"That’s the paradox of contemporary film preservation. For a film to be preserved, it must remain accessible. But to remain accessible, it must be modernized." - Well said!
For sure. I don't know which colors I like best. If I can see the movie well, I'm fine with whatever lol. But at the same time, if you want to evoke fear and tension, Michael Bay movie type colors may not work XD. Not that cyan is that.
I've been a portrait photographer for over 20 years. I work with and see the color.
Granted, my images have a warmer (Red/Magenta) tinge that I prefer.
That modern shift to Green/Cyan in the movies is atrocious. I don't know what to attribute that trend to. I have a couple of theories.
One is that they probably teach this "new" approach in colleges that stipulates that you should push G/C into the shadows and R/Y into the highlights. Supposedly that sort of color separation technique adds to contrast and appeal (NOT). They call it the "Hollywood" or "Blockbuster" look. I don't know who started this but IMO most younger colorists follow or are forced to follow it.
Two, and it's a silly one, another modern trend. The "bad" or "harmful" blue light from digital screens. The marketing of blue-blocking prescription and reading glasses is a heavy one. That "blue-blocking" coating add a magenta filter to the glasses. If I were to use them while color editing, of course, I'd be overcorrecting on the green side (opposite of magenta).
I think both of your theories sound quite reasonable. The first would definitely fit with the introduction of the whole 'teal-and-orange' format about 22 years ago. The second would be in line with the way the distinction between computer and TV screens began to collapse in the digital age. Thank you for sharing!
This was such an interesting piece! While the color change doesn’t totally “grind my gears” I feel a bit foolish for not thinking about this before. Cyan IS everywhere. Really appreciate the technical take!
I don't know how to identify them, no! I mean, color grades really can change all the time. Every single instance of a new transfer is another opportunity to work on the colors. Like, if we had an old film print from the 80s, that would offer a good point of comparison (though the print itself would be degraded by now).
I've never thought so much about different editions of media content, I really love reading these essays! Even when I've never seen the content, it's very compelling. I don't normally want to read content that speaks to such concrete or specific examples if I have not engaged with the content myself, but there's something A) about how Mikhail writes and B) about the idea of different editions or versions of content as always in flux that makes Textual Variations fun and accessible.
Also, I've mentioned a couple of fan edits of LOST, and now I'm super curious about what you'd think about 'Circle' in relation to the colour-grading. The fan editor is 1000% doing all kinds of colour-grading changes (not to mention just like... adding in little musical cues from outside of LOST).
"That’s the paradox of contemporary film preservation. For a film to be preserved, it must remain accessible. But to remain accessible, it must be modernized." - Well said!
Thank you! Yeah, it's a line of thought I hope to elaborate on in the future. There's a lot to write about when it comes to digital modernization.
For sure. I don't know which colors I like best. If I can see the movie well, I'm fine with whatever lol. But at the same time, if you want to evoke fear and tension, Michael Bay movie type colors may not work XD. Not that cyan is that.
I've been a portrait photographer for over 20 years. I work with and see the color.
Granted, my images have a warmer (Red/Magenta) tinge that I prefer.
That modern shift to Green/Cyan in the movies is atrocious. I don't know what to attribute that trend to. I have a couple of theories.
One is that they probably teach this "new" approach in colleges that stipulates that you should push G/C into the shadows and R/Y into the highlights. Supposedly that sort of color separation technique adds to contrast and appeal (NOT). They call it the "Hollywood" or "Blockbuster" look. I don't know who started this but IMO most younger colorists follow or are forced to follow it.
Two, and it's a silly one, another modern trend. The "bad" or "harmful" blue light from digital screens. The marketing of blue-blocking prescription and reading glasses is a heavy one. That "blue-blocking" coating add a magenta filter to the glasses. If I were to use them while color editing, of course, I'd be overcorrecting on the green side (opposite of magenta).
There you have it.
I think both of your theories sound quite reasonable. The first would definitely fit with the introduction of the whole 'teal-and-orange' format about 22 years ago. The second would be in line with the way the distinction between computer and TV screens began to collapse in the digital age. Thank you for sharing!
This was such an interesting piece! While the color change doesn’t totally “grind my gears” I feel a bit foolish for not thinking about this before. Cyan IS everywhere. Really appreciate the technical take!
At the risk of sounding silly, can you identify the two versions by their colour grade here: https://www.reddit.com/r/FIlm/s/gLLjFO6RIH
And more importantly, are any of the two the ‘original’ colour grade? It doesn’t seem like it, but I don’t know how blue the original blue was!
I don't know how to identify them, no! I mean, color grades really can change all the time. Every single instance of a new transfer is another opportunity to work on the colors. Like, if we had an old film print from the 80s, that would offer a good point of comparison (though the print itself would be degraded by now).
I've never thought so much about different editions of media content, I really love reading these essays! Even when I've never seen the content, it's very compelling. I don't normally want to read content that speaks to such concrete or specific examples if I have not engaged with the content myself, but there's something A) about how Mikhail writes and B) about the idea of different editions or versions of content as always in flux that makes Textual Variations fun and accessible.
Also, I've mentioned a couple of fan edits of LOST, and now I'm super curious about what you'd think about 'Circle' in relation to the colour-grading. The fan editor is 1000% doing all kinds of colour-grading changes (not to mention just like... adding in little musical cues from outside of LOST).
Excellent essay. I love this kind of hyper-specific dive into a topic.
Thanks! I hope to say even more about it in the future.