10 Genius Editing Decisions That Made Movie Scenes Great
6. A Lower Frame Rate Gives The Action Sequences A Unique Style - Mad Max: Fury Road
Though Mad Max: Fury Road largely received rave reviews from audiences and critics alike upon release, some viewers noted that parts of the movie felt "jerky," as though they had been sped-up or subtly tinkered with in post-production.
This was the result of an entirely intentional editing trick instigated by director George Miller, who deliberately ran certain shots and sequences at lower frame rates in order to give them an unnaturally speedy, "undercranked" look.
This is perhaps most notable during the movie's pre-title sequence where Max (Tom Hardy) is chased and captured by the War Boys: his movements are fast enough to look almost comically cartoonish at times, ensuring Fury Road boasts an extremely distinctive action movie aesthetic.
But as explained by the movie's cinematographer John Seale, there was a more practical motivation behind Miller's artistic choice:
"Something like 50 or 60 percent of the film is not running at 24 frames a second, which is the traditional frame rate. It'll be running below 24 frames because George, if he couldn't understand what was happening in the shot, he slowed it down until you could. Or if it was too well understood, he'd shorten it or he'd speed it up back towards 24. His manipulation of every shot in that movie is intense."
For her exemplary work on the film, editor Margaret Sixel - also Miller's wife - deservedly won the Academy Award for Best Film Editing.