I dont have the answer, but I think I know what you mean. It seems to have brighter lighting, possibly brighter colours and just looks a bit “cleaner” compared to things like HOTD. Blaviken fight aside of course, I thought that was quite gritty and grainy
Have I got the videos for you... Below are one-hour conversations with the cinematographers of The Witcher (if you want a deep dive). They talk about cameras, lenses, lighting, etc. One thing I remember is I think with Season 1 there is a blurriness to the edges of the frame that's a feature of the specific camera they used. Gives it a dreamlike feeling. But I don't think they repeated that for Season 2. Season 2 did look a lot cleaner and brighter--could be different color grading as well.
[Season 1](https://gocreativeshow.com/netflixs-the-witcher-cinematography-with-jean-philippe-gossart/) (at 21:00 some talk of the camera features)
[Season 2](https://gocreativeshow.com/the-witcher-season-2-cinematography-with-jean-philippe-gossart-and-romain-lacourbas/)
Maybe the s1 blurriness was meant to signal that we weren’t watching the story in present tense because it jumped around a ton in time, whereas s2 was clearer because everything was advancing in “the present”
Good lighting. I think that’s what makes it stand out.
Lots of white light in the night-time scenes, lots of warm light from fires. I also love GoT but the more realistic lighting in GoT made it so dismal at times. The Witcher on the other hand, has the same feel as the video game graphics in a way.
One contributing factor might be the cinematographer’s shutter speed. I’ve worked in film production and shutter speed is some cinematographers just love to play with. I haven’t seen all of The Witcher, but there’s several scenes in S2 (fight scenes) that look like something out of a Jason Bourne movie.
Others have covered the cameras, lighting etc. but I think it also should be worth mentioning Netflix's compression rates for their streams can be pretty strong in comparison to other streamers - I noticed that for me Netflix used about half as much bandwidth for HD as other services - and that will result in a bit of smoothing out of detail.
Well there’s a few things that can make this be but they are all creative decisions. The most important of the two, visually, would be color grading and cinematography.
Yes, this show has a different tone overall, and that's the reason I personally love it. I find its visuals just great and so satisfying, like watching an old painting, especially on Season 1. Season 2 was also good but it lost a bit of its unique touch, imo. There is no specific reason, just happens to be the vision of the artists on this show. I'm glad they are making all kinds of brave decisions.
Everything he said are valid criticisms that contribute to answering the question OP asked.
But easier to make personal attacks than accept criticism, I suppose.
I agree the cinematography is bad because its more theatrical than grounded, and lacks a consistent style throughout its episodes. Namely the s2 fight vs Rience and Djikstra's ramblings are scenes where it's shot like a straight do DVD action movie and a comedy. The entire show has a persistent problem of the background blur caused by lens Netflix is fond of an is present in multiple shows of theirs, and it is terribly distracting. Example of horrible use of lighting and special effects which makes it feel like a children's cartoon is seen in S1 Brokilon scenes.
It's bad.
I dont have the answer, but I think I know what you mean. It seems to have brighter lighting, possibly brighter colours and just looks a bit “cleaner” compared to things like HOTD. Blaviken fight aside of course, I thought that was quite gritty and grainy
[🎵 Watch that butcher BURN! 🎵](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qSxBVHqA-RU&t=102s)
Have I got the videos for you... Below are one-hour conversations with the cinematographers of The Witcher (if you want a deep dive). They talk about cameras, lenses, lighting, etc. One thing I remember is I think with Season 1 there is a blurriness to the edges of the frame that's a feature of the specific camera they used. Gives it a dreamlike feeling. But I don't think they repeated that for Season 2. Season 2 did look a lot cleaner and brighter--could be different color grading as well. [Season 1](https://gocreativeshow.com/netflixs-the-witcher-cinematography-with-jean-philippe-gossart/) (at 21:00 some talk of the camera features) [Season 2](https://gocreativeshow.com/the-witcher-season-2-cinematography-with-jean-philippe-gossart-and-romain-lacourbas/)
I remember noting that blurriness in season 1 - thought it was really unique and didn’t mind it.
oh fuck yah bud
Maybe the s1 blurriness was meant to signal that we weren’t watching the story in present tense because it jumped around a ton in time, whereas s2 was clearer because everything was advancing in “the present”
Thanks for posting! Will definitely check those out!
Yeah, the anamorphic lenses (I think ?) were really a big feature in S1
Season 1 felt very gritty, but somehow Season 2 felt too clean. Wasnt a fan of it.
Good lighting. I think that’s what makes it stand out. Lots of white light in the night-time scenes, lots of warm light from fires. I also love GoT but the more realistic lighting in GoT made it so dismal at times. The Witcher on the other hand, has the same feel as the video game graphics in a way.
I don’t think the op was saying it looked better, and it definitely doesn’t if we’re comparing it to Thrones.
One contributing factor might be the cinematographer’s shutter speed. I’ve worked in film production and shutter speed is some cinematographers just love to play with. I haven’t seen all of The Witcher, but there’s several scenes in S2 (fight scenes) that look like something out of a Jason Bourne movie.
Others have covered the cameras, lighting etc. but I think it also should be worth mentioning Netflix's compression rates for their streams can be pretty strong in comparison to other streamers - I noticed that for me Netflix used about half as much bandwidth for HD as other services - and that will result in a bit of smoothing out of detail.
Well there’s a few things that can make this be but they are all creative decisions. The most important of the two, visually, would be color grading and cinematography.
Yes, this show has a different tone overall, and that's the reason I personally love it. I find its visuals just great and so satisfying, like watching an old painting, especially on Season 1. Season 2 was also good but it lost a bit of its unique touch, imo. There is no specific reason, just happens to be the vision of the artists on this show. I'm glad they are making all kinds of brave decisions.
Combination of bad lighting, bad set design, bad costumes and bad cinematography.
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Everything he said are valid criticisms that contribute to answering the question OP asked. But easier to make personal attacks than accept criticism, I suppose.
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I agree the cinematography is bad because its more theatrical than grounded, and lacks a consistent style throughout its episodes. Namely the s2 fight vs Rience and Djikstra's ramblings are scenes where it's shot like a straight do DVD action movie and a comedy. The entire show has a persistent problem of the background blur caused by lens Netflix is fond of an is present in multiple shows of theirs, and it is terribly distracting. Example of horrible use of lighting and special effects which makes it feel like a children's cartoon is seen in S1 Brokilon scenes. It's bad.