48 Frames per Second: Boon or Curse?

Back in 2009, James Cameron changed the science of movie-making with his enthralling billion-dollar cash rig, Avatar. People cooed and wowed as the 3D came out like never before, owing to the Cameron patented ‘Fusion Camera Technology’, a technique which was developed to shoot movies in stereoscopic 3D. Come 2012, Peter Jackson and his crew present an all new way of projecting movie on a unique film with 48 frames per second (FPS) in the much-anticipated prequel to ‘The Lord of the Rings’ series, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey.

To kick start, one must wonder, what is Frame Rate? According to the all-knowledgeable Wikipedia, “Frame Rate is the frequency at which an imaging device produces unique consecutive images called frames. It is most often expressed in frames per second or FPS.”  In laymen terms, Frame Rate is the number of images that make up one second of a video and FPS is the measure of Frame Rate.


As history goes, movies till now were made and viewed in 24 FPS. By amplifying this rate, Peter Jackson, the director of ‘The Hobbit’, dared to eradicate the blurring effect which happens during rapid movements in 24 FPS. Thus, it will accentuate the smoother motions of the chronicles happening in the movie.

The early reactions of people after the advance screenings ranged from positive to mediocre. It was lauded by some futuristic critics saying that they were stunned by the sheer power of imagery and the exquisiteness of the movie. Acclaims also came in the way of the smoothness of action sequences that was never a feature of 3D 24 FPS. Some critics are calling it insanely gorgeous while praising its crystal clear turnout and others are whispering that, “they haven’t seen anything like it.”

With such ambitious visual appeal, come flaws. Complaints of over reality took a huge stride while some said that it takes a mammoth of a time to get acquainted with the visuals. Some criticisms were aimed at the contrast ratio in which things were either too bright or too dark. With such reality zoomed into prospects, makeups were highlighted and the movie looked like one big soap opera!

To sum it up, 48 FPS can very well be the future of movie-making. With life-like experience and slicker movements, it might rewrite the way movies are made. It will be interesting to note the final verdict of this technology when ‘The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey’ will hit the theatres worldwide on 14^th Dec ’12.