116 replies to this topic

[Mr_Wint]

There are some comparison screencaps here:

 

http://www.thebondbu...grading-spectre

 

Nice, the regraded version is way better.
 

[dtuba]

Skin tones are too pink in the regraded version. The best and most natural color will be somewhere in between the two.

[glidrose]

Did it really look this yellow on screen?!? I can't believe it, I thought there was a little touch of sepia over it all, not such a massive 70s/80s polaroid fade. This stuff looks like the snaps from my 1978 trip down the Yugoslavia coast...

I don't believe it either.

[Vauxhall]

Those just look so... dusty. I accept the Mexico shots were yellow, but the Austria photography surely wasn't so tinted. Weird. I'll just have to wait until I see the Blu-ray with my own eyes.

[Dustin]

Please report back on this, I'm still highly sceptical of these images. This may not have been the best possible photography work but surely nowhere near this train wreck...

[Vauxhall]

Ironically, I was first drawn into Hoyte van Hoytema's work by HER, which has an orangey hue throughout. It doesn't sit as well with these relatively vibrant locations though.

[glidrose]

Did it really look this yellow on screen?!? I can't believe it, I thought there was a little touch of sepia over it all, not such a massive 70s/80s polaroid fade. This stuff looks like the snaps from my 1978 trip down the Yugoslavia coast...

I don't believe it either.

 
 

Please report back on this, I'm still highly sceptical of these images. This may not have been the best possible photography work but surely nowhere near this train wreck...

Yikes. I just checked a bootleg version of the film available on a French streaming site... and apparently the "original" images are indeed correct.

To be on the safe side I checked several other clips available (legally and illegally) online and yep, those "original images" are indeed correct. The film does have a yellow cast - or, as the case may be, a greenish cast during the Austrian chase scene.

Oddly, the "original" shot of the villain's Morocco lair does tally with what I remember seeing in the film.

 

Those just look so... dusty. I accept the Mexico shots were yellow, but the Austria photography surely wasn't so tinted.

It was indeed that tinted...

The Austrian image on the website also threw me, but in retrospect I guess it's because we were seeing the image juxtaposed to a heavily regraded version which only makes the original seem that much more extreme.

[Dustin]

My oh my then, I'm really amazed now how little attention I actually did pay when watching this in the theatre...

Thanks for taking the trouble there.

[Harmsway]

Yeah, the yellow tint reflects the film. It's just when you don't have anything to compare it with, your eyes adjust.

Once the Blu-ray is out, you can tweak your TV settings to reduce the yellow tint, if you so desire.

[glidrose]

Yeah, the yellow tint reflects the film. It's just when you don't have anything to compare it with, your eyes adjust.

Once the Blu-ray is out, you can tweak your TV settings to reduce the yellow tint, if you so desire.

It's also possible that we were too busy wondering why the film was so dark to notice the yellow cast. Or perhaps we were too busy hoping that the "Blofeld is his long-lost foster brother" rumors were unfounded...

[SecretAgentFan]

Still hoping that I like the look better on blu-ray than in the two cinemas I saw it on the big screen.

[Surrie]

Not long to wait now!

[DaveBond21]

4 weeks for us here in Oz. 9th March.

[sharpshooter]

4 weeks for us here in Oz. 9th March.

Yep, six days after my birthday. 

[DaveBond21]

 

4 weeks for us here in Oz. 9th March.

Yep, six days after my birthday. 

 

 

That's a good birthday present! I'm looking forward to see it again and for my wife to see it for the first time.

 

_______________________

[Surrie]

You guys are patient! I'm counting down the days until 22nd Feb! 

[Pierceuhhh]

The photography was heartbreaking. Ugly and lazy. All those locations, all reduced to nothing. It's nice to see a consensus here.

The silver lining is, Eon always seem to correct the last film's complaints with the followup, so BOND 25, even if it has its own issues, should at least look crisp and colourful!

[Yellow Pinky]

Watched my blu-ray last night and think the cinematography is just plain ugly.  Hard to believe this was what Sam Mendes wanted after the gorgeous look of SF.  The yellow cast is so prevalent on the small screen that it becomes distracting and the darks are muddy and lacking in genuine blacks.  Probably my least favorite looking Bond film.  

The saving grace is that the direction, camera location/movement, blocking, and acting allow me to forget the lousy cinematography for stretches at a time.  But I really hate having to color-correct my home display for a single film to alleviate the ugly color balance.

[S K Y F A L L]

I agree, it is disappointing after SF. Sometimes to dark and dreary.

[MattofSteel]

Watched my blu-ray last night and think the cinematography is just plain ugly.  Hard to believe this was what Sam Mendes wanted after the gorgeous look of SF.  The yellow cast is so prevalent on the small screen that it becomes distracting and the darks are muddy and lacking in genuine blacks.  Probably my least favorite looking Bond film.  

The saving grace is that the direction, camera location/movement, blocking, and acting allow me to forget the lousy cinematography for stretches at a time.  But I really hate having to color-correct my home display for a single film to alleviate the ugly color balance.

 

I don't know what to think about this.

 

I thought the cinematography was great in the trailers, found the overall film inventive in the theatre - I wasn't a huge fan of the yellow grading in that experience, but it didn't drag the experience down for me. I've been dreading the Blu-ray release for months only because this color grading discussion has reached such a peak. The comparison snaps from the chap who did the regrade scared me even more.

 

But I bought the Blu-ray last week and watched it Friday night. I love it. It looks fine. I could do without the yellowing in Mexico, Rome, and Tangiers - not a bad idea, I think they just took it way too far - but it was never bad enough to rip me out of the film.

 

All those other elements (direction, camera location/movement, etc.) are so strong that it makes me wonder if this is even a cinematography discussion vs. a post process/editing one. Presumably van Hoytema is a strong voice (or still the voice) about the image quality and presentation at that stage, but I legitimately have to wonder if it's that straightforward. He's one of the world's best cinematographers. It's not like he's not aware these types of filters would make his beautiful photography less compelling. Maybe there's more to this than we know.

 

Or not. Maybe they were trying to heighten the reality and be all artsy, and it backfired miserably. 

I agree, it is disappointing after SF. Sometimes to dark and dreary.

 

I LOL'd at that. Not out of judgement - just one of those moments that remind me how colossally differently we fans interpret these films. A reminder that the filmmakers really can't win, even when they win.

 

Skyfall's cinematography is crisp, clean, endlessly creative, utterly beautiful. Series' best, IMO. But the film itself is the very definition of dark and dreary, where Bond visuals are concerned. (And consciously so. That's part of what I love about it - it embraces its own mood so confidently that you're completely lost in it as an audience). It's a movie that unashamedly takes place in the UK in November and doesn't try and hide it. You can practically count the outdoors, sunny, daytime scenes on one hand.

[Yellow Pinky]

I agree with you, MattofSteel, that then end result is a post-production decision.  

 

I don't doubt van Hoytema's skill as a cinematographer.  I've seen work by him that I loved.  But at some point Mendes decided to color grade everything in post to the muddy look we ended up with.  That's what I don't understand.  The man has worked with Deakins on every other film he's directed.  I expected that we would end up with something that approximated the general cleanliness of Deakins' work on his first film with a new DP.  But such was clearly not the case.  So, I blame Mendes (as I stated in my earlier post).  The director is ultimately the one who makes the call on the look of the final film.

 

I also agree with you point for point about the cinematography in SF.

[RMc2]

You're right, Yellow Pinky - Mendes' body of work very clearly suggests the grading was his call.

 

I also think Hoytema was picked for his versatility and ability to mimic other cinematographers (case in point: Interstellar's recreation of Wally Pfister's work).

 

I can only assume that Hoytema, understandably, wasn't quite up to the task of making the heavy grading work as well as Deakins can - because Deakins has more-or-less made grading his own.

[The Shark]

Skyfall's cinematography is crisp, clean, endlessly creative, utterly beautiful. Series' best, IMO. But the film itself is the very definition of dark and dreary, where Bond visuals are concerned. (And consciously so. That's part of what I love about it - it embraces its own mood so confidently that you're completely lost in it as an audience). It's a movie that unashamedly takes place in the UK in November and doesn't try and hide it. You can practically count the outdoors, sunny, daytime scenes on one hand.

Personally, the Shanghai and Macau scenes along with the lodge aflame and Severine's yacht--are all so memorable and vibrant in hue and memorable, they blot out the more sombre tones of the London chapters. And that's because Skyfall is a film full of stark contrasts, whereas Spectre is almost painted with one brush.
 

[Stubris]

SPECTRE looks a lot softer and for want of a better word, dusty, than I remember at the cinema...not that it ruined my experience of the film at home. It's still a 3-4 star movie with a pretty ropey 3rd act (The torture scene until Tower bridge)

[JohnnyWalker]

Having finally seen Spectre on blu ray I'd say it looks excellent. The yellow tint does not cover the film, although Mexico and Rome have it and some scenes have a bit of a haze but they still look great, all the colours still come through brilliantly. 

[MattofSteel]

 

Skyfall's cinematography is crisp, clean, endlessly creative, utterly beautiful. Series' best, IMO. But the film itself is the very definition of dark and dreary, where Bond visuals are concerned. (And consciously so. That's part of what I love about it - it embraces its own mood so confidently that you're completely lost in it as an audience). It's a movie that unashamedly takes place in the UK in November and doesn't try and hide it. You can practically count the outdoors, sunny, daytime scenes on one hand.

Personally, the Shanghai and Macau scenes along with the lodge aflame and Severine's yacht--are all so memorable and vibrant in hue and memorable, they blot out the more sombre tones of the London chapters. And that's because Skyfall is a film full of stark contrasts, whereas Spectre is almost painted with one brush.
 

 

 

That's very true. I shouldn't generalize about Skyfall - those visual contrasts are a big part of what make it so fulfilling. 

 

I'm coming around to the thinking that Skyfall and SPECTRE will always be so connected (as films) that I basically just consider them one. Despite some of the stylistic differences.

 

Aesthetically, they combine to represent what I think is near-close to a perfect Bond cinematic experience. And at the risk of generalizing again, I think experience trumps aesthetic in the priority game when it comes to Bond.

[dtuba]

https://youtu.be/yKNxeF4KMsY

 

"And it was all...yellow."

Edited by dtuba, 23 March 2016 - 05:02 AM.