6 ms·

For me the biggest issue in modern movies and tv isn’t the “Netflix aesthetic”, but the overwhelming prevalence of what I think of as the perpetual golden hour.

For me the biggest issue in modern movies and tv isn’t the “Netflix aesthetic”, but the overwhelming prevalence of what I think of as the perpetual golden hour. It used to be that by virtue of the golden hour being necessarily a very short slice of time in which physical sets could make use of that especially dramatic lighting it was only used it some scenes. Now it feels like every outdoor scene in every film is shot with that lighting because it’s all just CGI and they can make the light look however they want. The result is a massively distracting (to me) effect of the lighting looking over-engineered, I guess I’d call it? It seems like every single scene is either a night scene or shot at 6pm on a sunny summer day. It’s more off-putting than badly done cgi.

fezfight 4y ago
It is strange. I guess it's the same as pop music and pachelbels canon. Most people love it. So we are stuck with it.
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
croisillon 4y ago
Have you seen Top Gun?
- isx726552 4y ago
  Yeah seriously, the “perpetual golden hour” phenomenon goes way back. Bruckheimer 80s blockbusters were big on this. Even in the 1970s, shooting large portions of a full movie during “magic hour” was staring to become a trend, see for example 1978’s Days of Heaven[0]: > Much of the film would be shot during magic hour… [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Days_of_Heaven#Principal_photography https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Days_of_Heaven#Principal_photo...
pwthornton 4y ago
It's not always CGI. They are using LED lighting panels to create the exact lighting conditions they want. Some movies and shows are using giant overhead panels to create hyper-focused idealized conditions. A lot of times, it is overdone, but in a movie like Knives Out it helped with the indoor scenes.
- spear 4y ago
  Knives Out wasn't a Netflix production, was it? I believe Netflix only acquired the rights to the planned sequels after the first movie's release.
  - DiggyJohnson 4y ago
    I think GP was using Knives Out as an example of this effect done well in general, not specifically using it as an example of the Netflix case.
Arkadin 4y ago
Spend a month in Alaska in August. That should recalibrate your perception of magic hour sufficiently to allow you to enjoy modern movies.
MikePlacid 4y ago
> For me the biggest issue in modern movies and tv isn’t the “Netflix aesthetic” For me the biggest issue is not the contents but the Netflix player behavior. You press a Stop button to take a better look at some nice girl’s uhm… face and the frame is covered up for some seconds with “Netflix” and movie title. It can be ok if you pressed Stop to brew some more tea - but when you hit Play the same titles block not just a still frame, but some seconds of a movie! It’s so annoying it’s bordering on deliberate cruelty.
- stinos 4y ago
  Worst offenders in the UI for me are the autoplay (why can I not browse in silence ?) and the amount of steps needed to get rid of something so it doesn't turn up in 'continue watching' anymore. But yes frame-by-frame would be neat to have, though realistically: none of the major video platforms really have that right?
  - rocketbop 4y ago
    You can thankfully turn off Autoplay. I agree, it's horrendous UI.
  - MikePlacid 4y ago
    > frame-by-frame would be neat to have, though realistically: none of the major video platforms really have that right? Except the one named “Torrents” - all others that I tried do not care much about my preferences, yes.
  - somat 4y ago
    Youtube does, at least the desktop web player does. "," and "." to go frame by frame Another one I use all the time is "J" and "L" to seek by 10 seconds.
achairapart 4y ago
That's not entirely related to Netflix, but there is an analogy with when video and filmakers started using photographic prime lens for their videos some fifteen years ago (or so), there was this constant and fast pull focus in every scene that almost made you sick with nausea...
collegeburner 4y ago
even worse is how they assume everybody watches on a great HDR display in a dark room and make scenes really dark accordingly, so I can't see a damn thing.
- fleddr 4y ago
  Yep. I have the large iPad, albeit a somewhat older one. Weather permitting, I enjoy using it in the garden. I can watch almost anything just fine: regular TV, sports, the like. Netflix? Nope, not even on max brightness. And this in the shadow.
trwhite 4y ago
While we're listing our Netflix gripes - Why is it so hard to watch the credits? Often there's a good song playing and no simple way to avoid it skipping to some other programme, while the emotional resonance of what I've just watched sits with me.
- TurkishPoptart 4y ago
  Yeah, I hate the forced "auto-play" and forced "next episode" functions immensely. Let me watch the credits and enjoy the music without kicking me out of my show! At least on HBO Max you can press the "up" arrow key and it'll let the credits roll.
- plonk 4y ago
  You can disable the auto-skip in your account settings.
- layer8 4y ago
  You can turn off the auto-skipping, but you have to go to the desktop website to find that setting.
dylan604 4y ago
Or it could be a movie like The Revenant where the one scene took so long to shoot that they could only shoot during golden hour to keep the look the same throughout the multiple weeks of shooting that scene. Lots of stories about crew members getting frostbite and other tales of woe on shooting that flick.

fezfight 4y ago

It is strange. I guess it's the same as pop music and pachelbels canon. Most people love it. So we are stuck with it.

deleted 4y ago
[deleted]

croisillon 4y ago

Have you seen Top Gun?

isx726552 4y ago
Yeah seriously, the “perpetual golden hour” phenomenon goes way back. Bruckheimer 80s blockbusters were big on this. Even in the 1970s, shooting large portions of a full movie during “magic hour” was staring to become a trend, see for example 1978’s Days of Heaven[0]: > Much of the film would be shot during magic hour… [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Days_of_Heaven#Principal_photography https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Days_of_Heaven#Principal_photo...

pwthornton 4y ago

It's not always CGI. They are using LED lighting panels to create the exact lighting conditions they want. Some movies and shows are using giant overhead panels to create hyper-focused idealized conditions. A lot of times, it is overdone, but in a movie like Knives Out it helped with the indoor scenes.

spear 4y ago
Knives Out wasn't a Netflix production, was it? I believe Netflix only acquired the rights to the planned sequels after the first movie's release.
- DiggyJohnson 4y ago
  I think GP was using Knives Out as an example of this effect done well in general, not specifically using it as an example of the Netflix case.

Arkadin 4y ago

Spend a month in Alaska in August. That should recalibrate your perception of magic hour sufficiently to allow you to enjoy modern movies.

MikePlacid 4y ago

> For me the biggest issue in modern movies and tv isn’t the “Netflix aesthetic” For me the biggest issue is not the contents but the Netflix player behavior. You press a Stop button to take a better look at some nice girl’s uhm… face and the frame is covered up for some seconds with “Netflix” and movie title. It can be ok if you pressed Stop to brew some more tea - but when you hit Play the same titles block not just a still frame, but some seconds of a movie! It’s so annoying it’s bordering on deliberate cruelty.

stinos 4y ago
Worst offenders in the UI for me are the autoplay (why can I not browse in silence ?) and the amount of steps needed to get rid of something so it doesn't turn up in 'continue watching' anymore. But yes frame-by-frame would be neat to have, though realistically: none of the major video platforms really have that right?
- rocketbop 4y ago
  You can thankfully turn off Autoplay. I agree, it's horrendous UI.
- MikePlacid 4y ago
  > frame-by-frame would be neat to have, though realistically: none of the major video platforms really have that right? Except the one named “Torrents” - all others that I tried do not care much about my preferences, yes.
- somat 4y ago
  Youtube does, at least the desktop web player does. "," and "." to go frame by frame Another one I use all the time is "J" and "L" to seek by 10 seconds.

achairapart 4y ago

That's not entirely related to Netflix, but there is an analogy with when video and filmakers started using photographic prime lens for their videos some fifteen years ago (or so), there was this constant and fast pull focus in every scene that almost made you sick with nausea...

collegeburner 4y ago

even worse is how they assume everybody watches on a great HDR display in a dark room and make scenes really dark accordingly, so I can't see a damn thing.

fleddr 4y ago
Yep. I have the large iPad, albeit a somewhat older one. Weather permitting, I enjoy using it in the garden. I can watch almost anything just fine: regular TV, sports, the like. Netflix? Nope, not even on max brightness. And this in the shadow.

trwhite 4y ago

While we're listing our Netflix gripes - Why is it so hard to watch the credits? Often there's a good song playing and no simple way to avoid it skipping to some other programme, while the emotional resonance of what I've just watched sits with me.

TurkishPoptart 4y ago
Yeah, I hate the forced "auto-play" and forced "next episode" functions immensely. Let me watch the credits and enjoy the music without kicking me out of my show! At least on HBO Max you can press the "up" arrow key and it'll let the credits roll.
plonk 4y ago
You can disable the auto-skip in your account settings.
layer8 4y ago
You can turn off the auto-skipping, but you have to go to the desktop website to find that setting.

dylan604 4y ago

Or it could be a movie like The Revenant where the one scene took so long to shoot that they could only shoot during golden hour to keep the look the same throughout the multiple weeks of shooting that scene. Lots of stories about crew members getting frostbite and other tales of woe on shooting that flick.