a brief rant

[ratcreature]

The aim to make your tv series appear "dark" or "edgy" or "gritty" or whatever does not mean that the screen has to be literally too dark to make out anything. I get that there are mood lighting choices, and atmosphere through colors and so on, but it completely defeats any kind of purpose if your viewer can't see or follow what's going on. It is not all that sinister if you have to squint and guess what is happening. Seriously, things can be dark and edgy even if there is a lightsource somewhere! (This was brought on by me trying to watch SGU, but really it applies to a lot of series.)

Comments

[ratcreature]

Glowy moss! yes! That could work. I had really trouble following the action. Part of it was that the story seemed to jump around for no good reason, but part of it was also that in some scenes you only had this dimly lit spot where you could maybe see one and a half characters, barely, instead of seeing the setting and all people.

[iamza.livejournal.com]

It was certainly in marked contrast to Atlantis, where even the dimly lit rooms still allowed for enough light to see everything.

I really do hope the darkness was a deliberate choice for the premiere to help add to the general atmosphere of overwhelming confusion and chaos, and that as the crew get more familiar with their surroundings, we'll start to see the lights get a bit brighter.

I also really hope the flashbacks become less and less frequent as the series progresses. Flashbacks were one of the reasons I ended up giving up on Lost within six or so episodes. As a storytelling gimmick, it doesn't work for me. *shrug*

[droolfangrrl.livejournal.com]

I was seriously turned off by the dull and muddy pallet they had chosen.

[iamza.livejournal.com]

That was one of the reasons I so loved SGA -- all the greens and blues and coppers.

So yeah, I can certainly understand how the gloomy colours on SGU might turn people off.

The glowy moss or other assorted Ancient lightbulbs better appear soon, is all I'm saying...