Is 3D really the future of film? If you ask famed cinematographer James Cameron, the answer is a resounding NO!
Cameron, known for such films as AVATAR, TITANIC, THE TERMINATOR and a host of others, believes movie goers don’t want to strap on cardboard glasses just to view a film, but would be much happier with a higher quality picture instead. So, Cameron has set his sites on a more subtle, yet possibly more important innovation in film: frame rates. While the industry has been stuck at 24fps since the 1920s, Cameron says that by bumping that number up to 48fps, or even 60fps, Hollywood can dramatically change our cinematic experience.
In a test study, Cameron used a number of cinematic techniques in test footage to illuminate what he called the gravity of the gap between 24 and 48 frames. One scene set at a dinner table included a number of panning shots, so the crowd could see how a 24 fps shot caused the image to “strobe” — which is when an image looks blurry, almost as if it is appearing in slow motion, seeming out of sync.
While even the filmmaker admitted that he was only able to notice a slight difference between a 48 fps and 60 fps, the audience audibly reacted to the increase in quality between 24 fps and 48 fps. The footage shown at 48 fps was far clearer and also had a much more realistic tone to it.
Cameron is so high on the new frames per second solution, that he plans to shoot the sequel to AVATAR at at least 48fps.
