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Modern movies teach us awful lessons [video]

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Re: Modern movies teach us awful lessons [video]

#241

Post by RobertMiller »

mysterydip wrote: post #42
cvuls wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm guessing you're using a stereo setup then, dialogue is usually mixed into the centre channel, downmixing a 5.1 or 7.1 stream to stereo will produce those results. even worse is if you don't downmix to stereo, and all you are hearing is front left and right, which is often just the reverb effect channels for dialogue

Don't many people have just a stereo setup still (myself included)? Why would a newer standard be backwards-hostile like that?

In many cases, people ostensibly using stereo sound may as well be using mono sound. Stereo speakers built into a TV that's 20 feet away, or watching a video on their smartphone without headphones; technically these people are using stereo sound but with the speakers so close to each other relative to the listener, it might as well be mono.

I think if you want to make widely accessible audio content, you should be taking this into account. Make it intelligible in mono first, then worry about the rest.

Re: Modern movies teach us awful lessons [video]

#242

Post by drexlspivey »

0xcde4c3db wrote: post #193
hedora wrote: post #186

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've noticed an even newer effect: Making scenes almost all black. It might be a software problem with the HBO Max app's gamma and brightness settings, but it's absolutely the case that, during the day with thin curtains drawn, I had to put a thick blanket over my head and an iPad in order to see the highlights in some of the darker scenes in one of their recent original productions (probably Raised by Wolves Season…

This sounds a lot like "dynamic contrast", i.e. varying the display's light source brightness with the scene brightness. I can't speak to whether or how the iPad implements it, but it's a common behavior of LCD screens. It's configurable on some devices.

You can just cover the light sensor (right next to the camera) if you don’t want to mess with menus instead of using a blanket.

Re: Modern movies teach us awful lessons [video]

#243

Post by bendergender »

ComradePhil wrote: post #220
bendergender wrote: post #211

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why are people watching things they enjoy? Because they enjoy them. Stop trying to be the arbiter of what other people enjoy. I'm sure you have some tastes in media others would find cringeworthy, but we're all better if we recognize that taste in media is highly personal and we should let people enjoy things.

Quoted post unavailable.

> Why are adults enjoying things clearly meant for kids?

There are many potential reasons. Abnegation, power fantasy, sense pleasure, social cohesion (being able to discuss with your peers what's in the zeitgeist). I could spend a paragraph on each of these and why they are reasonable for adults.

Your attitude is narrow minded, and you've resorted to insults to try to make your point on several occasions, rather than having an investigative, curious mind. You've drawn your conclusion before interrogating the details.

Academic research into games has identified 8 or nine broad categories of why people play games, and I'm sure there's something similar for movies.

Re: Modern movies teach us awful lessons [video]

#244

Post by whycome »

JKCalhoun wrote: post #132
jpgvm wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

True, American Graffiti was pivotal in him getting the shot he did. What I am saying is I don't think that plays out the same way today given movie budgets, you can't just have one person like one film you made and force through the production budget of a AAA film anymore.

Was "Star Wars" a AAA film though? I don't know what typical budgets were for films from that studio at that time were but in so many other regards it feels like it was a B-movie that over-achieved. I mean just one aging star (sorry, Alec) in the film's credits.... That doesn't sound like a AAA studio effort.

Wait, what does AAA mean here? For beef, AAA is top of the line. For baseball, its the 'not quite good enough' level.

Re: Modern movies teach us awful lessons [video]

#245

Post by crtasm »

cvuls wrote: post #34
BoppreH wrote: post #24

Another enormous gripe I have with modern movies, other than the (lack of) interesting moral lessons from OP, is the sound design. Loud explosions and music, with quiet, mumbled lines[1]. I'm forced to watch every movie with subtitles on, or to miss a good chunk of the dialogue. And I'd go beyond that, and blame the mumbled lines for our lack of interesting quotes. It's a lot harder to have unexpected turns of phrase…

I'm guessing you're using a stereo setup then, dialogue is usually mixed into the centre channel, downmixing a 5.1 or 7.1 stream to stereo will produce those results. even worse is if you don't downmix to stereo, and all you are hearing is front left and right, which is often just the reverb effect channels for dialogue

> will produce those results.

If that's commonly the case then whatever is doing the downmix isn't fit for purpose.

I found on Kodi you can boost the centre channel when downmixing, this helped quite a bit for me but I still watch with subtitles.

Re: Modern movies teach us awful lessons [video]

#246

Post by zthrowaway »

watwut wrote: post #215
zthrowaway wrote: post #199

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Okay, you can have a problem with people glorifying the old days. But that still has nothing to do with fascism. My above question has yet to be answered.

Your question is meaningless, because the comment you answered to did not claimed nostalgia is fascist. He said, youtube algorithm is giving him vaguely fascist content.Bringing up "Birth of Nation" in literally second paragraph. And I did not said anything about glorifying past, I said the narrative lies about the past.

> Your question is meaningless, because the comment you answered to did not claimed nostalgia is fascist.

In OP's post:

> Is the Youtube algorithm directing people to make vaguely fascist feeling, "bring back the good old days"

So yeah, no. The OP here used the word fascist in reference to the idea of "bring back the good old days".

Re: Modern movies teach us awful lessons [video]

#247

Post by inetknght »

ElephantsMyAnus wrote: post #214
School-Cotton wrote: post #207

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> English is a rather unusual language that the meaning is mostly carried only by consonants, while vowels are almost meaningless. Sorry but this sounds like nonsense. Vowel distinctions absolutely matter in English. Think of how many words would be indistinguishable otherwise: bout, bought, bet, bat, bit, beet, boot, boat, bite, but, and bait are all distinguished from each other only by a vowel. (And, yes, these al…

I get that, but it matters very little in a typical sentence. I bet you could understand almost everything with all vowels replaced with schwas.

> I bet you could understand almost everything with all vowels replaced with schwas.

No. Have you tried understanding someone who can only pronounce consonants but also whose dialect is foreign? It's unintelligible. Vowels absolutely serve a purpose. You're just used to hearing your own words spoken back to you in the same way you've always expected them.

Re: Modern movies teach us awful lessons [video]

#248

Post by dionidium »

It's not a coincidence that all the main characters featured in this video are women. The main thing the filmmakers are trying to show is that these are girl-bosses who can do anything men can do (and more) and it's so important to show that with utter, relentless completeness, that they've created characters that are magical, who don't need to overcome anything, characters who matter mostly as individuals, who have no duties or responsibilities to anyone else (most certainly not to any men). They're just total kick-ass take-no-prisoners empowered women.

That's why these characters are good at everything from the start. It's why they never struggle. The overriding point that's trying to be conveyed in every scene is that these women kick ass. That's why the modern Mulan can't be shown as weak and later overcoming her physical weaknesses in other ways. No, she cannot be weak -- full stop. If she encounters a much larger man, then she has to kick his ass.

Addendum that shouldn't be required, but of course it is: I want to make it totally clear here that of course women leads can be interesting and dynamic and multi-dimensional. If you think I'm saying otherwise, then please don't even bother engaging, because you will have totally missed my point, which is that this particular approach to featuring women is ham-fisted and risible and probably counterproductive, in the end.

Re: Modern movies teach us awful lessons [video]

#249

Post by spywaregorilla »

bryanrasmussen wrote: post #221

There are various schools of art criticism that argue that the purpose of art is not to teach morality. I've just noticed in the last few years that the teaching of morality through the arts seems to have come back into vogue, with concomitant disciplining of those that are deemed immoral, but the funny thing with moralizers is the absolute certainty with which they believe that the purpose of art is to teach moralit…

I would go as far as to say movies teaching morality are just bad and tiresome when the moral concept is obvious. Art is most interesting, imo, when it takes a position on something that matters or isn't obvious to those not thinking about it.

Birdman still stands out to me as an amazing film. It's messages are so specific and consumable, and it had something to say that felt somewhat novel.

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