Forget 48 frames - now Cameron wants 60 frames per second

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Dark Side of the Camera
Forget 48 frames - now Cameron wants 60 frames per second .


I am now leaning toward 60 frames mostly because of broadcast," he said. "Broadcast is already at 60. We can't tell people going to the movie theater that you're going to see less. Now that we have surfaced this idea of frame rates into the public consciousness and into the discourse, we can't tell people they are seeing less in a movie theater than they are seeing in their home. And they're seeing 60 right now in their home. Sports broadcasts are 60i (interlaced) moving to 60p (progressive) in the next year. We can't appear to be noncompetitive."
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http://www.variety.com/article/VR11...ews&utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter
 
I'm gobsmacked.
Cameron seems to utterly fail to comprehend the flickering campfire storytelling appeal of 24p motion rendering.
Avatar will look like a cheap soap opera at 60p.
The Hobbit won't look much better at 48p.
Dear god let the hobbit be shown at 24p in my town!
 
I feel funny having such fundamental disagreements with James Cameron, but...

First of all, I don't think a Director should be making technical and creative decisions about his film based on consumer marketing strategies. Will his movie posters have a "Now with 60% MORE frames per second!!!" to try to compete with an NFL football game? So many issues with that logic.

Second, more frames are not better than less frames. It's different! FPS is a creative tool. I hope he's not going to look down on me for shooting 1 FPS tonight at Nationwide Arena for a timelapse.

There's much to be said for the fantastical look of 24FPS. Certainly, there will be a time and a place for 48 or 60FPS in Hollywood...I personally have my doubts...but if it's a method to expand creativity and make your film tell the story better - GREAT! But, if you're doing it to pitch your movie to people who buy TVs based on what a 19 year old wearing a blue golf shirt tells them, then I have some issues with that.
 
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I think we all need to go for a beer, coffee or glass of wine with people who don't make films, tv or whatever. Ask people who just go to the cinema to watch a movie what they think and I would hazard to guess they wouldn't know the difference. They buy the tickets. They pay your mortgage. They will buy anything Cameron puts out there because he is famous and has a track record to prove his success.
 
Avatar already looks like 60i. Have you seen it on a 240Hz television? I don't have a problem with saying he is wrong and that he does not need to compete with ESPN. It would seem that his point is that the home viewing experience is becoming the target of major release movies more than theaters. And who says the framerate 'issue' has been brought up with the general public? the 240Hz television is a response to LCD televisions display of motion, not a response to 24p movies. I agree with Brian, I don't think people even register this.
 
I always thought that he wanted the higher frame rates only for 3D. Thats why 48fps made sense to me as its easy to convert to 24fps. Do we know if he is talking about 3D or 2D.

Maybe he realized that down the road 60p 3D tv's will be the norm, I don't think he is talking about 2D here.
 
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Bassman2003 said:
I agree with Brian, I don't think people even register this.
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True. The majority of people won't. But my idiot know-it-all friends will read about this on Internets somewhere, and they will TOTALLY buy into the hype and immediately give credence to the more-is-better notion that Cameron is selling.
 
I propose 120 frames/second.
Film was limited to 24 frames because it was very expensive, but now with digital you can shoot at pretty much whatever frame rate you want so it makes sense to use a frame rate close to the human eye limit...
 
How does the Blockbuster movie count for Mr. Cameron measure against the Blockbuster movie count of anybody, or everybody put together here? He sure knows a thing or two about movie making, doesn't he? He will do a 60FPS movie and make it look pretty nice. Then laugh at everybody questioning his wisdom.
 
John Caballero said:
How does the Blockbuster movie count for Mr. Cameron measure against the Blockbuster movie count of anybody, or everybody put together here? He sure knows a thing or two about movie making, doesn't he? He will do a 60FPS movie and make it look pretty nice. Then laugh at everybody questioning his wisdom.
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Just because he's made a bunch of blockbusters doesn't mean he's infallible.

[EDIT] And that really has nothing to do with the 24 vs 60fps argument, just the notion that because he's made some blockbusters that he's somehow immune from ever making a mistake.
 
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