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The contagious visual blandness of Netflix

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Re: The contagious visual blandness of Netflix

#391

Post by dylan604 »

dekhn wrote: post #363
dylan604 wrote: post #301

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>some of the fastest lenses available at the time ?? more like ever. are you suggesting that we have lenses widely available that are faster today?

probably nobody in a non-classified situation has built such a thing recently. But if you put enough engineering into it, you could exceed those parameters today. Glass/glass manufacture, lens shaping, etc all improved tremendously. It would be obscenely expensive; every lens would be completely custom, you'd probably burn through hundreds of blanks before you had something worth using, and there are other, easier wa…

probably? are we just making stuff up now just to prove a point?

Re: The contagious visual blandness of Netflix

#392

Post by mark38848 »

jasonwatkinspdx wrote: post #379
drc500free wrote: post #260

Earlier quoted context omitted.

IMO, that's part of what made Game of Thrones fall off a quality cliff. It wasn't just subpar writing on the main plot lines when the source material ran out. The world itself became hollowed out, and the main characters stopped existing within an organic world. It turned into an avengers movie, where the leads were largely alone on screen only interacting with each other (except for designated Crowd Scenes).

GoT has the same dynamic as Lord of the Rings, where the world itself is arguably the protagonist, and the characters are there to explore it for you. The GoT show runners appear to have totally misunderstood that, and threw the suspense and world building stuff under the bus for creating moments of interpersonal drama. But the drama and actions increasingly made no sense vs the buildup of the previous seasons. Who a…

From episode one it was a telenovela with more nudity, wigs, and CGI. There was one good scene between Cersei and her husband, though.

Re: The contagious visual blandness of Netflix

#393

Post by markeibes »

mindslight wrote: post #387
lordnacho wrote: post #318

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is there a particular season when this happened?

Season 2. Everyone was too busy suspending disbelief or distracted by their phones/laptops to really notice. I gave the show the benefit of the doubt until the end of Season 4, when Tywin Lannister would have come in and eliminated Joffrey - his family's success relied on installing a competent king to keep the throne, not a useless brat coddled by his incompetent kids. But then rewatching it for the second time, the…

Yet apparently you still paid (at least your attention) to give house of dragons a try reinforcing this disgusting habit of making only remakes and childish franchise bollocks. We must punish them

Re: The contagious visual blandness of Netflix

#394

Post by markeibes »

Slow_Hand wrote: post #354
kzrdude wrote: post #241

Another aspect of this is staffing. It doesn't immediately seem tech related, but it is. There's less people in the background as extras, less people making background scenes or setting up. It can mostly filled in by production technology if necessary. Some movies just seem so empty, and they look "cheap" if you see it in this angle. Some big hollywood production like for example Passengers where there are barely mor…

I often think about Die Hard With a Vengeance. The city of New York is a huge part of the movie's texture. The movie actively engages with all of the people on the street and in the cars, and who are watching from their office windows. Characters who could have very easily been left out of the movie, but their inclusion make it so much richer. You see and feel their days get ruined because of the carnage. It actually…

People used to make movies to make a point. Now people make data-driven drivel.

Re: The contagious visual blandness of Netflix

#395

Post by spiffytech »

Izkata wrote: post #365
LarryMullins wrote: post #350

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There does seem to be an absence of "angry villagers raid the wizard's tower" stories in the Star Wars universe. Missed opportunity, probably has something to do with Star Wars primarily being escapist fantasy for people who wish to be the wizard. Maybe the EU novels have such stories, but I haven't read those.

There's a scene in the original movie that kind-of explains this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zzs-OvfG8tE > "Don't try to frighten us with your sorcerer's ways, Lord Vader. Your sad devotion to that ancient religion has not helped you conjure up the stolen data tapes, or given you clairvoyance enough to find the rebels' hidden fortr-" From what I remember from wikis the EU novels expanded on this as: Jedi/Sith/fo…

This is reinforced in The Mandalorian, where (to memory) the protagonist hadn't even heard of the Force or Jedi. And Mando was much better-traveled than most of the Star Wars universe population.

Re: The contagious visual blandness of Netflix

#396

Post by mort96 »

agentwiggles wrote: post #341
fullstop wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't associate it with bad anything. I just don't like the way it looks.

I agree wildly and I'm seriously shocked that the guy above is arguing in favor of it. I can't stand the weird motion smoothing on modern TVs and would not buy any TV where it can't be turned off.

I'm not arguing in favour of frame interpolation at all. Footage that was shot at 24 FPS should be displayed at 24 FPS. But footage should be shot at a higher FPS.

Re: The contagious visual blandness of Netflix

#397

Post by mindslight »

markeibes wrote: post #393
mindslight wrote: post #387

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Season 2. Everyone was too busy suspending disbelief or distracted by their phones/laptops to really notice. I gave the show the benefit of the doubt until the end of Season 4, when Tywin Lannister would have come in and eliminated Joffrey - his family's success relied on installing a competent king to keep the throne, not a useless brat coddled by his incompetent kids. But then rewatching it for the second time, the…

Yet apparently you still paid (at least your attention) to give house of dragons a try reinforcing this disgusting habit of making only remakes and childish franchise bollocks. We must punish them

Pirate life! I don't even know what silo had HoD.

But yes, guilty as charged. The worst part is I'm the type of person that doesn't just give up, but rather insists on finishing a show.

And regardless of formulaic production, I get disappointed by many series that start out great in the first season or two, and then the writing just craters. The best defense I've found is to stop binge watching. Watch one episode to relax after dinner, and then go do something else.

Re: The contagious visual blandness of Netflix

#398

Post by mort96 »

nvarsj wrote: post #285
Godel_unicode wrote: post #225

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you have a citation for that? Lots of people play video games on big screens for hours at a time and don’t get motion sickness.

There were lots of reports of this with the hobbit, e.g. https://theweek.com/articles/469863/why-isthe-hobbit-making-... . Being on a big screen probably makes it much worse. Also I’d conjecture video games are different. It’s like driving a car. Since you are directly controlling the camera usually, I think this helps your brain avoid nausea. Although there’s plenty of people who can’t play FPS either because it mak…

People who play games typically don't typically feel sick during cutscenes, even long ones, even when they're running at 60/120/144 FPS.

Re: The contagious visual blandness of Netflix

#399

Post by mort96 »

b112 wrote: post #283
mort96 wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I will never accept the hate for 48 FPS. 24 FPS looks like garbage. Panning shots are a stuttery mess. 24 FPS looks somewhat okay when the camera is still and only the people in it are moving, but the ridiculous choppiness ruins any moment with camera movement. A higher refresh rate is simply an objective improvement. I don't care that you associate it with bad soap operas.

24 FPS looks like garbage. Panning shots are a stuttery mess. 100% that's your TV, or media player making the mess, not 24fps.

My TV or media player is making a mess when I'm at the cinema?

Re: The contagious visual blandness of Netflix

#400

Post by agentwiggles »

mort96 wrote: post #396
agentwiggles wrote: post #341

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree wildly and I'm seriously shocked that the guy above is arguing in favor of it. I can't stand the weird motion smoothing on modern TVs and would not buy any TV where it can't be turned off.

I'm not arguing in favour of frame interpolation at all. Footage that was shot at 24 FPS should be displayed at 24 FPS. But footage should be shot at a higher FPS.

I could probably get behind that, I'm actually somewhat curious now if it's the higher framerate or only the algorithmic "motion smoothing" that causes the famous soap opera effect.
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