Why so many digital indie short-films have such high contrast and saturation?

OK, so it's not just laziness...it's fad as well. Definitely. When Matrix came out, everybody started using green grading...

It seems to be happening to 'low light' now too...'My DSLR shoots great low light...we don't have to light anything, woo hoo!' It's too bad, because muddy ain't good.

Bad fads include:

* Handheld (shaky cam too distracting to keep me involved)
* Green and orange grading
* Demon Face
* DOF (the overuse and improper use of)
* Rack focus (wow, you can rack, good for you)
* 'natural' lighting

I'm quite surprised, I really thought it had something necessity and not artistic choice.


When I see the reddish hue, sometimes it burns my eyes. I am actually even surprised at it as even a fad. For music video it brings out the extreme and wild nature of some music tracks. But for short films, I don't see how it caught on as a fad. It's a shame because some digital movies are given with the reddish hue and it makes sense towards the overall story and feel, but you automatically think of every other reddish saturated digital short that used it.

About Rack focus: I don't know if this is a fad or just amateur, but I never liked the rack focus that lasts about 50 seconds too long. Of course sometimes a very long rack focus works, but other times you're just staring at a blur that, within the context of the story, isn't supposed to be mysterious. It's just camera technique.




Also OT: About shaky camera as a fad- I think these days "most" movies have it to the point where it works. If it's to show turbulence, for example inside a plane cockpit, it can be very shaky and work! My old film professor loves it saying "Hey back in 2003 they hated it, but now it's perfect now that people are accustomed to it." I have to say, it's not that people are accustomed to it now. It's that the cinematographers out there are learning to tone down the amount of shake or they know to balance now both shots with less camera movement AND the shaky shots. I think in the early 2000s they were liberal with the camera shake. These days they can make certain scenes with a handheld feel, without dizzying the audience.

overcompensation with the control they do have (color grading)
for the control they don't. (cheap equipment).

its something us noobs have to go through. Though, I admit watching old men standing on porches yelling "Kids these day don't know crap!" while they shake there walkers in derision is a funny, thing to see. Now get off my lawn you pesky punks!

The look you guys are talking about is the Bleach Bypass look right? High contrast and the colors drained?
I'm raising my hand as an abuser, my short film is about loneliness and I think that look has the right atmospherics so I'm using it :/

I'm not gunna dislike a film just because they use that type of filter. Sometimes the over saturation / or that reddish hue can really work like in a western or music video.

But it actually is a bit alarming on the eyes when not done properly. That or it just felt like they threw on the first filter they saw.