Has color grading gone too far? This YouTube video hits on a subject I’ve pondered for years

Dinosaur snaps at two boys who jump into a blue river. Scene then cuts to behind-the-scenes footage showing the originally muddy color of the water .

When I came across YouTuber Alucinor Productions’ video, “Is Digital Color Grading Destroying Modern Movies?”, it felt like unearthing some kind of revelation. I instantly knew what the video was going to be about, because it’s a subject that’s sat in my movie-minded subconscious for years.

I know plenty of casual moviegoers who flat-out refuse to watch older movies. And while there are a multitude of reasons why older films may feel different to modern productions – such as jankier CGI, slower pacing, simpler transitions, lighting and much more – one of the biggest differences between then and now, which probably doesn’t get mentioned enough, is color grading.