An opinion of mine....

jlmarta

I’ve recently begun watching a tv series on Amazon Prime called The Killing. It has some pretty good reviews and, so far, the story line seems strong and engaging. 

It’s my opinion, however, that directors of a lot of today’s films, videos, etc.such as this series who believe that employing a very dark screen or background somehow heighten the drama of whatever media you’re watching need to find a new and different line of work. 

All they really accomplish is to piss off the person trying to watch it to the point where said person wishes they’d chosen something different to watch.  

So sayeth the Oldfart.....  👴🏻

0patience

New shows just aren't that appealing anymore.
We've gotten on a kick lately watching old shows, like Adam 12, Emergency, CHiPs and shows like that.

YankeeMan

That's why I always hated the Batman movies.  The dark screen makes it hard to watch.

webmost

It's not just the dark screen. The sound man similarly amps up the mood music to where you can't hear the actor mumbling key lines. You can hit the back up button three times, give it the old what'd he say, and still not catch it.

peter4jc

Or, maybe they're making these shows/movies to be enjoyed under ideal circumstances, i.e. a theater (or home theater) with little or no outside light so the darker scenes still have some contrast between dark and black, as well as having a sound system with an adequate center channel for vocal content.

So sayeth the cantakerous one.  And remember too that many of us are either oldfarts or on the verge of becoming one, and some of our physical capabilities are waning.

jlmarta

peter4jc said:

So sayeth the cantakerous one.  And remember too that many of us are either oldfarts or on the verge of becoming one, and some of our physical capabilities are waning.

Do I hear a big AMEN to that???  👍

IndustMech

My wife suggests painting the wall behind the TV a dark color.

jd50ae

@jlmarta
And it is everywhere, TV and movies.
Dark always dark.
There is no level of brightness that can be adjusted to make up for it.
I guess they are trying to force us into buying the new TVs with 50 shades of black.
And the audibles are so bad my closed caption on occasion can't translate.
Head phones on full blast?

0patience

webmost said:

It's not just the dark screen. The sound man similarly amps up the mood music to where you can't hear the actor mumbling key lines. You can hit the back up button three times, give it the old what'd he say, and still not catch it.

Closed caption. I've learned that most shows, I have to have it on or I have no idea what people are saying.
The music people on these shows need to be slapped.

Yakster

Our closed captioning is almost always and agree with the comments on the over dark movies and muddy audio. It was really bad when we took the kids to the drive-in and planes, trains, and automobiles would go by during the movie.

ForMud

All I know is I have Tinnitus and I'm short sighted......So here's what I look like watching TV......

CharlieHeis

I agree with the over dark comments and as far as the audio goes, I have better luck just watching it with the tv audio or at least turning the subwoofer way down.

Yakster

My sound bar has a "Night Mode" setting that cuts the bass and makes it easier to hear the dialog.  Subtitles still on, a lot of what we watch isn't in English anyway so you get used to it.  One of our sayings when people are talking too loudly is "be quiet, I can't hear the subtitles" since you need focus to catch the written dialog.  Only drawback to watching programs in other languages is you have to face the TV, no cooking or cigar forums or other activities while you're watching if you want to keep up with the story. (Most of the anime dubbed into English just sounds wrong compared to the original language)

Cigarsonist

jlmarta said:

I’ve recently begun watching a tv series on Amazon Prime called The Killing. It has some pretty good reviews and, so far, the story line seems strong and engaging. 

It’s my opinion, however, that directors of a lot of today’s films, videos, etc.such as this series who believe that employing a very dark screen or background somehow heighten the drama of whatever media you’re watching need to find a new and different line of work. 

All they really accomplish is to piss off the person trying to watch it to the point where said person wishes they’d chosen something different to watch.  

So sayeth the Oldfart.....  👴🏻

This is a pretty old style that’s being way overused in recent films/movies. Don’t mean to be pretentious. The only reason I know this is because I did some googling when I posed the same question to myself the other day.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chiaroscuro