Colorist Society Hollywood members recently participated in a lively panel discussion sponsored by SMPTE on the subject of brightness. Colorists John Daro, CSI, Lou Levinson, CSI and Tashi Trieu explored the deceptively simple question, “What Is Too Bright?” with colorists Sheri Eisenberg and Doug Delaney joining for the Q&A. Moderated by Colorist Society board member Sarah Priestnall, the event occurred May 27th at the Culver Theater in Culver City, California.
Brightness seems a simple concept, but when applied to film and television content, it becomes a more nuanced and multi-dimensional subject. That is especially true today with the advent of HDR and other high-resolution formats, and the proliferation of distribution and display mediums. In this context, the question of what is too much, or too little brightness involves such factors as the limits of human perception and the difference between actual brightness and perceived brightness on the part of viewers. Accommodating the diversity of consumer display systems and delivery mediums including theaters, broadcast, streaming and digital platforms, involves a host of thorny technical issues. Crucially, brightness also is inextricably linked to the creative intent of directors, cinematographers and others.
Trieu discussed his analysis of the HDR transfers of more than 50 films where he measured "diffuse white" vs “peak white" luminance. Surprisingly, older remastered films tended to be brighter on average than newer ones — suggesting the industry went through an early "let's max it out" phase with HDR before settling into more restrained, tasteful choices.
Daro described his work in remastering Speed Racer where he “reverse engineered” the Wachowskis’ original color intent from camera files and pushed certain sequences to 4,000 nits to match the film's original "live-action cartoon" aesthetic.
Eisenberg discussed the elusiveness and ethics of trying to deduce the creative intent of older titles by filmmakers long deceased. In such cases, she must rely on print references or her informed intuition rather than hard data.
In short, What Is Too Bright? has no definitive answer. For an individual film or television show, the answer depends on context, story, viewing environment, and creative intent. The craft and judgement of a talented colorist is often more important than hitting specific nit targets.
You can watch the full discussion here.
