THE scene was set for a triumphant debut of a new movie technology at the , Nevada, last week. Cinema owners and movie critics waited to be wowed by a 10-minute preview of Peter Jackson鈥檚 upcoming 3D movie, . This prequel to his blockbuster Lord of the Rings trilogy has been shot at a high rate of 48 frames per second (fps).
But after, when the lights came back up, all was not well. The audience said the footage looked tawdry, like a made-for-TV film. They questioned the bold claims made by directors like Jackson and James Cameron, that high frame rate (HFR) technology is the future of film.
鈥淭he audience said that The Hobbit footage looked tawdry, like a made-for-television film鈥�
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Unlike the 2D and 3D movies we鈥檝e seen to date, which have been filmed at the industry鈥檚 80-year-old standard rate of 24 fps, The Hobbit鈥榮 48 fps is meant to smooth out juddery panning and 鈥渟mearing鈥� when objects move quickly across the screen, both facets of 3D movies that are particularly irritating to the eye.
Jackson hopes 48 fps will create a 鈥済entler experience on the eyes鈥� and give 鈥渁 heightened sense of reality鈥�. But audiences may not want their films to look hyperreal. Indeed, the preview was described as video-like and lacking in colour contrast, more like the quality of a TV soap opera. 鈥淎ctors seemed overlit and amplified in a way that many compared to modern sports broadcasts and daytime TV,鈥� according to a report by Variety.
Jackson and Cameron fully expect HFR to look more like high-definition (HD) TV than traditional film 鈥� the look of which is partly a result of how the eye perceives 24 fps footage 鈥� but it is a step they deem necessary to reduce the strobing that limits creative camera moves in 3D.
It will also lead to brighter 3D movies. In today鈥檚 24 fps format, each frame in a 3D film has to be flashed on the screen two or three times, depending on the projection technology. If those flashes are too bright, viewers perceive flicker. But with 48 or 60 fps, you need to flash each frame less often 鈥� so the brightness can be higher without producing flicker.
Industry insiders reckon cinema-goers will get used to HFR movies鈥� hyperrealism, just as they have become used to sports, newscasts, and other programming on their HDTVs, which display footage at a rate of 60 fps 鈥� the same rate that Cameron intends to use to produce the sequel to Avatar.
, director of effects firm in London, says the lacklustre reaction to The Hobbit mirrors early reactions to HDTV, saying that because people were used to TV looking a certain way, some were initially put off by the bigger, clearer, sharper screens. 鈥淢ost of us have still only viewed a handful of 3D films and are still making the adjustment,鈥� he says.
In order for the experiment to work, Jackson, Cameron, and anyone who follows in their footsteps will need cinema chains on board. Current digital projectors will need at least a major software upgrade to support the format. And there may be growing pains within the industry as well.
鈥淪ome short cuts used for a long time in moviemaking may not now work,鈥� says , head of visual effects technology at , also in London. 鈥淓very little detail in make-up, costumes and props will have to be absolutely perfect in terms of visual detail 鈥� otherwise they may not be perceived as real.鈥�
