‘Hurting my eyes’: New Ariana Grande and Jonathan Bailey ‘Wicked’ clip confirms what we’ve all been thinking since the first trailer dropped

A new Wicked clip gave fans a glimpse of Ariana Grande and Jonathan Bailey as Galinda and Fiyero in the upcoming film, but now they’re all wishing they hadn’t seen a thing. Not only is the lighting in this particular scene abysmal, but people have also realized a truth that has been clear since the first trailer dropped: Wicked looks egregiously washed out.

“This is just a behind the scenes? Right? They got actual lighting for the final scene, Right?!,” a concerned viewer pleaded. We hate to crush your expectations but, though the source of the clip is, indeed, a behind-the-scenes featurette about the actors singing live for their musical numbers in the film, this particular portion, with Grande and Bailey sharing a passionate performance of “Dancing Through Life,” is unfortunately what the final cut of Wicked will look like if every promotional material we’ve seen so far is any indication.

Pale, dull, badly lit. Those are only some of the words used to describe the photography of the Hollywood adaptation of the beloved Broadway musical about the origin stories of the famous duo of witches introduced in the much more magical-looking 1939 The Wizard of Oz classic film. Who knew better film technology would ultimately result in the loss of all personality and flare?

“That dreadful backlighting and lack of technicolor color are hurting my eyes,” one person commented, with another suggesting, “We have to open the schools and teach the kids how to light a film set again.” “Whatever happened to mise en scene.. to color.. to cinematic lighting…,” a third wondered.

Mind you, Wicked is an ambitious production with a reported budget of $145 million. Directed by Crazy Rich Asians‘s Jon M. Chu, the fantasy musical film was photographed by Alice Brookes, who was also responsible for the cinematography in projects like Tick, Tick… Boom! and In the Heights — two films that look perfectly fine, unlike her latest. According to IMDb, Company 3 (Deadpool & Wolverine, Joker: Folie À Deux) was responsible for the color grading, while David Smith was the chief lighting technician.

For a while now, the look of Wicked has been a cause for concern for any film enthusiast. Gone are the brightness and vividness of Victor Fleming and Harold Rosson’s technicolor dreamscape, replaced by gray scales and muted colors. We’re well aware it’s hard to make a film look good when you film it digitally, but examples like Barbie or Top Gun: Maverick prove you can at least try.

There are other options, too. Dune, for instance, used part of a similarly sized budget so that Director of Photography Greig Fraser could transfer his digital footage into 35mm film and back to digital again. He told Red Shark News that “pure film was too nostalgic for a Sci-Fi movie” and “digital looked too sharp.”

Besides the kinds of cameras used, lighting is the crux of cinematography and it’s the director of photography that usually calls the shots in that department, too. Finally, in post-production, the film can be given a new life by the color grading team, even if there’s not much they can realistically do if the raw footage is poorly lit.

While, visually, Wicked doesn’t look particularly riveting from the glimpses we’ve seen so far, we’re hoping that, at least, the version that has been sent out to theaters looks a bit more alive. The excellent cast and the charm of its story and music will undoubtedly lend a helping hand in the cinematic experience. It premieres Nov. 28.