Patrick Tomasso: Why don't movies look like movies anymore?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EwTUM9cFeSo

This video is making the rounds now and my friends and I discussed it on Discord. Patrick makes a lot of good points. His take is "Digital isn't inherently bad. FIlmmakers have just gotten lazy."

A 30-year cinematographer commented saying that films are "being destroyed in post." He says DPs aren't being invited into the coloring suite. So this guy put it in his contract that he must sit in or be hired as the colorist.

Don't get me (or anyone else) wrong - There are digitally-shot movies with great contrast and color. Just look at A24 and recent horror movies. I'm working on a short film I shot over the summer, and I have plenty of contrast and strong colors.

One point Patrick makes is that green screens result in a flat image. Sure, it's necessary when you're filming, but you can always tweak the contrast in post - like I'm doing with a green screen effect in my own short. On top of that, the color grade matches the world I'm adding the green screen to.

Recent movies called out in the video itself include Wicked, while the comments call out the trailer for Jurassic World: Rebirth. I didn't notice it when I was watching the trailer, but the film has a heavy green tint. One shot even has a green tint over the standard orange-and-teal look. I've seen recent DIsney movies (and early Marvels) look flat and loggy. Years ago I saw a video that made this same complaint about Marvel.

Patrick says that film cameras have more contrast than today's "high contrast/HDR" digital cameras and that digital cameras can show too much. He says it takes a master to create something like The Batman, Superbad or Zodiac.