The Hobbit: Why 48FPS Makes Film Less Magical • Hacker News Board

Re: The Hobbit: Why 48FPS Makes Film Less Magical

#31

Post by 0x0 » Wed, Dec 19, 2012, 10:05 AM UTC

simonh wrote: post #25

I saw it last night in HFR 3D. It's actually the first proper feature film I've seen in 3D and I enjoyed it a lot. There definitely were moments where it looked like you were looking at actors on a set. The fidelity was so good that it was obvious the characters were wearing prosthetics and makeup. However there were plenty of scenes where the increased detail and clarity were a huge advantage, especially some of the…

Spot on with the "obvious makeup" in certain scenes. I still think 48fps is amazing. I wonder how it will look in non-fantasy-themed movies!

Re: The Hobbit: Why 48FPS Makes Film Less Magical

#32

Post by bosch » Wed, Dec 19, 2012, 10:08 AM UTC

This guys full of it. There's no way you can see the same movie and tell me you "connected" more when it was just 2D. If he wants to be a film purist he should say so, I'm fine with people preferring one format but I bet he'll be watching the film when it comes out on Blu-Ray and NOT his VHS...

Re: The Hobbit: Why 48FPS Makes Film Less Magical

#33

Post by bosch » Wed, Dec 19, 2012, 10:09 AM UTC

bosch wrote: post #32

This guys full of it. There's no way you can see the same movie and tell me you "connected" more when it was just 2D. If he wants to be a film purist he should say so, I'm fine with people preferring one format but I bet he'll be watching the film when it comes out on Blu-Ray and NOT his VHS...

Also, I saw it in 3D HFR and thought it looked amazing! Everything was so clear and I could see the pores on peoples faces and the battle scenes flowed much more smoothly. The only thing that bugged me was the glasses which wrapped the head too tightly.

Re: The Hobbit: Why 48FPS Makes Film Less Magical

#34

Post by Tichy » Wed, Dec 19, 2012, 10:14 AM UTC

I remember when we bought our first flatscreen full HD TV (I think full HD - honestly I lost track of what means what, I guess it has a somewhat higher resolution than the old tube). Everything looked shocking at first, too - like HFR is described here, suddenly lighting and makeup were painfully obvious.

After a while we didn't really notice that anymore, so I could imagine we will adjust to HFR, too. Also I suppose film making will have to adjust (lighting, makeup and so on).

A problem could be that we get to watch a lot of TV, but not that much HFR movies in the cinema. The Hobbit will be the second movie I'll watch in the cinema in two years...

Anyways, I will watch it in HFR 3d in the cinema because I don't have the opportunity to watch it like that at home.

Re: The Hobbit: Why 48FPS Makes Film Less Magical

#35

Post by natmaster » Wed, Dec 19, 2012, 10:15 AM UTC

The immersion was amazing. I was flinching every time something flew at the screen. I can't say I ever did that for Avatar.

Furthermore, the audience and myself were all gasping and laughing etc unlike what the author states with his anecdotal 'proof,' clouded by preconceived notions and order bias.

Re: The Hobbit: Why 48FPS Makes Film Less Magical

#36

Post by Osmium » Wed, Dec 19, 2012, 10:16 AM UTC

objclxt wrote: post #17

Osmium wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> distressed at the experience I think this is interesting. Like yourself, and the author of the article, I applaud Peter Jackson for having the courage to try, and reserve judgement until I have the chance to see it myself next week. That said, I still think it's very much an open question whether people's responses to this are due to the intrinsic nature of 48fps or just due to how alien it feels. Personally, I can…

> "I think back to Technicolor films and how crappy they looked at the time" Technicolor films looked fantastic when they were first released. There are a lot of bad transfers that have been done since, but three-strip technicolor (the kind used on the Wizard of Oz, where you shoot using three separate film strips) had incredible saturation. There were other, considerably less expensive alternatives that you might be…

It's actually Wizard of Oz I had in mind when I was saying that. I appreciate for its time it was a huge advance, but I always thought it looked considerably less beautiful than black and white films of the same era, but perhaps this was as much because people didn't really understand how to use colour properly then as much as the technology itself. Anyway, thanks for the info :) I consider myself enlightened.

Re: The Hobbit: Why 48FPS Makes Film Less Magical

#37

Post by rquirk » Wed, Dec 19, 2012, 10:17 AM UTC

I imagine that in 5-10 years all films will be higher resolution and 48fps. The youth of tomorrow will look back at the low-res, fuzzy films of today the same way we look at black and white flicks from the past, "Did people really like this crud?!".

The Hobbit - good or bad, it doesn't matter - is really just the first of the next generation. It means makeup artists and prop creators have to step up the quality based on complaints like those in TFA, but that's technology for you.

Re: The Hobbit: Why 48FPS Makes Film Less Magical

#38

Post by rangibaby » Wed, Dec 19, 2012, 10:21 AM UTC

blots wrote: post #28

webjunkie wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would imagine you wouldn't notice first, but when the scene changes half through the movie you would say "hey, somethings different now"

I suppose you could use that for stylistic effect. Like a change of mood in the story, or a changed attitude of the character.

The Wizard of Oz did this with black and white / color.

Re: The Hobbit: Why 48FPS Makes Film Less Magical

#39

Post by josteink » Wed, Dec 19, 2012, 10:23 AM UTC

Not to go TLDR on Hacker news, but if 48fps was too much for the author, he did in noway attempt to limit his own output to get down to the core of the matters, or "magic of telling a story" if you like.

I'm seeing this in 3D HFR tomorrow (and incidentally my first 3D movie as well). Will be interesting to see if I share his sentiment.

Re: The Hobbit: Why 48FPS Makes Film Less Magical

#40

Post by lukifer » Wed, Dec 19, 2012, 10:31 AM UTC

I think there is a place for high frame-rate: stories that are aiming for fly-on-the-wall realism (I'm thinking particularly of The Wire, or Paranormal Activity). I could also see new film-making styles built around the tech. Unfortunately, epic fantasy is exactly the wrong type of film for the HFR effect.

In addition to looking lifeless and flat, everything seemed to move too quickly, and human movement looked cartoonishly fluid (curiously, CGI creatures looked more real, and people looked like CGI creatures). I found the scenes that looked best were the ones in slow-motion, and I can't help but feel the whole movie would have been improved through using effects to slow down everything.