Modern Western movie backgrounds

Started by Doug.38PR, June 11, 2019, 03:26:50 PM

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Doug.38PR

I have noticed that most currently made western movies (remake of True Grit, Cowboys and Aliens The Kid, Hostiles, etc) tend to have very fake looking backgrounds with bright unnatural light and just something very fake and dry looking about the sky and landscape.
Blue sky looks almost white with no clouds and sunlight looks like bright unnatural white florescent CGI.

Anyone else noticed this?


Coal Creek Griff

I hadn't noticed.  I guess that means that I'll just have to sit down and watch a bunch of westerns over the next few days (sigh).  ;D

CC Griff
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nagantino

I either love a Western or dislike it immediately by its "look". But firstly I understand that filming in bright sunshine is a major problem for the cinematographer. Dark shadows and bright areas on a face don't look right. Filming in cloudy or overcast conditions is easier but dull. I think we expect a Western to have a Look, that is bright, sunny, open. Buster Scruggs seemed to capture the wide open spaces that a Western is all about. For me anyway. My own favourite trick used in older Westerns, is to film night scenes in bright sunlight but with the iris of the lens turned down thus making the film turn out dark like nighttime. But look at the bright, deep shadows cast......but it works.

Capt Quirk

Part of the problem with lighting films these days, is because very few use film. It is all digital. In just the right light, digital can give you a truly lifelike image, to the point of being able to count nose hairs. But, it also doesn't do very bright, or very dark very well. Those old John Ford FILMS where sot in Panavision... Then color corrected in a lab.

Scenery is one point, but attention to set decorations can make up for it. Watch Ed Harris' Appaloosa, and you'll see what I mean. Even the window glass had that authentic look.

Jeremiah Jones

A couple I saw recently, seemed to have been shot in front of a green screen, then the background digitally added.  I just marked it up as cheaper to shoot the entire movie on one sound stage then add the background and CGI effects, vs. actually taking the entire crew outside the TMZ.
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Buffalo Creek Law Dog

I miss those westerns from the 50s and 60s that had beautiful color.  Ones like The Man form Laramie, The Searchers, et al.

The ones today always seem too dark for me.
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Blair

I have just started watching the "Hec Ramsey" an older TV series on youtube. Hec is played by Richard Boon. (not always one of my favorite actors)
This should be pretty good.
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But in times of peace and all things right,
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by Rudyard Kipling.
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