AfterDawn: News

James Cameron to push up frame rate for Avatar sequels

Director promises to push up to 48 or 60fps at CinemaCon in Las Vegas.

"When you author and project a movie at 48 or 60, it becomes a different movie. The 3D shows you a window into reality; the higher frame rate takes the glass out of the window. In fact, it is just reality. It is really stunning," Cameron said.



Jon Landau, James Cemeron's production partner, said the higher frame rate will provide for a better audience experience. He said it would remove a strobing effect caused by a "3D artefact".

With the shutter closed for less time, you also get a bright image as a result. This could help with 3D movies, as glasses can reduce the amount of light that a viewer is supposed to see of an image.

Cameron was joined at CinemaCon by George Lucas and Dreamworks Animation CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg, as they were "championing the digital 3D movie revolution."

Written by: James Delahunty @ 31 Mar 2011 15:36

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• 15 comments

• snardos

  Can most theatres show a film at 48 or 60 fps? I doubt it is just a matter of cranking up the speed on the reel.

  31.3.2011 16:23 #1

• A5J4DX

  ufff
  

  31.3.2011 17:03 #2

• simpsim

  Originally posted by snardos: Can most theatres show a film at 48 or 60 fps? I doubt it is just a matter of cranking up the speed on the reel. I think Mr Cameron is hoping that all cinemas have Digital Projection systems by the time the sequels come out. I know that some new cinemas in the UK are already fitted with them and that they're already capable of showing 3d at these framerates. It's getting the older ones retrofitted that might take longer.... and lots of money.

  31.3.2011 17:36 #3

• GryphB

  Sequels? So what are we in for, intergalactic breeding? Meh, seems that the movie is overrated.

  31.3.2011 18:55 #4

• KillerBug

  Hilarious...all the hardware is required to meet these standards, yet the movie itself isn't! Yeah james...for the sequel, do it correctly...like you should have done for the first.
  

  
  

  31.3.2011 23:08 #5

• shortybob

  I admire his ambition to crank it up to the highest possible quality and spare nothing whatsoever when it comes to those visual effects. I didn't necessarily think the story and stuff was mindblowing, but it was the prettiest damn thing I've ever seen.

  1.4.2011 00:39 #6

• dp70

  Douglas Trumbull the f/x wizard of Space Odyssey, utliized 70mm film and did EEG testing of viewers, he found 60 fps produced the greatest Alpha wave stimulation. For his projection, he used a Philips DP70 ( the Todd-AO projector) with a faster motor speed.
  The DP70 had a drive train that could handle the extra mechanical demands, as well as being awarded a technical oscar for the design of the Rolls-Royce of moving picture machines.
  
  He shot the F/x scenes of Brainstorm in Showscan 70 but it was never seen in that format by the public.
  
  That meant 280 feet/min of expensive film passed the apature plate. No room for error otherwise a lot of film could be damaged.
  
  Kiniton has a variable rate machine in their "studio" line of projection equipment.
  
  Originally Todd-AO used 30 fps to reduce the flicker. The present "standard" of 24 fps is at the bottom end of persistance of vision and dates back to Thomas Edison. The third Todd-AO release( South Pacific) was shot at 24 fps to allow optical reduction prints to 35mm anamorphic.
  
  I-MAX is VistaVision on 70mm film at 48 fps.
  
  Check ouy in70mm.com for more reading Or Marty Hart's widescreenmuseum.com...warning may be habit forming!

  1.4.2011 04:36 #7

• shortybob

  My God, dp70! You sound like you enjoy this stuff.
  

  1.4.2011 13:05 #8

• robertmro

  1. Doug Trumbull's research when developing Showscan in the 1970s showed that 60 fps is the maximum frame rate that the human eye can perceive. What I'm saying the threshold is 60 fps anything higher than that is unnecessary.
  2. "Brainstorm" was not shot shot in 70mm at 60 fps.
  2. Cameron is talking about digital projection where frame rate is not an issue.
  3. I have no doubt that 60 fps will become the standard some time in the future..

  1.4.2011 13:43 #9

• hastypete

  dp70, thank you for the comments.
  great information.
  
  This sounds like it will be phenomenal.
  Too bad they can't do it right on TVs.
  that 120Hz/240Hz up convert thing makes everyone look like they are moving a double speed to me. It is very creepy and unreal looking.
  I can't believe it doesn't have that effect on everyone, but it must be good for most people as they set every TV on the showroom floors to "true motion" or whatever moniker they've put on it.
  
  Hopefully since this format will be shot at the higher speed, it won't suffer from the "spaz motion" effect.

  1.4.2011 14:32 #10

• nintenut

  Originally posted by hastypete: dp70, thank you for the comments.
  great information.
  
  This sounds like it will be phenomenal.
  Too bad they can't do it right on TVs.
  that 120Hz/240Hz up convert thing makes everyone look like they are moving a double speed to me. It is very creepy and unreal looking.
  I can't believe it doesn't have that effect on everyone, but it must be good for most people as they set every TV on the showroom floors to "true motion" or whatever moniker they've put on it.
  
  Hopefully since this format will be shot at the higher speed, it won't suffer from the "spaz motion" effect.
  
  
  I'm with you on that one. I feel sick after seeing it for more than a few minutes.
  

  
  

  1.4.2011 15:27 #11

• six60six

  i wonder if anyone asked mr. lucas "sir, as a champion of technology, why are you always so late to the game when it comes to home viewing?" man, he is such a poser.

  1.4.2011 17:42 #12

• Jemborg

  No doubt 60Hz is a standard setting on those new projectors.
  
  Apparently, upgrading to them is getting much cheaper and there is a suggestion that it will be good for independent cinema too. Lower production and distribution costs. The Dendy chain in Oz are upgrading.
  
  I wonder if Lucas is going to shoot on Red cameras?
  

  Its a lot easier being righteous than right.
  
  
  

  2.4.2011 09:23 #13

• DocRockk

  Originally posted by snardos: Can most theaters show a film at 48 or 60 fps? I doubt it is just a matter of cranking up the speed on the reel.
  
  They are not using reels for these types of movies anymore (and more and more, movies in general). They are downloaded digitally from satellites. Crazy, huh?

  8.4.2011 23:42 #14

• Jemborg

  Originally posted by Jemborg: No doubt 60Hz is a standard setting on those new projectors.
  
  Apparently, upgrading to them is getting much cheaper and there is a suggestion that it will be good for independent cinema too. Lower production and distribution costs. The Dendy chain in Oz are upgrading.
  
  I wonder if Lucas is going to shoot on Red cameras? By "new projectors" I meant, "Digital Projectors".
  
  The movies are delivered to the cinema on hard drives.
  
  
  ------------------------------------------------------------------
  

  Its a lot easier being righteous than right.
  
  
  

  9.4.2011 08:29 #15