MovieChat Forums > Dunkirk (2017) Discussion > Cinematography ruined by green filter

Cinematography ruined by green filter

posted 4 years ago by pzogel (183)
6 replies | jump to latest

Some shots have an orange teal tint to them, which looks off as well, but it mostly affects the faces, which isn't too bad. The green filter, on the other hand, drowns out every detail and destroys contrast as much as composition of the whole scene. The beach scenes in particular suffer greatly from the muddy green tint plastered all over. By contrast, the very few scenes which neither have the green nor the orange teal filter look fantastic, with rich colours, great detail, and stunning contrast.

It's a mystery to me how a movie with a focus on cinematography could drop the ball in terms of colour grading this hard. I've heard that Nolan is red/green blind, so maybe he didn't even notice? Anyway, a non-graded version of Dunkirk would be a very welcome release.

[–] Roguemail (1564) 4 years ago

Nolan is colour blind...ok, let's say he is.

So no one else on the production would have pointed out this obvious 'flaw' to him?

That's just ridiculous. This is just your personal opinion, that's all. It's not a flaw. No major movie would ever be released with such an obvious mistake

Do you have any idea how many people would be involved in grading and colour control, and how many people would have viewed the movie before release?

[–] [deleted] 4 years ago

Yeah, the look of the movie is deliberate. It's artistic convention.
War is dirty, and it shows in this movie.

[–] pzogel (183) 4 years ago

If we assume that it is entirely intentional—why does the colour grading at times change multiple times even during a single scene (pretty much with every shot)? Even if we entertain the possibility that the colour grading is due to IMAX (where colours may come out looking different than on your average TV) and specifically tuned for that, it would still not explain the rapid change in colour tones. Overall, I'm getting the impression that someone must've dropped the ball on this somewhere.

And make no mistake, errors in colour grading happen all the time. Check the 2011 blu-ray release of the Star Wars OT, it's completely drenched in a blue tint that destroys white balance. A rookie mistake, yet it passed every single production stage. It's not outside the realm of possibility that colour grading goes awry on a major production.

[–] Roguemail (1564) 4 years ago

I saw the movie on IMAx andalso have it on blu ray. Not noticed anything you refer to, and never seen anyone else comment on it.

And re the SW release...you are talking about a blu ray release and not the theatrical release. Not the same thing.

One example...yet you claim it happens all the time...

[–] pzogel (183) 4 years ago

I'm not the only one who noticed it:
https://www.reddit.com/r/Dunkirk/comments/6pluad/color_grading_explain_it_to_me_please/
https://www.reddit.com/r/Dunkirk/comments/6olsmt/inconsistencies_in_color_grading_and_shots/

The second link has some comments that link to other sources as well, going more into detail about the production process.

Me naming one example doesn't mean that there isn't more than one. OTOH, the Disney+ OT release has a green tint instead of a blue one now, although not consistently either. It's fan editions like 4k77 who finally managed to get the colours right, i.e., what they looked like in theatre.

Another example would be Blade Runner's Final Cut, which too got the green teal treatment, ruining the colour timing of the original in the process.

[–] liscarkat (16530) 4 years ago

In the 1970s movies set in the past were usually tinted brown. It's always been a silly practice. I remember the past, and the world did not look brown, green, or orange, unless you were looking at wood, grass, or fruit.