This whole last two weeks has been a mess, driven by sales, looming holidays and that Christmas spending impulse. I did some sensible things, then contemplated some dumb ones, then came back to sensible, with a touch of grumpy.
My video restlessness had reared its head again, lots has been written, some about to be reinforced and some might seem to be contradictory.
I am sick of the unreal, the teal and amber, soft-sharp bullshit that is taking over TV and the movies. The English and Australian stuff in particular disappoints, as do lots of Vloggers, some commercials even. It seems even the BBC News cannot resist heavy filtering, super shallow depth and an amount of “Netflix glow” that is simply following a fashion for fashions sake. There even seems to be a propensity for artificially softened edges, a “miniature mode” look.
This is not natural lighting, but we accept it, emulate it, worship it.
Just because you can, does not mean you should.
So fake, so disingenuous and a product of many factors, none of them driven by genuine need.
I do not like it and I do not want to copy it.
No gimmicks needed if the content is strong enough.
This makes my video selections a lot easier. My previous need/want post has devolved into don’t really need or want.
The DZO Vespid is now off the table, as well as the 50mm Sirui anamorphic, a lens I have ordered and cancelled twice. These are perfectly fine, but part of chasing the same tail as the industry.
I bought the 24mm Sirui lenses in MFT for a reason. They are natural rendering “normal” lenses and of the lenses in the range they avoid overt anamorphic side effects (flare, oval Bokeh, distortions) as much as any anamorphic lens can, so I get the normal-with-wide perspective I like, you know, wide screen, but nothing else.
What is wrong with clarity, natural rendering and reality?
The Hope lenses are clean, the Spectrums pretty good also, my stills lenses are excellent and the Panasonic cams render a natural looking image, if sometimes a little sharp, but not so much I need a strength 2 Black Mist! If I want a wide screen tele, I will letterbox some 6k spherical stuff.
I shoot my stills normally, which is to say I do not add any styles or artistic opinions to them, so why am I always fighting the perceived need to with video?
I try to be an informed and aware content creator, one who may follow a look or fashion for a job that requires it, but I really do not want to slavishly do as the rest do. Innovation comes from bucking the habit of conforming and timelessness comes from quality, not just chasing the current look.
Maybe I will do some black and white?