3D was oppressive, attention seeking and now 3D is dead. Quietly dropped by all consumer electronics firm if the 2013 CES is anything to go by.
Or is it?
Above: Peter Jackson in the camera department of “The Hobbit”
Peter Jackson chose to take a controversial step away from the cinema look and shoot The Hobbit at 48p HFR. I’ve now seen it in glorious 48 frames per second and that isn’t the biggest problem. Jackson is shooting The Hobbit like an epic but the material this time is not of epic proportions, and the action sequences are typical popcorn schlock. The Lord Of The Rings was an allegory tale with the horrors of Word War II echoing throughout, an epic work of art. Perfect material for an epic film (and LOTR was a huge leap in CGI technology at the time the film was shot). The Hobbit is simply 6 chapters of a thin children’s book stretched to 3 hours.
“Photography is truth. The cinema is truth twenty-four times per second.” – Jean Luc Godard
“Cinema is the most beautiful fraud in the world.” – Jean Luc Godard
Cinema used to be an illusion, but now the camera is putting extra pressure on filmmakers to keep up the illusion. Drawing on a conversation I had a few months ago with a VFX supervisor, EOSHD presents the challenges and problems that 4K and 48p (HFR) bring to the film set.
Above: Cate Blanchett receives some all-too-real makeup on the set of The Hobbit
Peter Jackson shot The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey at 48 frames per second (HFR) in 3D. So what is the verdict on HFR technology… More immersive? Helps the story? More beautiful?
Peter Jackson is unfazed by criticism The Hobbit looks un-cinematic by saying the clips shown at Cinemacon were unfinished and their duration not long enough for the audience to acclimatise.
