Sliding the Dynamic Range: Folks Gobble up the Clear Dark
Posted on January 4, 2008
When Polaroid declared bankruptcy on Oct 11, 2001 due to the administrations lack of forsight into the emerging market for digital photography, it was a sign that we as an audience had transformed with the new century. Amateurs lead the way, rediscovering much of Ansel Adams glory with the push of a few buttons. It’s hardly fair, but it has pushed the extremes of dynamic range.
“We are so made that we can derive intense enjoyment from a contrast and very little from a state of things.”
Sigmund Freud quotes
During the middle ages monks and scribes began adorning books with illustrations and letter work referred to as illuminated manuscript. These illustrations were bold and experimental in their attempts to bring out the glory in foil and bold colors. Illuminated manuscript was a cornerstone for the 15th century renaissance. In fact, a good deal of surviving Midevil art is from these texts. Turn the clock ahead to the end of the nineteenth century and a young artist named Aubrey Beardsley reinvents the practice with his illustrations for Le Morte Darthur. By the age of twenty-seven he had started two popular magazines and 
changed the face of modern illustration. His influence can be seen throughout the twenties in magazines, advertising, and illustration. In fact, it’s still holding strong.
There are many parallel movements in the art world that also took color and contrast through a range of places. In the 15th century you have folks like Leonardo Da Vinci and Rembrandt pushing the dynamic range between light and dark. Not only did this general style of Chiaroscuro, or clear dark, plant the roots for Noir Film, it also redefined the audience’s flavor pallet.
The dynamic range required to entertain and satisfy an audience is a constantly shifting court exemplified best in the realm of advertising. From traditional art in the twenties, to the unbelievably ideal during the fifties, or even todays off the topic viral video. Commercials have been drifting farther from their products in order to retain big audiences. Traditional commercials were killed by Geiko’s accidents, a long horned free range hummer, and a rock-star Neanderthal.
People have become so jaded to the regular pitch that the best angle is an irrelevant one.
We have to be careful in film that while we want to satisfy a hungry audience that we don’t mistakenly forget our objectives. As in the case of CG animation, audiences historically look back upon the emergence of a new medium as heavy handed in its representation among the industry. New tricks are tantalizing, but there’s a reason why they still play Shakespeare in the theater and dylan in the park.
Plus let’s not forget, these are actually all old tricks. The only thing new is the person juggling them.
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