'Men In Black' Director Barry Sonnenfeld Calls 8K, Netflix HDR 'Stupid'

[steven36]

Don’t expect to see the next “Men in Black” movie shot in High Dynamic Range (HDR) or 8K.

 

 

 

Famed Hollywood director Barry Sonnenfeld is not a fan of some of the new TV technologies that are driving the market, namely HDR and 8K.

HDR Is a ‘Disaster’

HDR has become a standard in TVs and among many of streaming media services, much to Sonnenfeld’s chagrin.

 

“HDR is the future… but it shouldn’t be. It’s great for watching sports, like hockey, but nothing else,” says Sonnenfeld bluntly, while speaking at CEDIA Expo 2019 in a panel discussion sponsored by Kaleidescape with actor Patrick Warburton.

 

“One of the ways streaming services are trying to market themselves as different from one another besides content and price is technology. I have been saying for 10 years how bad CineMotion and MotionFlow are, but HDR is almost as bad. No one thinks that true… everyone thinks HDR is the future, but I will tell you that it is really problematic,” says Sonnenfeld, who long list of award-winning credits include directing the “Men in Black” films, “Get Shorty” and the “Addams Family” movies.

 

Sonnenfeld says streaming services like Netflix do not want to release any content that is not HDR, because having HDR makes Netflix appear to be “the next level” from a technology perspective.

 

“And now other [streaming services] are trying to do the same thing. HDR is great if you are shooting something that has high contrast because it can reduce the highlights and bring up the shadows. If you are shooting in Vancouver surrounded by pine trees during the day, that is genius… you can reduce the contrast.

 

“But the other thing that HDR does that is a disaster is it will expand contrast,” he says.

 

Sonnenfeld says in his recent popular Netflix series “A Series of Unfortunate Events”, the plan was to shoot the scenes in a “pastel, low-key, flat, unsaturated look.”

 

“We wanted it really gloomy… really flat,” he says. “The first season [of the show] was released in non-HDR, and then Netflix said, ‘We want to release everything in HDR.’ And in the second season, they took the same beautiful, flat, very narrow palette and we went into color timing and they said, ‘Oh, poor Barry… he shot everything on an overcast day. We will fix it.’

 

He says the studio expanded the bright areas by manipulating the contrast and saturated the colors during the color timing process.

 

“Even after spending tens of thousands of dollars in time, we could not the highlights to appear to be over-exposed,” he says disappointingly.

 

Sonnenfeld says due to that HDR-driven manipulation, the second and third seasons of “A Series of Unfortunate Events” look very different. Since mobile devices and nearly every TV display made today has HDR, Netflix’s reasoning for the manipulation is that the television is going to expand the contrast anyway, so why not do it in the studio during color timing.

 

“I am telling you that HDR is not a solution for everything. Television sets should have the capability to turn on and off HDR, just like CineMotion or MotionFlow. If that doesn’t happen, it is going to be a really bad thing. HDR is designed so people watching on their small phone can have everything pop because they are watching it during daylight or in their office.

 

Sonnenfeld believes Steven Spielberg and other bigtime Hollywood directors will eventually find a way to get films to TV sets with the HDR information turned off via a “filmmaker mode” that he would like to see in all TVs.

 

8K ‘Only Good for Sports’

 

HDR was not the only targeted technology by Sonnenfeld during the panel discussion. He also set his sights on 8K.

 

“Congratulations… for the first time in history we now know when a puck goes into the net because you see it go into the net [because of 8K] and not because the light and horn go on,” says Sonnenfeld sarcastically, while also admitting he does not watch hockey.

 

“For sports, 8K is great,” says Sonnenfeld, but otherwise says it is “a waste… it’s stupid.”

 

He says cinematographers today go out of their way to use older lenses and filters on digital cameras to make a movie look like it was not shot with a 4K or 8K camera.

 

Warburton says 4K and 8K cameras make everything “look like a soap opera.”

 

Sonnenfeld does not believe movies should “look like reality,” but instead be a medium for “telling stories.”

 

“The problem with 8K and even 4K is that all it is doing is bringing us closer to a video game aesthetic. It just looks more and more ‘not real.’ I can’t watch any Marvel movies because none of the visual effects look real,” says Sonnenfeld.

 

Other topics covered in the panel discussion included “day and date” services. Both Sonnenfeld and Warburton believe media servers should all offer day and date service at some point, which means homeowners will be able to watch first-run movies at home the same day the film is released in theater.

 

Sonnenfeld only goes to a commercial theater once a year, while Warburton says he and his wife only go a few times a year also.

 

“Usually we walk out saying to ourselves, ‘That’s why we don’t go to the movies,’” says Warburton, who notable acting credits include “Seinfeld”, “Family Guy”, and “A Series of Unfortunate Events.”

 

Warburton cited “all the hassle,” including other theater patrons on cellphones, people with colds coughing and sneezing, and other noise distractions.

 

Both men are big proponents of home cinema as the best way to watch movies and TV content.

 

Source

[spudboy]

This guy is talking a complete bunch of crap. Like he is completely clueless in the HDR department. Not to mention most everything he's done on the directing front is garbage. The Addams Family movies, Men in Black, Wild Wild West, Space Chimps, etc,... and we're supposed to listen to HIM? LOLOLOL!!!

[Sylence]

All 4K and 8K does is to make the image look more clearer and higher details. there is no problem in making the image look better.

 

he should learn from the director Christopher Nolan and how he produces IMAX 4K movies like Interstellar, Batman and so on. all of Christopher Nolan movies are in the top 250 movies in the world.

who the hell is this guy calling himself director and now talking about technology that was created by scientists and this guy has no clue about it.

[Ryrynz]

He makes complete sense and he should because he's a God damn Director and he knows what he's talking about unlike most on here.
The fact of the matter is HDR is nothing really more than a post processing added to videos that have not been shot with it, most times it's gaudy and extreme.

For example, I'm watching The Tick HDR and the scenes with outside window light are extreme.. I'm watching this in a dim room and my HDR settings are turned down and it's still TOO fucking bright.

Every other scene looks fine but you can tell the places where the colorist just says.. "fuck let's just make this scene pop and blind the audience cos I got all this brightness to work with so, fuck it" It's not even remotely natural  and this is his point.. It's like a better quality Dynamic mode being set on your TV and in many instances it's WAY over done. So.. NO.. he's not "talking a bunch of crap" he knows EXACTLY what he's talking about.. and you sir, do not.

[spudboy]

5 hours ago, Ryrynz said:

He makes complete sense and he should because he's a God damn Director and he knows what he's talking about unlike most on here.
The fact of the matter is HDR is nothing really more than a post processing added to videos that have not been shot with it, most times it's gaudy and extreme.

For example, I'm watching The Tick HDR and the scenes with outside window light are extreme.. I'm watching this in a dim room and my HDR settings are turned down and it's still TOO fucking bright.

Every other scene looks fine but you can tell the places where the colorist just says.. "fuck let's just make this scene pop and blind the audience cos I got all this brightness to work with so, fuck it" It's not even remotely natural  and this is his point.. It's like a better quality Dynamic mode being set on your TV and in many instances it's WAY over done. So.. NO.. he's not "talking a bunch of crap" he knows EXACTLY what he's talking about.. and you sir, do not.

Um. No. He doesn't. You're WAY off base. The one here who is completely clueless is yourself and this worthless director. Read some of the replies on the source article and you'll begin to understand. Like a poster there said "He's blaming post-production decisions by the producers on the technology.", and so are you. There is PLENTY wrong with his entire train of thought, including his stupid "Can't watch Marvel cuz it doesn't look real" tripe. As if M.I.B. does? LMAO! How about his nonsense rambling about "Good only for hockey", then goes on to say how it lowers highlights? Him preaching that extended contrast is a BAD thing? Then Warburton  says "4K and 8K cameras make everything look like a soap opera.”. C'mon. Resolution has NOTHING to with the soap opera effect.

The thing that really makes it cut and dry is "the studio expanded the bright areas by manipulating the contrast and saturated the colors during the color timing process." He's admitting RIGHT HERE that the problems had absolutely NOTHING to do with HDR or 4k/8k, but is blaming things ENTIRELY on them. These guys are a complete joke. So many contradictions in their words it's sickening. Please try to catch up. The technology is outstanding when used properly. You're blaming the wrong thing. 100%.

 

As far as The Tick goes, can you reference a precise episode and time frame? Just took a quick look at it in 4K/HDR10 on Amazon Prime and saw nothing wrong at all. Looked fantastic on my set, although I cannot stand the show so I didn't want to sit through even 1 entire episode to look for what you're seeing. Pointing out a specific scene would be helpful.

[xpkRAKE]

That new MIB movie wouldn`t be any better in 24k - you can`t polish a turd.

[Ryrynz]

He's not directly blaming the format, he's blaming the implementation of it, (specifically the choices made by the colorists who the director in this case has no control over)

How hard is that to pick up srsly..

[Sylence]

On 9/17/2019 at 3:07 PM, Ryrynz said:

He makes complete sense and he should because he's a God damn Director and he knows what he's talking about unlike most on here.
The fact of the matter is HDR is nothing really more than a post processing added to videos that have not been shot with it, most times it's gaudy and extreme.

For example, I'm watching The Tick HDR and the scenes with outside window light are extreme.. I'm watching this in a dim room and my HDR settings are turned down and it's still TOO fucking bright.

Every other scene looks fine but you can tell the places where the colorist just says.. "fuck let's just make this scene pop and blind the audience cos I got all this brightness to work with so, fuck it" It's not even remotely natural  and this is his point.. It's like a better quality Dynamic mode being set on your TV and in many instances it's WAY over done. So.. NO.. he's not "talking a bunch of crap" he knows EXACTLY what he's talking about.. and you sir, do not.

 

I don't think so. Nsaneforum members can be a lot more knowledgeable than outsiders ^^

21 hours ago, xpkRAKE said:

That new MIB movie wouldn`t be any better in 24k - you can`t polish a turd.

 

exactly.