The Perils of High Frame Rate

High Frame Rate is a term used to describe films shot using more frames per second than traditional films, typically 48 frames per second as opposed to the traditional 24. High frame rate is a highly experimental format, and has only been used on a small handful of films so far, notably The Hobbit. This technology has only actually been experienced by a small handful of people, given that less than one thousand cinemas world wide are equipped to display HFS image, and i personally have never experienced this effect, and so cannot comment on its effectiveness, however i can comment on the advantages, motivations and drawbacks of this technology.

As i stated previously, high frame rate uses double the number of frames per second when compared to traditional film. Its proponents have stated that HFR reduces blur and lag, and improves the general lighting of the image.The Hobbit was filmed entirely in HFR using Red Epic cameras. Proponents of this technology have stated that HFR used in conjunction with 3D looks far better, and many of the problems with current 3D projection technology, such as flickering, ghosting and image break up are not apparent when used in conjunction with HFR. I have some issues with Jackson's logic, he states that HFR reduces blur and flicker, however without taking into account what the human eye actually sees, the original star wars trilogy used Go-Motion, a stop motion variation used to add motion blur to images, in order to make them look real, and indistinguishable from the live action footage, so a little ironic that HFR is supposed to improve image quality by reducing blur, when motion blur is inherant in the way we view images naturally.

Detractors from this technology have stated that this technique makes the visuals look overlit, and cheap, and makes the picture look like sports coverage or a video game, ie really really cheap! One of the major issues that i have with this technology is that it prohibits using film, and this technology can only be used with digital film. This irritates me and i am a huge critic of digital film, which although much cheaper to produce, doesn't have the romantic stylized look of film, and although there is great clarity and sharpness, this is not necessarily an advantage. Some have pointed out that HFR is creating a new uncanny valley like effect, in which the images presented look too real, and are thus slightly repulsive.

Overall i have conflicted feelings about high frame rate, although it irons out many of the problems facing 3D viewers, such as darkness, ghosting and break up, however i feel that this is a technology which although being appropriate in some cases, is inappropriate for some movies, and i dislike the fact that this technology is moving filmmakers farther and farther away from using film stock, which really is a shame.