film trends: The whites are whiter and the brights are brighter!

Okay, who's the color timer responsible for this unnecessary and fairly distracting trend in comedies lately? (Actually I imagine a director or producer sending off notes reading: "It's a comedy. Make it brighter.")

My friends dragged me to the local Harkins one night in 2003. They decided the best way to spend our last weekend before college was seeing American Wedding. Now I'm not recommending that anyone at all see this film. Honestly, I hardly even remember it.



But there was something about the picture that stuck with me that night. The only way I could articulate this to my friends was by saying "the white levels look really bright." In fact, the whole picture had an unnatural yellow hue, all while being severely blown out. I hadn't ever seen anything that looked quite like that before.

Then the trend emerged. Every year following, I've spotted at least 2 or 3 films with this trait; crushed whites, overexposed highlights, color grading that's usually golden. Check out the examples to get an idea.






So what's up with this, and why haven't I ever seen anyone address it? I'm guessing that no one cares, frankly. These are, after all, just dopey films. Coupled with the fact that the problem is much more noticeable on a plasma/LCD screen, it's easy to ignore.

However, I used the word "problem," because if you pop one of these DVDs or Blu-rays in, they look like, in my opinion, crap. Film (and 2k/4k digital cameras) has the advantage capturing high volumes of color information. This is heavily compressed on DVD, producing white blobs for highlights. Blu-ray is better, but it will still depend on the home setup.

I get it, though. The movie is supposed to look quirky, bright and exciting. What I don't get is the sacrifice of picture quality in leu of a visual gimmick.