The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey - Grading & Discussion (Spoilers)

[RoJoHen]

Re: The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey - Grading & Discussion (Spoilers

So the only argument against it is, again, just like with 3D, is "OMG IT'S NEW I DON'T LIKE NEW!"

My argument against 3D is and always has been "These glasses give me a migraine."

 

[JarodRussell]

Re: The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey - Grading & Discussion (Spoilers

So the only argument against it is, again, just like with 3D, is "OMG IT'S NEW I DON'T LIKE NEW!"

My argument against 3D is and always has been "These glasses give me a migraine."

But no more in combination with HFR!

 

[Flying Spaghetti Monster]

Re: The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey - Grading & Discussion (Spoilers

Does anyone else have their theaters showing a LOTR marathon this weekend? Man that's along time in the theater!

 

[JD]

Re: The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey - Grading & Discussion (Spoilers

I haven't decided for sure, but I'm tempted to try to see it in HFR 3D. Mainly just because I'm curious how different it looks.

 

[davejames]

Re: The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey - Grading & Discussion (Spoilers

So the only argument against it is, again, just like with 3D, is "OMG IT'S NEW I DON'T LIKE NEW!"

No, it sounds to me like the main argument is it makes the movie look cheap and like a live theater production on PBS.

I'm certainly curious to see 48fps, but it just seems completely wrong for a movie like The Hobbit, which is kinda supposed to have that dreamlike, larger than life feel.

 

[Set Harth]

Re: The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey - Grading & Discussion (Spoilers

Does anyone else have their theaters showing a LOTR marathon this weekend? Man that's along time in the theater!

The adult diaper market thanks you!

 

[Greylock Crescent]

Re: The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey - Grading & Discussion (Spoilers

WRT 3D, Hugo was the first time the tech made me feel immersed in the film. But it was to a great extent, a stylized presentation. Even so, 3D still reminds me that I'm just watching a movie. Without yet having seen 48fps, I don't know if it'll elicit the same response in me. But it's worth keeping an open mind.

 

[Professor Zoom]

Re: The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey - Grading & Discussion (Spoilers

I wish these silly-assed, bored, too-much-time-on-their-hands movie directors would just DIRECT the movie instead of trying to implement THEIR ideas on how we should watch their films or anyone else's films for that matter.

Yeah, god forbid those damn directors would actually experiment every once in a while and try new ideas & techniques with their films.

I was about to say... Isn't directing telling the audience how to watch the story?

 

[JarodRussell]

Re: The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey - Grading & Discussion (Spoilers

So the only argument against it is, again, just like with 3D, is "OMG IT'S NEW I DON'T LIKE NEW!"

No, it sounds to me like the main argument is it makes the movie look cheap and like a live theater production on PBS.

I'm certainly curious to see 48fps, but it just seems completely wrong for a movie like The Hobbit, which is kinda supposed to have that dreamlike, larger than life feel.

"it makes the movie look cheap" can be translated into "it makes the movie look different".

 

[Mach5]

Re: The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey - Grading & Discussion (Spoilers

"it makes the movie look cheap" can be translated into "it makes the movie look different".

It's like you haven't even read any of the arguments against 48fps

 

[Sindatur]

Re: The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey - Grading & Discussion (Spoilers

"it makes the movie look cheap" can be translated into "it makes the movie look different".

It's like you haven't even read any of the arguments against 48fps

I've read them, and the impression I get that is being said is that it no longer looks filmed, it looks too realistic with the lack of blurring, and that that also causes some folks headaches and vertigo. I can certainly understand a complaint about headaches and vertigo, but, I never thought I'd see a complaint in Film's never ending quest to look more lifelike to end up causing a complaint of too lifelike

 

[Flying Spaghetti Monster]

Re: The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey - Grading & Discussion (Spoilers

The motion blur is what gives a film its cinematic quality. High frame rate makes it appear that you are standing on a set next to the director

What bugs me is that this is "innovation" for the sake of it and Jackson and Cameron are doing it because they can. But Jackson, Cameron, and Lucas used to make innovations to make their films better and their stories work back in their respective heydays.

 

[RoJoHen]

Re: The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey - Grading & Discussion (Spoilers

but, I never thought I'd see a complaint in Film's never ending quest to look more lifelike to end up causing a complaint of too lifelike

Well, it takes some of the fantasy away. I no longer feel like I'm watching Gandalf walk around Middle Earth. I feel like I'm watching Ian McKellan walk around in a Gandalf costume. It's like somebody went to a LOTR play and filmed it with their HD phone.

Now, I haven't seen the finished product, so I don't know how it will really look. I am basing this off of a preview I saw several months ago.

 

[JarodRussell]

Re: The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey - Grading & Discussion (Spoilers

"it makes the movie look cheap" can be translated into "it makes the movie look different".

It's like you haven't even read any of the arguments against 48fps

I've read them, and the impression I get that is being said is that it no longer looks filmed, it looks too realistic with the lack of blurring, and that that also causes some folks headaches and vertigo. I can certainly understand a complaint about headaches and vertigo, but, I never thought I'd see a complaint in Film's never ending quest to look more lifelike to end up causing a complaint of too lifelike

Headaches and vertigo caused by higher frame rate than 24fps makes no fucking sense whatsoever.

The motion blur is what gives a film its cinematic quality. High frame rate makes it appear that you are standing on a set next to the director

Motion blur should still be there, because the usual shutter speed is well below 1/48 seconds.

 

[Mach5]

Re: The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey - Grading & Discussion (Spoilers

Film's never ending quest to look more lifelike

I wasn't aware of such quest.

 

[Greylock Crescent]

Re: The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey - Grading & Discussion (Spoilers

Well, it takes some of the fantasy away. I no longer feel like I'm watching Gandalf walk around Middle Earth. I feel like I'm watching Ian McKellan walk around in a Gandalf costume. It's like somebody went to a LOTR play and filmed it with their HD phone.

That "movie magic" has always meant, to me, the ability to convey that what's happening on-screen could really happen - in whatever reality the film is set in. Advancing film to the point where it looks like we're watching a live stage presentation challenges that preconception I've always had. And raises the question: should there be a distinction - an illusion - associated with film? Without having seen 48fps, I can't say whether the challenge is justified. My only hope is that makes the suspension of disbelief easier so that I can just simply enjoy the story.

 

[JarodRussell]

Re: The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey - Grading & Discussion (Spoilers

Are you really feeling like watching a live stage presentation when there's giant 8 meter tall heads of actors floating above you?

 

[Greylock Crescent]

Re: The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey - Grading & Discussion (Spoilers

As I said, not having seen 48fps, I cannot answer that question. *If* the reactions of others are taken at face value - and *if* 48fps makes me "no longer feel like I'm watching Gandalf walk around Middle Earth. [Instead] I feel like I'm watching Ian McKellan walk around in a Gandalf costume," then that seems to be the equivalent of watching a stage production (and, of course, stage productions themselves can be powerful and immersive). But because of the limitations of film, there has always been that distinction between cinema and the stage. So what happens when film reaches the point where it has no such limitations? Is that really a good thing?

Like I said, without having seen what 48fps actually looks like, I've no way of even answering the question - let alone determining whether or not the question itself is appropriate. But that seems to be the larger question we face: how "real" should cinema look?

 

[Sindatur]

Re: The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey - Grading & Discussion (Spoilers

Film's never ending quest to look more lifelike

I wasn't aware of such quest.

Color, HD, 3D, CGI that doesn't look cartoonish... Does this not show a goal towards film/TV becoming more and more realistic?

 

[JD]

Re: The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey - Grading & Discussion (Spoilers

I always assumed that films were pretty much trying to work their way up to Trek's Holodecks. I really have no problem with a movie looking like it was filmed live, in the last couple months I watched the filmed productions of the Phantom of the Opera and Memphis plays, and I didn't have any more trouble getting into them than I would a regular movie.