A whole lotta sharpening going on

I'm wondering something here...it seems in the past couple years, especially with the popularity of larger HDTVs to the general public, many newer TV shows have seemingly been going to a much sharper look.

What I'm wondering is if this observation is correct, or if this is a natural result of higher quality cameras/lenses.

If there is more sharpening being done in post, I would be interested in learning how to do this...which filters, techniques, etc.

Thoughts?

Thanks!
Casey

It's cranked up detail and contrast



www.strypesinpost.com

Is that mostly in-camera or done in post?

> What I'm wondering is if this observation is correct, or if this is a natural result of higher
> quality cameras/lenses.

I'm thinking it's more the result of both style (choices in colour correction -- contrast and saturation, especially) and format (HD vs. film). While not all shows are shot on HD, I think HD mastering and HD television sets have made people jittery about anything that's not quite sharp, so they crank the contrast to exaggerate the sharpness of the edges.

Style-wise, I think feature films started it; TV picked up on that style. At its extreme, that contrast-y look is associated with Latin American cinema (Amores Perros, 21 Grams) and commercials. A more naturalistic, photographic style is becoming more rare. Most shows and films these days go for that hyper-manipulated (in stills it would be called "Photoshopped" ) look. Christopher Nolan is one director who insists on natural, clean looks; he's a big fan of Terrence Malick.


www.derekmok.com

Very interesting.

Along these same lines, is it common to do, at the very least, just a little bit of sharpening across the boards (generally speaking) on footage you're working with?

Thanks!
Casey