Current Watching

[WOM]

Bad Vegan is worth your time. 4 part docuseries on a woman who gets gaslighted....maybe.

[Lang Spoon]

Oh I see My Brilliant Friend is back for season 3...

[Hot Pepsi]

Burt Reynolds hated Paul Thomas Anderson (PTA). Thought he was a wanker. PTA thought Burt was being, erm, dramatic. Shame, best roleReynolds had in decades. I’m prepared to believe they are both right.

As for films, Hard Eight, Boogie Nights and Magnolia are brilliant films. The first is so different from the third. He has a geeky, loves-making-films about him. Fantastic cast
of travelling actors. There will be Blood is a whole different animal: a brutal, thumping watch. The Master is magnetic, ace and not enjoyable. I can take or leave the rest. Except the Phantom Thread. That was arse.

I gave up on Phantom Thread early.

A lot of films that critics like are really boring and pointless. I believe that’s because critics see just about everything whether they want to or not. They have a lot less patience for unoriginality than the audience overall that doesn’t see many films, and they have a lot more patience for shit that’s boring because, unlike the rest of us, they don’t really have anything better to do because watching films is their job, or part of it, at least. And they care a lot more about “craft” than the rest of us.

[Amor de Cosmos]

Why is craft in inverted commas, and what do mean exactly? Film-making requires many crafts, often quite specific ones.

[WOM]

Wes Anderson films are remarkable for the visual craft that goes into them. Even if the story doesn't quite gel, the 'look' will carry you through parts.

The craft of sound design is particularly important as I get older. I spend an inordinate amount of time saying 'what'd he say?' when the TV is plenty loud and the music is filling the room.

[Amor de Cosmos]

Wes Anderson films are remarkable for the visual craft that goes into them. Even if the story doesn't quite gel, the 'look' will carry you through parts.

The craft of sound design is particularly important as I get older. I spend an inordinate amount of time saying 'what'd he say?' when the TV is plenty loud and the music is filling the room.

I have a similar problem (partly because my hearing has deteriorated in the past few months.) Balancing the sound for different environments and media is a very tricky technical thing apparently. Its clarity doesn't easily transfer from theatre to screen, for instance, and even from network broadcast to streaming.

[San Bernardhinault]

I read an article recently suggesting that sound balance has become much worse recently for many reasons - because some directors want more mumble, because some actors are consciously more mumbly, because films are more hyperactive with cameras it’s harder to stick microphones right in the middle of sets to get good audio, because everything is digitally edited which allows directors to see footage over and over and over and over and over again which means they get too familiar with the dialogue and don’t realise that one-time viewers have to listen harder, among others. I suspect it’s also because the money men get obsessed with wanting loud fights and loud guns and loud jets and loud music and they throw these into the mix after the spoken parts are put in, and those keep getting put up in the mix over and over, so they become utterly overwhelming.

Here’s the article

https://www.slashfilm.com/673162/her...ys-to-fix-it/#

[Amor de Cosmos]

Yeah. I remember that too, especially the streaming issue which I think is very valid.

[Hot Pepsi]

I always use the closed captions, even for shows and films in English.

Except sports, because for those, the captions are a few seconds behind and interfere with the picture too much.

[diggedy derek]

I would have thought the main cause of sound balance inconsistencies is the bewildering range of devices people use tonplay TV and movies on these days, compared to 25 years ago when everyone had a medium sized TV.

[WOM]

My TV has a sound mode that toggles through Movies Music Live Sports etc etc. so you can find the...I dunno...mix of din that suits your viewing. It never seems to make much difference.

[Uncle Ethan]

In sort of related news we watched Citizen Kane for the first time at the weekend. Had to give up halfway through because of the hideous caterwauling singing lessons scene.

[My Name Is Ian]

My TV has a sound mode that toggles through Movies Music Live Sports etc etc. so you can find the...I dunno...mix of din that suits your viewing. It never seems to make much difference.

I essentially stopped watching movies about ten or twelve years because I could no longer understand so much of the dialogue (and I find subtitles too distracting, though I used to put up with them for foreign language films). I haven't gone back to them, and the likelihood that I ever will to the extent that I used to devour them is now slim to zero. It doesn't seem to be quite as much of a problem with TV production, so far as I can (not quite) hear.

[Ray de Galles]

I find TV dramas (especially American ones) as least as bad as films for the lack of clarity of dialogue and having subtitles on is my default now.

[Nocturnal Submission]

The biggest problem for me is the speed of the dialogue, particularly in US shows. So many rapid, pithy one-liners & hurried, urgent instructions. That sort of bang-bang-bang approach seems to dominate so much comedy and drama which, along with the rapid edit, leaves me exhausted by the end of the programme or film.

[San Bernardhinault]

I find TV dramas (especially American ones) as least as bad as films for the lack of clarity of dialogue and having subtitles on is my default now.

Oh, absolutely. Particularly network dramas in the US. They mix all the effects noise and music noise up and the talk stuff down. To be fair, given the quality of dialogue in most US network dramas this is an understandable decision. But on the rare occasions I want to have a vague idea what’s going on I need to turn the volume up when characters are explaining the plot and then turn it down almost all the way for the next pointless chase-and-fight scene.

[San Bernardhinault]

Last week we ended up going on a sort of guided tour around Charleston and one of the barrier islands in a little private tour bus. It was less bad than it might have been, but these kinds of tours are never great. On the tour the guide kept pointing out locations that were used in The Notebook.

So, last night, the missus persuaded me to watch it. It might be one of the most loved chick-flicky chick-flicks, but fuck me it really is utterly execrable. It did have lots of very pretty South Carolina footage, and a few scenes filmed just around the corner from here, so that was kind of fine. The rest, I think I could have written using an algorithm from our TV/Movie Cliche thread after watching the first 5 minutes.

[Hot Pepsi]

Last week we ended up going on a sort of guided tour around Charleston and one of the barrier islands in a little private tour bus. It was less bad than it might have been, but these kinds of tours are never great. On the tour the guide kept pointing out locations that were used in The Notebook.

So, last night, the missus persuaded me to watch it. It might be one of the most loved chick-flicky chick-flicks, but fuck me it really is utterly execrable. It did have lots of very pretty South Carolina footage, and a few scenes filmed just around the corner from here, so that was kind of fine. The rest, I think I could have written using an algorithm from our TV/Movie Cliche thread after watching the first 5 minutes.

It's sappy and a bit problematic, but it is well-liked because of the chemistry of the two leads.
They also famously did a dramatic kiss on stage at the MTV Movie Awards which was a culturally significant moment for teenagers at the time.

[Hot Pepsi]

Oh, absolutely. Particularly network dramas in the US. They mix all the effects noise and music noise up and the talk stuff down. To be fair, given the quality of dialogue in most US network dramas this is an understandable decision. But on the rare occasions I want to have a vague idea what’s going on I need to turn the volume up when characters are explaining the plot and then turn it down almost all the way for the next pointless chase-and-fight scene.

Maybe you need a hearing aid or new speakers for your tv.

[Hot Pepsi]

In sort of related news we watched Citizen Kane for the first time at the weekend. Had to give up halfway through because of the hideous caterwauling singing lessons scene.

That's a major plot point of the story.

[Hot Pepsi]

Why is craft in inverted commas, and what do mean exactly? Film-making requires many crafts, often quite specific ones.

I should have used italics. I meant to emphasize it, not to suggest it's dubious.

There is a ton of craft in film. It's all craft.

What I meant to say is that it seems like critics are able to enjoy a movie just based on the quality of the craft, especially the acting craft, whereas the audience in general cares more about the overall experience.

I find that I tend to care more about all of the design and visual elements more than a lot of people. But that's not always enough to keep me interested for the whole film.

[Amor de Cosmos]

s'OK. I probably sounded too abrasive.

[San Bernardhinault]

Maybe you need a hearing aid or new speakers for your tv.

I'm sure I need a hearing aid. But I am not the only one making these observations, so I'm not sure that's directly relevant. And broadcasters shouldn't be making their TV only for audiophiles with expensive speakers. They used to make TV that worked for people with really shit TVs, so they probably still could if they wanted to.

[Hot Pepsi]

I'm sure I need a hearing aid. But I am not the only one making these observations, so I'm not sure that's directly relevant. And broadcasters shouldn't be making their TV only for audiophiles with expensive speakers. They used to make TV that worked for people with really shit TVs, so they probably still could if they wanted to.

I don't have fancy speakers and I don't usually have a problem understanding anything, so maybe you just need a different set up, not necessarily more expensive.


I just put the closed captions on because I'm not always paying very close attention and/or I want to understand people with unfamiliar accents and the occasional bit that is mumbled.

[Hot Pepsi]

Watching Almost Famous again.