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I agree that many series and films on Netflix have a recognisable Netflix signature. The platform seems to have a strong idea of how its content should look: technically polished, visually sharp, and often close to 4K perfection.
Another thing I notice is that many Netflix productions seem to be shaped by a marketing formula. There are exceptions, of course, and I will come back to one later. Still, I find it a little odd to hear Daniel Craig – as British as fish and chips – speak with an American Southern accent in the Knives Out films. Maybe the idea was to create a clear break from his Bond persona by turning him into almost the opposite: a detective from the Deep South of the United States. My guess is that the character was also designed to appeal strongly to a large American audience.
The film is packed with great actors, including Josh Brolin, Josh O’Connor, Glenn Close, and many others. Money clearly was not the issue here, and neither was talent. But even when Netflix backs strong filmmakers, the final product can still feel overly polished or market-conscious. I really tried to like them because of Daniel Craig and the rest of the cast, but I couldn’t. To me, this movie tries to be too many things at once and to appeal to everyone. The result feels artificial and over-explanatory, as if it were made by a test audience rather than by a director with a strong personal vision.
And yet there are productions that break the mould, although perhaps not completely. I recently watched Straight to Hell, and I thought it was brilliant. The images were so sharp and technically perfect that they sometimes distracted me, but then again, my mind is always occupied with cinematography. Still, it is absolutely worth watching.
To conclude, I think Netflix should consider leaving more room for niche productions and less room for marketing-driven perfection. Less technical polish, or at least less obsession with it, might lead to a more artistic, more alive form of cinematography.
I’ve never shot with the Alexa LF. But I did shoot video with the Canon 5D mkII, also a full frame sensor. With low light I often found that the full frame sensor offered too little depth of field. The background would blur completely and isolate the person too much. You loose the sense of background completely, that’s not how our eyes see things.
