TV Shows That Are Literally Too Dark: From Stranger Things to Euphoria

FROM American Horror Story on Stranger Things on Euphoria on game of thronessome TV shows are difficult to watch because of their dark subject matter – while others are not the easiest to enjoy because of the dark lighting.

Some programs have become notorious for being harder to see, and the cameramen have taken this into consideration whether the problem is with the viewer or the content itself.

“I don’t know why the shooting trend is extremely dark now, but I think – I won’t name names – there are two sides to it,” Shasta Spahnon which he worked american horror stories, he said Vulture in November 2023. “There’s a version where people know what their exposure and balance is and they know how to make a scene look a certain way that technically has darkness. And then there’s the other side where people don’t know what they’re doing. They look really dark.”

Cited by Spahn a few examples on the filmmaker’s side, adding, “They have no light in the actor’s eyes. They have no separation between foreground and background and it’s unqualified and looks terrible. … Night scenes can be done and are done so beautifully, but they are also done so badly.”

Meantime Lyn Moncrief, who brought films such as Five Nights at Freddy’s to life, it was asked whether “bigger TVs” they were to blame.

“They have more of a 16:9 format. We are no longer in this analog 4:3 era where the differences between TV and movies, at least in terms of composition and aspect ratio, are so extreme. Before the year 2000, this aspect ratio was forced upon you when filming television,” Moncrief noted. “You’re seeing a lot more projects and they’re shooting 2.39:1 with letterbox and things of that nature that’s always been fought for. This cinematic influence has had a direct impact on streaming shows, whereas in the past it didn’t.”

House of the Dragon cameraman Pepe Avila del Pino he had his own opinion on the matter. Specifically, he called out the “overworked color correction” that has become all too common with everyone’s favorite TV shows.

“Black people are not black people. And there is a standardized look. A lot of TVs are starting to look the same, and that has to do with a lot of things. One of them is the technology that we all have now, such as the use of LED lights, which are faster and more practical,” explained Del Pino. “The cameras are also faster and the lenses are more sensitive to light. All of these reasons usually shift the workflow from day to day to shoot with television in a very rushed schedule.”

He continued, “I think it’s more a consequence of the tools used than the artistic vision. In the last few years, a lot of people have made TV very quickly. Things are pre-produced, produced and then distributed to post-production and then sent back to the streamers in a very short time span. All of these factors lend themselves to these low light levels and an overly color-corrected appearance on screen.”

Keep scrolling to see examples of certain shows that are known to be visually too dark: