So, What is with all the cyan

[mikemilton]

http://www.sonypictures.com/homevideo/gattaca/

Above is just one (of many - look at sleuth or Gothika for others) example of recent films that all seem WAY to cyan.

Now, one can tune this out (and to my eyes these look a lot better that way) but it seems like this is an intentional thing on the part of the creators as it is present in most online and print media as well.

So, is this a style? What do you think of it? Is it just me?

Surely not every movie ought to be colour-timed so cold?

m

[57]

Each director likes to add his own "trademark" to the film, whether it be a colour - to make the movie look "technical", or another colour - like Amelie which came from the palette of the director's favourite artist, or sepia (Oh Brother Where Art Though), to make the movie look old, or The Aviator, in which the palette changed with time to reflect the look of movies of the time, or Dick Tracy, which had cartoon colours.

Directors also play with grain, B&W, Aspect Ratio, etc.

By going to websites like IMDb, you can better understand the director's intent.

http://www.imdb.com/

[mikemilton]

Director's intent....

Oh, I absolutely understand that. As an aside, Oh Brother was the first movie that was fully digitally timed and the Coen Brothers are heavy users of the final cut studion components to this day. Colour (part of this suite) is quite a lot of fun to play with and on can really get a feel for the extent to which such manipulation can cange the imapct of a scene or an entire film (or focus attention on one bit of a scene almost subliminally)

Here is one link if you are interested
http://www.apple.com/finalcutstudio/color/

Indeed, I would assume (perhaps incorrectly) that most digital releases come from the 4K DI version rather than scanning at this point?


My question was: Why the preponderance of one particular treatment, particularly when it seems, at best, to add nothing and, at worst, to deliver a colour cast that is annoying.

I suppose I was wondering if it really is an artistic fashion (that I simply don't like) or if it is an artifact of the transfer process.

To get at the question differently; can anyone who has seen the theatrical comment on their perception of the digital released being the same or different??

[Gord Lacey]

Is this a complaint about the movie, or the Blu-ray release having too much cyan? Looks like it's a complaint about the movie.

Gord

[shabbs]

Check Ocean's 13 - tons of orange in that one. Intentional on the director's part for whatever reason.

[calvin940]

Originally Posted by shabbs

Check Ocean's 13 - tons of orange in that one. Intentional on the director's part for whatever reason.

Which just plain destroys that release btw. It looked terrible and was very distracting.

[Big Red]

Yes , some of the directors just luv to use different colour filters in their movies , some like to make an old movie look grainy but IMO it does not do 1080p justice !

Just like the TV show Miami Vice , too much yellow for me

B-R

[shabbs]

Originally Posted by calvin940

Which just plain destroys that release btw. It looked terrible and was very distracting.

Yeah, the colours and the heavy grain in Ocean's 13 were crazy. Almost not worth getting in HD.

Now, I liked how they did it in The Matrix where everything had a shade of green to it. Very cool, very subtle and very effective.

[mikemilton]

Gord>
It is not a complaint at all really but if it were, I do not know if it would be a complaint about the movie or the BR because I have not seen the film theatrically.

The question is: whay are so many movies (or possibly so many BR copies if it is not true of the theatrical release) so cyan?

The answer may well be that it is a current stylistic choice of film creators or it could be technical (for example, similar to the issues that resulted in the technicolor look) or it could be random.

m

[shabbs]

mikemilton - if you check the reviews at HDD of the movies you mentioned (Gattaca, Sleuth, Gothika) you'll see that they do make comment on the prominence of steely blue colours and tones etc... in all of those movies. For Gattaca it seemed to be to achieve a "clinical" look. Most certainly it was all intentional. Whether you like it or not, is all up to you.