To think a lot of dramas these days are so visually dark they’re unwatchable?

[FinGizz]

I’ve checked all my settings on tv and they’re as bright as can go.

feeling so old now muttering but honestly is so difficult to see the action on the screen

Yes! I can barely see a thing at times. And don't get me started on the ear drum bursting sound tracks followed by dialogue so quiet I need subtitles. I sit there with the remote turning the volume from 11 up to 20 at times, then have to turn it down sharpish before the music comes on again,and the cat flees the room in flat eared terror.

Agree with both posters - too dark and dialogue way too quiet

I often have subtitles on nowadays. I think it’s assumed that you’re using some fancy surround sound system.

Yes! Some might just as well be audiobooks. I’ve been watching Silo recently and there were long scenes of people mumbling in the dark where I had literally no idea what was going on. Even watching in a darkened room the screen was 95% black.

Yes, all grey or navy or shades of brown. Cheap way to add drama or cosy or aged feel but it's so irritating. They often mutter or mumble as well. My ears, eyes and screen settings are fine!

@FinGizz oh totally! I know they think it's about authenticity but there was one Paddy Considine drama that was almost unwatchable

I also agree about the volume problems. I can't see how a fancy sound system would fix it. Too quiet, followed by too loud, is a failure of the sound engineering team. Why would a fancy sound system correct the contrast? I've never had a fancy sound system so I don't know.

Yes and film. Some parts are so dark I can just see myself reflected :D

I also really hate music on documentaries. Years ago serious documentaries didn't need music to prompt us to feel a certain way. I do think most modern tv is exceptionally shite.

It's the lost art of how to light a scene properly. It's possible to convey, for example, a dark and dingy room, without restricting the visibility of the actions to the point where viewers cannot see it at all.

It doesn't need to BE a dark room for us to know it's a dark room. We still need to be able to see the actor's faces if nothing else.

I've commented on this a few times whilst watching TV dramas. A fairly recent adaptation of Great Expectations was dire for many reasons, but the night time scenes in Victorian London and scenes in candlelit rooms were so dark it might as well have been a radio play.

Yes, we know candles and gas lamps don't give off much light, but this is TV. We still need to be able to see.

I often have subtitles on nowadays. I think it’s assumed that you’re using some fancy surround sound system.

Doesn't always fix it. DH is obsessed with such things and we always have the latest/best (I give it to him, it’s his thing) but there are shows where you still need the remote as to hear the voices without straining your ears, results in being drowned in loud music or other noises in parts. It’s fucking irritating and I have no idea why they think it’s acceptable, surely they check shows for this shit before pushing them out so guessing it comes under the banner of ‘isn’t it artistic’. And yes, scenes in low light also shit me.

It's the lost art of how to light a scene properly. It's possible to convey, for example, a dark and dingy room, without restricting the visibility of the actions to the point where viewers cannot see it at all

Very true. I just think if painters like Michelangelo could manage back then to do paintings conveying people in low light situations but done so we could ‘see’, then hundreds of years on, and with modern technology, surely they can manage this with shows these days. Again, I think someone, somewhere pushed it as artistic/trendy, but it’s just fucking irritating.

You need to get yourself a new fancy oled TV... I did that and now I can see all the varying shades of black 😂

I thought was just me!!! Sweet mercy. Some are basically unwatchable. They mistake ominous music and not being able to see anything with suspense and art.

Also, it's a skill you have to have for stage production lighting. It's not acceptable when your audience aren't all sitting a few feet away to have the action so poorly lit it can't be seen from the back of the auditorium.

It's a strange thing, but when we are using both of our senses, they compliment each other. Poorly lit scenes are harder to hear if you don't have a visual impairment. Although more actors now do use microphones, the sound isn't amplified like it is on your TV. You can't turn it up. Visual cues help you hear.

You're right. I'm always struggling to see what's happening as the screen is so dark. Couple that with mumbling dialogue or loud background music and I usually give up.

I've thought the same thing many a time. My hearing's fine but there's so much mumbling, running words together, and general incoherent speech that I have the subtitles on permanently (unless watching with DH as it bugs him 😄) I think it's meant to mirror natural speech patterns, but it's irritating AF.

Usually dreadful acting and special effects

Natural speech patterns are all well and good in real life, when you can ask someone to repeat something you don't catch, but it's no good on the screen.

It's why actors used to be trained in received pronunciation. It doesn't sound natural, but it's clear to listeners. Of course, over time RP's been rightly dropped in favour of more natural speech and local accents, but you still need the training to understand how to sound natural and be heard.

With a much greater number of actors now having only ever worked in TV/Film, the stage craft of how to be natural and be heard is another thing being lost. It's a skill.

Absolutely right. I felt it start with Game of Thrones and has just spread into everything since then. No idea how it makes it onto TV in that state.

If you have your brightness settings up high it might be exacerbating the problem. I would find a programme which has the problem and pause it on a still image and go in and fiddle with the settings, it might be the opposite of what you assume that you need to change. For example setting contrast to high will blend together similar shades whereas lower contrast allows more subtlety in shading. Brightness might also be accentuating areas where the screen is lighter and making darker parts less clear.

Oh my god,all the time!
Me and my husband moan about this a lot! He's always shouting " turn the bloody lights on!" if a character walks into a building and starts mooching around in the dark.
We sometimes watch dramas on catch up at the weekend. Our TV is in front of the window and we have to close the curtains became can't see a thing otherwise! Programmes such as Blue Lights are the worse.
Puts me off watching them! It's too much like hard work!

Yep, both of these have been a source of viewer complaints for a decade now, and yet things aren't improving. I routinely send in complaints into the BBC about this, not that they do anything about it.

I commented on a similar thread a couple of weeks ago, and a very supportive MN reader 'explained' that it was because I was over fifty! Thanks, hun 🙄. Whilst hearing does change with age, this is definitely a much wider problem.

Funny, though, I have no problems watching older dramas, films etc. It's definitely a modern production problem. These shows probably look great in the editing suites but are hopeless on your typical family TV.

Game of Thrones was just the worst! It got to the stage where DH and I would watch it in the dark, with the curtains closed so there would be no reflections, but still couldn't make out half of what was going.
I watch an awful lot of old movies and the difference is so clear. They are a pleasure to watch...lighting is perfect, people speak clearly, and there's no straining to see or hear.

There was a recent thing we watched where the main character's potentially beautiful home seemed to be decorated entirely in shades of black! I think this was meant to be a reminder that she was grieving the loss of her husband... which you couldn't forget because they kept wanging on about it!

Generally though, like others, it's the sound that I find difficult. So indistinct.
I saw recently somewhere that you should check the sound settings on your TV: they may be defaulting to 5:1 sound which is for surround sound. You may have to switch it back to original. Not that I've got round to doing this; I just complain about it instead!

Gosh thank you all for the validation!

I'm also a subtitles user because the dialogue is so hard to hear.

I'm 54 so definitely it might be an age thing, but like a PP, watching old stuff never seems to come with this trouble.

It's Blue Lights actually that started me thinking of this thread. I thought it was mostly Netflix programming but obviously it's wider as that's BBC.

i am 47 with no hearing issues and said exactly the same, the films are too dark to see and the sound effects/music overtakes the voice so cant hear them speaking properly. Also echo the volume up and down to hear what is going on.