PSA, for the not inconsiderable BJ nerd demographic. Mike Ryan, at Huffington Post:
Yes, there’s a new Hobbit movie coming out soon. (The first of three Hobbit movies, actually.) But, most of the buzz — both good and bad — stems from the fact that The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey will be shown on a special kind of film with a rate of 48 frames per second. Truth be told, I had no idea what this meant when it was first announced. I’ve since learned that, to put it simply, viewers long accustomed to seeing 24 frames every second will see twice that many when they watch The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. Over the summer, I spoke to Peter Jackson at Comic-Con and he mentioned that it takes the eye a few minutes to adjust to the frame rate. Having seen the entire film in 48 FPS, I know what he meant — and my feelings about the format are very mixed. With all that in mind, I’m just going to go ahead and answer every question I had about the format before seeing it for myself.
Q: How does the 48-FPS format differ from most other films?
A: It has twice as many frames per second. This gives it an incredibly clear picture. Which is part of the problem.
Q: Why would a clearer image be a problem?
A: Because, as it turns out, it’s possible for an image to look so clear that it no longer looks real. Or so real that it takes you out of the film. As in: that film set looks like … a film set. Put it this way: the picture is so clear that in one scene I could see Ian McKellen’s contact lenses. I won’t claim to be a Tolkien expert, but I am pretty sure Acuvue does not exist in Middle Earth…
Open Thread: There & Back Again, At 48 Frames per SecondPost + Comments (116)