Media Glare

Parents who have read parts of the His Dark Materials book series are likely to be disappointed with the movie The Golden Compass, which ends so that the credits roll long before the dark and morally ambiguous conclusion of the book. But it was interesting to note how self-consciously the digital animators inserted manufactured artifacts of traditional optical film-making. For example, during a dramatic fight between supernaturally large talking polar bears, there was a jarring moment of pseudo-lens glare, as thought it had been difficult to film against snow.