High Frame Rate and "The Hobbit"

Peter Jackson recently released the beginning of his new trilogy, "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey" in the stunning High Frame Rate (HFR). I've had quite a run with HFR in general. As a person who absolutely loves quality in resolution and refresh rate, I was thrilled to here that Jackson will be showing his new movie in double the frame rate. If you don't know, normal films run at 24 frames per second, or fps. The new special HFR format is at an astonishing 48fps.

I do not own the rights to above image. 

I started doing as much research as possible when I heard the news. Apparently, HFR formats have acquired a not-so-surprising nickname: the Soap Opera effect. I don't watch tv much, but I can tell if something is feature film or a tv show. I can't explain it, but I can just tell. I assume this is what people were talking about. HFR looking too fake (if that makes any sense). Upon further research, I came across some clips of various movies in HFR format. One was a snippet of "Avatar." Being that EVERYTHING in that movie was Computer Generated Imagery (CGI) and Greenscreen, it looked more fake than ever. I was slightly disappointed about it, but I try to keep an open mind about new technologies, and more importantly I didn't want to bash Jackson's new movie that hadn't even come out yet. I found another clip in HFR. It was the "Inception" trailer. I finally saw what people were referring to when they talked about the soap opera effect. The "Inception" trailer looked like a really bad Telemundo show (is that a double negative?). When Cobb was walking around with Ariadne while the street was folding over itself, it looked so bad, I had to pause it and start laughing. Also when Cobb was silently doing his assassinations in Saito's mind (sorry, spoilers), it looked really bad. I'm sorry. 

My optimism about watching "The Hobbit" in HFR was dropping. Quick. So I decided to forget the HFR and go watch it in IMAX instead. I went to the Fort Lauderdale IMAX the Monday after its release with a few friends. However, this was my first time going to a real IMAX in years. The last movie I saw was "Monsters vs. Aliens," but that's beside the point. I was so excited about seeing it in IMAX 3D, that it actually came out to be horrible in my opinion. The movie wasn't horrible, by any means, but the technical quality of the movie projector was really bad. I refused to blame Peter Jackson; I know he's better than that. So I blamed the theater and said that their projector is way out of date, or broken out of spite. I wasted 14 dollars that night. 

I guess this is a good time for me to express my loathing for motion blur within movies. Especially for Jackson's Rings Trilogy, where most of the shots are of the group trekking through landscapes. I don't want to see the grass as a solid block of green, but as grass. I don't want to see trees as flying hedges, but as swaying trees. Now to continue:

After another week, I dropped everything I was doing and decided to look for theaters near me to go see the HFR (the Fort Lauderdale IMAX I went to didn't offer HFR). The closest one I could find was in Sawgrass. I told my dad, +Robert McElveen, and we went to go see it. After a long day of errands, we accidentally showed up a little late but eventually got in in time for Thorin, Son of Thrain, to do his deep and heartpounding song, Misty Mountains, with the other dwarves. I'll tell you right now, the second walked into the theater, I looked up onto the screen, without my 3D glasses on, and could physically see how smooth the movie was. Everything just floated on by. I was speechless. I hurried to sit down and shoved the glassed onto my face so hard, my nose hurt for the next 2 hours. I looked up onto the screen with awe at how amazingly beautiful the movie was. Over course, at the beginning, everybody isn't doing much, so I waited for the ultimate test: panning over the fields with trees and mountains in the background. I was so impressed with it, I couldn't stop smiling to myself in the theater. What threw it over the edge was the mountain giant battle on the latter half of the movie. That was so crystal clear, I can't even describe it. 

Besides how smooth the movie ran, the actual quality of the film seemed to have upgraded compared to other movies. Needless to say whenever it zoomed in on the goblin king's face, Thorin's face, Gandalf's face, or Gollum's face, I was so impressed with it. Also spoilers, at the very end, when it zooms into Smaug's eye, it was such high definition, I need to research if the Sawgrass AMC has a 4K screen or not. It seemed too good. I loved every minute of the movie. 

Here is my verdict. I certainly loved seeing "The Hobbit" in HFR and all its glory. However, I can tell you right now that HFR doesn't seem like it's for every movie from now (like 3D is. Read my other blog! Movies in 3D) It seems to me, that "The Hobbit" was a perfect candidate for the the upcoming technology. A large congratulations to Peter Jackson and RED Cameras for making such a impeccably fantasy.