bad_contrast

Description

Applies a “bad contrast” visual effect to the video, intentionally degrading tonal balance, highlight rolloff, shadow separation, and midtone neutrality.
The result simulates low-quality analog transfers, misconfigured broadcast equipment, degraded VHS dubs, or broken grading pipelines.

Purpose

bad_contrast exists as a lightweight, stylized degradation tool for artists who want to:

introduce tonal instability or harsh contrast,
mimic analog-era video duplication artifacts,
add mood through blown-out highlights or crushed shadows,
create an intentionally incorrect exposure/contrast aesthetic,
emphasize “bad video” texture in music videos, glitch art, or experimental film.

How It Works

Contrast Manipulation
The module applies an internally defined filter chain that exaggerates or distorts normal contrast response.
Highlight / Shadow Distortion
Highlights may appear clipped or harsh; shadows may compress or posterize.
Midtone Bias
The effect may introduce incorrect gamma or uneven tonal mapping to create a “broken” look.
Encoding
Final output uses global Videobeaux codec, pixel format, and CRF settings.

Program Template

videobeaux -P bad_contrast \
  -i input.mp4 \
  -o output.mp4

Arguments

(No additional program-specific arguments; uses global videobeaux options only.)

Real World Example

videobeaux -P bad_contrast \
  -i myvideo.mp4 \
  -o bad_contrast_styled.mp4

Program Output

Technical Notes

The exact look depends partly on global Videobeaux encoding settings.
Output may exhibit blown-out whites, crushed blacks, or tonal banding.
Not intended for corrective workflows — this is a purely stylistic degradation.
Works particularly well on motion-heavy or color-rich footage.
As with all destructive effects, applying bad_contrast early in a pipeline will influence all later operations.

Recommended Usage

Broken-TV or analog-digital hybrid aesthetics.
Glitch art, experimental cinema, and abstract video installations.
Distressing otherwise clean digital footage.
Music videos seeking stylized degradation.
As an “imperfection layer” paired with other Videobeaux modules (e.g., bad_animation, hash_fingerprint).

Quality Tips

Apply at the end of a chain to maximize visible distortion.
Pair with lower CRF values if you want compression artifacts to interact with tonal distortion.
Use on footage with clear highlight/shadow separation for the strongest effect.
Combine with LUTs or lut_apply to push contrast into more extreme color spaces.
For a VHS-like aesthetic, consider pairing with bad_contrast + convert_dims (480p or 720hd presets).

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