Why Does Modern TV Look So Flat?

There’s no denying that TV just looks different these days. We could do a deep dive on Netflix lighting and try to diagnose the source of a visual illness that seems to have sucked all the life out of modern-day images, but we only have so much time.

So let’s check out this new video essay from Wow Them in the End, which puts a name to that nagging feeling. The original series had warmth in its overexposed sunlight punching through windows, strong backlighting, saturated skin tones with visible shadows, colorful clothes and furniture, all of it colliding in frame.

The revival has a cleaner, less alive look, and the same could be said for almost anything made or remade these days, like The Devil Wears Prada 2. People just look washed out.

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More “Realistic” Cinematography Can Feel Less Natural

The video argues it’s simply a widespread aesthetic trend. The pursuit of what currently passes for “realistic” cinematography includes diffused light and muted tones and colors, and has produced images that paradoxically feel less natural, more processed, and more emotionally distant.

We’ve also only increased image resolution over the past 10 years, so images have only gotten crisper, sharper, and easier to manipulate in post. We’ve lost texture as resolution increased (older digital still had a bit of “crunch”). It’s homogenized the look a little.

If you look at the new Malcolm in the Middle , it's fine. The images aren't ugly or anything. But often, the frames are missing character.

How Color Can Be Used as a Storytelling Tool

The video uses Game of Thrones vs. House of the Dragon as another comparison.

The early GoT seasons used color and temperature as storytelling tools. We saw Ned Stark's cold Nordic world versus the sun-baked King's Landing, which made you feel his displacement.

House of the Dragon collapses all of that into one muted look. Everything is gray. It’s just all gray and dark. The video describes it as a show where "the richness and variation of that world have been unified into one dull look.”

Remember that color and light can mean something narratively. Don’t neglect it.

The Problem Isn't Film vs. Digital

The film-versus-digital debate is often invoked as a convenient excuse. Things just looked better “in the old days.” But plenty of digitally shot productions still manage contrast, dimension, and color without defaulting to a safe, muted palette.

The problem isn't the fancy new camera. It's the choices being made along the way in production design, lighting, color grade, costuming, and more.

As we’ve already covered, a lot of the lighting decisions are being made in post by people who may not have the cinematographic instincts of a seasoned DP, and productions often deliberately default to flat exposure because it's easier to standardize across delivery formats, from HDR TVs to phones to projectors.

Just yesterday, I saw a video from TikToker @beckerbraden who brought up the same lack of color and depth in modern creative works, and he came to the same conclusion. It’s totally possible to shoot digitally and end up with something that looks close to film. So that’s not the root cause.

@beckerbraden

Note: In no way am I trying to disparage anyone's work with this video. I am using the side-by-side comparison of Devil Wears Prada to illustrate a point because that example has gone extremely viral in the past months. I've seen far too many videos from uneducated people who clearly don't know the first thing about cinematography to not make a video on this topic myself. And I will likely be making a follow-up breaking down one video in particular that is COMPLETELY and almost offensively incorrect. #movies #film #filmmaking #cinematography

Unfortunately, he didn’t have a solution, but we've covered plenty of options for cinematic lighting, so maybe start there.

What We Should Learn

Light is story. Contrast, shadow, and color temperature are how audiences feel where a character is, who they are, and what they're up against.

If you're developing your visual language as a filmmaker, study the early seasons of Game of Thrones or the original Malcolm in the Middle. Notice how light is doing heavier narrative lifting. Then ask yourself if your cinematography is doing the same.