Peter Jackson's Love of HFR and Why We Love to Hate It (Entry #11)

     Most movies that you see in theaters today are shot in 24p, a video format that operates at 24 frames per second. But in 2012, Peter Jackson's The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey introduced moviegoers to a projection frame rate of 48 frames per second, or "High Frame Rate" as it was advertised to the public. It was the first feature film with a wide release to be shown at this rate. Some people loved it, and some people hated it, and the funny thing was, they loved and hated it for a lot of the same reasons.
     Jackson was attempting to create the uncanny on purpose in his film. The Hobbit series, a total of three films with the last being released this year, serves as a prequel to Jackson's other film franchise, The Lord of the Rings. All of the films are visual epics, filled with hobbits and goblins and trolls and elves, amongst a slew of other fantastic mythical creatures and locations. CGI is heavily relied on to create the world, which makes for a very imaginative, make-believe, fictional world.
     However, when Jackson decided to film The Hobbit series in HFR, there was a clash in the look and feel of the film. The HFR created a very non-cinematic picture. Movies in general look different from TV shows, particularly reality TV shows, due to lighting and other elements. When people first saw The Hobbit in HFR, it looked like a video game. The picture was unusually sharp and crisp, and reminded viewers of their HD TVs at home, not what you usually see in a movie theatre.
     A quote from Rolling Stone might help:

     "Couple that with 3D and the movie looks so hyper-real that you see everything that's fake about it, from painted sets to prosthetic noses. The unpleasant effect is similar to watching a movie on a new HD home-theater monitor, shadows obliterated by blinding light – yikes! – reality TV."

      This article from Vulture compares The Hobbit to a slew of other entertainment forms, live theatre a very interesting comparison. Although it received mixed reviews, Jackson continued his use of HFR into the second film in the trilogy, released last year, and will do so in his final film this December.
     I think Jackson's use of HFR made a noticeable mark in the history of filmmaking. While HFR might not have been a successful venture in the world of fantasy, CGI, special effects filmmaking, what might HFR do for other genres of film? In gritty, human dramas, HFR might be a nice touch to make it seem that much more real, and less cinematic in form, more personal and intimate. The uncanny could blur the line that the cinema often creates, and could even welcome the intimacy found in black boxes and live theatres into movie theatres. We often go to the movies to escape, but what if we started going to the movies for a totally new experience? It's hard to see what impact Jackson's choices have now, as it's a relatively new form of technology, but it would be interesting to see if it has any lasting effects in moviemaking over the next few years.