Films made for Netflix look more like TV shows — here’s the technical reason why
In this cross-posting from The Conversation, University of Notre Dame Australia lecturer in communications and media, Ari Mattes, looks at why the assumption that higher resolution is better, is not always true for films.
The history of cinema as an art parallels its history as a technology. Ever wondered why the colour in The Wizard of Oz is so saturated? Well, it wasn’t the first technicolor film, but it was the first to effectively advertise MGM’s new 3-strip colour process to a global audience. Why advertise something at half mast?
This kind of technological innovation in cinema is, of course, spurred by economic motives. For instance, 3D thrived in three waves in direct response to the economic threats posed by new technologies: in the 1950s, in response to television, in the 1980s, responding to VHS, and in the 21st century in the face of increased online streaming. (Now we have 4DX, a gimmick one suspects won’t take off.)
In this era of digital cinema, with celluloid virtually replaced by video technology, the latest technological battle concerns image resolution.
