not happen]

[ReeshxX]

lord of the rings has a lot of scenes set at night or underground or in places literally described as "where the shadows lie" and yet with good color grading and lighting the scenes are obviously set in dark places but still perfectly visible. When asked where all the light comes from in those scenes the cinematographer said "the same place the music comes from" and i REALLY wish more filmmakers took that sentiment to heart

[TheMe]

The darkness hasn't really bothered me yet. The thing that really annoys me is how loud the sound effects are compared to the dialogue. I have to boost the volume to hear what people say but then I get deafened by how loud the sound effects are. I end up just having to watch with sub titles on to hear anything

[MeatFingerSteam]

I love how they say it's impossible to know what the movie looks like on your screen, and then right after they say that movies are dark because it's exactly what the filmmaker wants us to see.

[Lavi____]

This video completely avoids discussing the fact a lot of visual artists use darkness to hide imperfections in their work for movies. "We don't have enough time to make this look right!" "No problem, just increase the intensity of the shadow on that spot."

[fortissimolaud]

This is not a technological problem. Filmmakers just need to turn down the ego and turn up the exposure.

[jons]

If constant grim-dark is exactly what the filmmakers wanted me to see, then it's the filmmakers that have a problem.

[quchi]

As someone with astigmatism, I hate this trend. It requires me to squint even with my glasses on.

[AndrewGordonBellPerc]

Its sort of a cop out to say: Well people are watching on different screens so of course we can't make it good on all of them! This is also true of music, but in music production the entire field of mastering is devoted to making it sound good no matter what it is played on. Frequently mastering engineers will play a piece through the best monitors, tiny headphones and shaky car stereos to ensure that it sounds good in every use case. So I don't buy that film editors can't do the same, especially with all the money going into that industry.

[Janokins]

The trouble with darkness in digital is that dark spots get compressed way more than light spots, so while it may look good uncompressed at the cinema, if you're watching it at home it's going to look blocky in those dark areas because no one wants to host massive files on their streaming services.

[dimaua]

1. Transition from film to digital
2. More control in post
3. Various viewing experiences
The video hints that this is the filmmaker's intent, but doesn’t really explain why. When I went to film school we were taught that there had to be at least something bright in a frame for reference, no matter how small. Otherwise, the shot will be perceived as unintentionally too dark. After watching Dune in the theater I understand why. Hope it's a temporary trend.

[scrattue]

Such a weird pivot to being a darkness apologist at the end of this video? Saying "this is what the filmmakers intended" doesnt really follow if the people watching at home aren't going to watch in a dark room on a perfect screen and are instead on their phone or god forbid have the lights turned on. And things like GoT were never released in theatres so optimising for that makes no sense!

[chelseawhite]

I’m glad I’m not the only one here who’s mad about the way this vid ends, because it almost kinda felt like we were told “get over it”

[purrfekt]

So the fault still lies with the filmmakers. ‘Nuff said.

[Vi_Renders]

This whole episode basically just boils down to that episode where Spongebob said "This isn't darkness, this is advanced darkness"

[haitiancreolewithluciano]

*I've noticed this too - I feel like the directors think the darker, the more dramatic they are going to come off as*