The Hobbit: 20 Blunders That Ruined An Unexpected Journey

19. 48 Frames Per Second

There has been much controversy surrounding Peter Jackson's decision to film The Hobbit trilogy in HFR (that's High Frame-Rate), meaning that the usual 24fps frame-rate is doubled to 48, supposedly giving us a richer image and creating a more immersive world. However, after a disastrous preview screening of 48fps footage in the Spring, in which many audiences described it as looking like "a low-budget TV show", rumours began to surface that the format just wasn't something audiences were going to appreciate, as our eyes are simply not used to viewing such a smooth array of images in any one second. Attendees of the final product make similar complaints, asserting that the characters have an oddly inauthentic look, even if the format does ultimately make the visual effects-driven landscapes pop. The overly smooth image is simply not what our eyes are used to, and as a result, we reject it; we like the stifled look of 24fps given that it's all we know, and the smoothness is rather something that we associate with documentary film or news reports. Fantasy should look fake and film-like; it's just plain weird when it has the same look as something that is actually real.
 
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Frequently sleep-deprived film addict and video game obsessive who spends more time than is healthy in darkened London screening rooms. Follow his twitter on @ShaunMunroFilm or e-mail him at shaneo632 [at] gmail.com.