from American Horror Story to Strange things to trance to game of thronesSome TV shows are difficult to watch due to their dark theme – while others are not the easiest to enjoy due to dark lighting.
Some shows have become notoriously difficult to watch and the cinematographers have contributed to this Whether the issue is on the viewer Or the content itself
“I don't know why there's this trend now of taking very dark photos, but I think — I won't name names — there are two sides to it.” Shasta Spanwhich he worked on american horror stories, He said eagle in November 2023. “There is a version where people know what their exposure and balance is and they know how to make the scene look a certain way that technically contains darkness. Then there's the other side of it where people don't know what they're doing. They make it seem really dark.
Spahn was martyred Several examples On the director’s part, he adds: “They have no light in the actor’s eyes. They don't have any separation between foreground and background, and it's sloppy and looks terrible. …Night scenes can be very beautifully executed, but also very poorly executed.
In the meantime lynn Moncrieff, Which brought films like Five nights at freddy's to life, wondering if “larger TVs” And he was to blame.
“They tend to have a 16:9 format. We are no longer in the 4:3 analog TV era where the differences between TV and movies, at least in terms of composition and aspect ratios, are so stark,” Moncrieff noted. That aspect ratio is forced upon you when you're shooting TV. “You see a lot of projects, and they're shooting 2.39:1 with letterboxes and things like that which was always a battle to fight. This cinematic effect had a direct impact on live performances, whereas this was not the case in the past.
Dragon House Cinematographer Pepe Avila del Pino He had his own point of view on the subject. He specifically called for the “over-processed color correction” that has become so popular With everyone's favorite TV shows.
“Black people are not black people. There is a uniform look. A lot of TV shows start to look the same, and that has to do with a lot of things. One of them is the technology we all have now, like using LEDs, which is faster and more practical,” Del Pino explained. Cameras are also faster and lenses are more sensitive to light. All of these reasons tend to push the day-to-day workflow on set with TV on a very fast schedule, usually.
He continued: “I think it is a result of the tools used, not an artistic vision. There have been a lot of people making TV very quickly in the past few years. Things are pre-produced, produced, distributed to post-production and then sent back to streamers in a very short period of time. All of these factors lend themselves to these low light levels and the overly color corrected look on the screen.
Keep scrolling to see examples of specific shows known for being too dark in appearance:
