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So, basically, at 24FPS things are blurry enough that you can't see the fine details, which means that special effects and costumes look realistic. Increase th

So, basically, at 24FPS things are blurry enough that you can't see the fine details, which means that special effects and costumes look realistic. Increase the frequency to 48FPS and the blur goes away, meaning that we can see the fine detail, and suddenly sets look like sets, costumes look like costumes, and CGI looks like a computer game.

TillE 12y ago
To be fair, CGI creatures look like a computer game regardless. A very pretty computer game, but still. Sometimes it seems like people want to believe that CGI is a whole lot better than it actually is. People raved about Gollum in the LOTR films, but go back and look at it. Even at 24fps, it's not great. It certainly doesn't look real.
- afterburner 12y ago
  Could that be due to the brightness difference between seeing it in the theatre and watching it on your TV? TVs tend to be set brighter.
- georgemcbay 12y ago
  I agree with this but I think it is more complicated than people "wanting to believe CGI is better than it is", it is more like some sort of innate suspension of disbelief we all have as long as what we are seeing is as good or better than what we've seen before. I lived through the entire CGI revolution in movies from the early days of Tron and the "Genesis effect" sequence of Star Trek II to now. The way the CGI in all the movies in between looks to me now is very different than it looked to me when first viewed and as a graphics nerd I was always interested and up to date on the technology was done. I don't believe my brain "wanted" to believe CGI was better than it was then, I just had no context for how it would look when it was done even better and as the goalposts moved what came before looked increasingly bad in comparison.
- pinaceae 12y ago
  go watch Interstellar. first movie where it was really, really hard to spot the transitions to CGI. also, you'd be surprised how much CGI now is being used in TV series. the showreels are on vimeo, some amazing work. example, game of thrones, season 4: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jK73bCuJXc8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jK73bCuJXc8
- lotsofmangos 12y ago
  CGI backgrounds are very good though. Most people are not aware of just how much of Fight Club is CGI. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dlpr6CnKDFM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dlpr6CnKDFM
  - vilhelm_s 12y ago
    Incidentally, have you re-watched Fight Club recently? I remember when I watched it in 1999 I was completely blown away by the "impossible" cuts. I watched again a couple of months ago, and all I could think was that it looked like a Half Life 2 cut-scene. The standard for CGI rendering has gotten a lot higher. :)
- ollifi 12y ago
  I have wondered about this as well. Maybe the audience does not care so much and thus it makes no sense stay at stuff that can be pulled off with budget. That said there is more and more things that can be done well every year. I think something like Gravity looked pretty cool and it will be interesting to see if it looks good few decades down the road.
  - panzi 12y ago
    There weren't many organic things in Gravity. Mechanical things are much more easy to get to look right. (The easiest would be something made of plastic, I guess.)
anigbrowl 12y ago
It's not just that the lack of realism jumps out. Everyone instinctively knows movies look strange compared to real life, but this dream-like quality is part of what makes them so seductive.
hyp0 12y ago
Exactly, though movies often aim not at realism but something better. How to achieve that? So far, it's taken a lifetime of trial-and-error in every aspect of movie making to find what works (which happened to be at 24fps). 48fps might too.
- ddingus 12y ago
  Immersion. It doesn't have to be real, it just has to take you there fully enough for you to have an experience intended by the creator.
niccl 12y ago
> suddenly sets look like sets This really puzzle me. I was an extra in LOTR 3, and was on some of these sets. They _don't_ look like sets. The Weta people put insane energy and time into making them look and feel realistic: dirt on the floors, dirt on the costumes, peeling paint, heavy chain mail (even though it's electroplated plastic, it's still heavy!)... the list could go on and on and on.

TillE 12y ago

To be fair, CGI creatures look like a computer game regardless. A very pretty computer game, but still. Sometimes it seems like people want to believe that CGI is a whole lot better than it actually is. People raved about Gollum in the LOTR films, but go back and look at it. Even at 24fps, it's not great. It certainly doesn't look real.

afterburner 12y ago
Could that be due to the brightness difference between seeing it in the theatre and watching it on your TV? TVs tend to be set brighter.
georgemcbay 12y ago
I agree with this but I think it is more complicated than people "wanting to believe CGI is better than it is", it is more like some sort of innate suspension of disbelief we all have as long as what we are seeing is as good or better than what we've seen before. I lived through the entire CGI revolution in movies from the early days of Tron and the "Genesis effect" sequence of Star Trek II to now. The way the CGI in all the movies in between looks to me now is very different than it looked to me when first viewed and as a graphics nerd I was always interested and up to date on the technology was done. I don't believe my brain "wanted" to believe CGI was better than it was then, I just had no context for how it would look when it was done even better and as the goalposts moved what came before looked increasingly bad in comparison.
pinaceae 12y ago
go watch Interstellar. first movie where it was really, really hard to spot the transitions to CGI. also, you'd be surprised how much CGI now is being used in TV series. the showreels are on vimeo, some amazing work. example, game of thrones, season 4: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jK73bCuJXc8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jK73bCuJXc8
lotsofmangos 12y ago
CGI backgrounds are very good though. Most people are not aware of just how much of Fight Club is CGI. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dlpr6CnKDFM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dlpr6CnKDFM
- vilhelm_s 12y ago
  Incidentally, have you re-watched Fight Club recently? I remember when I watched it in 1999 I was completely blown away by the "impossible" cuts. I watched again a couple of months ago, and all I could think was that it looked like a Half Life 2 cut-scene. The standard for CGI rendering has gotten a lot higher. :)
ollifi 12y ago
I have wondered about this as well. Maybe the audience does not care so much and thus it makes no sense stay at stuff that can be pulled off with budget. That said there is more and more things that can be done well every year. I think something like Gravity looked pretty cool and it will be interesting to see if it looks good few decades down the road.
- panzi 12y ago
  There weren't many organic things in Gravity. Mechanical things are much more easy to get to look right. (The easiest would be something made of plastic, I guess.)

anigbrowl 12y ago

It's not just that the lack of realism jumps out. Everyone instinctively knows movies look strange compared to real life, but this dream-like quality is part of what makes them so seductive.

hyp0 12y ago

Exactly, though movies often aim not at realism but something better. How to achieve that? So far, it's taken a lifetime of trial-and-error in every aspect of movie making to find what works (which happened to be at 24fps). 48fps might too.

ddingus 12y ago
Immersion. It doesn't have to be real, it just has to take you there fully enough for you to have an experience intended by the creator.

niccl 12y ago

> suddenly sets look like sets This really puzzle me. I was an extra in LOTR 3, and was on some of these sets. They _don't_ look like sets. The Weta people put insane energy and time into making them look and feel realistic: dirt on the floors, dirt on the costumes, peeling paint, heavy chain mail (even though it's electroplated plastic, it's still heavy!)... the list could go on and on and on.