My commentary on the use of HFR in The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012) was posted last week, several hours before the public release of the film. Naturally, there were no audience reactions to include at the time.
Since the official US release last Friday most of the audience reaction I’ve heard has consisted of one of two things…
With nearly every possible combination of the terms digital, IMAX, 2D, 3D, HFR, and non-HFR, Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012) is being released in more formats than any other film ever made. It’s also introducing a new variable that, should it become more mainstream, would cause a similar set of cinematographic problems.
“HFR” is short-hand marketer-speak for “high frame rate.” But it affects other variables that the cinematographer should be intimately controlling as well. The so dubbed HFR is the newcomer to the scene – and has been misunderstood even by many of my industry friends let alone the average moviegoer – [insert faux ‘spoiler alert’] it’s not just about the framerate.
So, here’s a look at what HFR really does to your image straight from a cinematographer’s mouth…errr…pen…err…whatever.
In this edition of news and link round-up: a theater avoids a ticket tax by selling carrots, Redbox announces their most popular rental titles, The Dark Knight Rises (2012) enters Oscar contention, and learning to slate for aspiring camera assistants.
I thought it would be fun to publicize my own director shortlist. These are my personal choices for who I’d like to see given a shot at Episode VII.
Naturally, if I actually had a say in that decision making process, I’d be under the strictest NDA known to man and wouldn’t be writing this post at all. So don’t blame me if none of these choices gets the job.
In case you somehow haven’t heard, George Lucas recently sold his independent, San Francisco-based, LucasFilm to Disney to the tune of $4 billion dollars. Among a long line of other assets, this includes most of the rights to the Star Wars franchise as well as some to Indiana Jones (see below).
I feel qualified to share about this for two reasons: First, I’ve been an ardent Star Wars fan since the second grade. Having seen the movies countless times & making a respectable foray into the Expanded Universe, Star Wars is the reason I got into the industry in the first place – so I’ve got some odd knowledge others don’t know about the situation.
Second, a well-placed friend and industry contact in the Bay Area alerted me to the news moments after it broke. Thus, we were able to join the conference call between Disney’s board members and investors when few people knew yet that anything was happening at all.
In this edition of News & Link Round-up: the Best Picture nominees as infographics, is the a “correct” winner in each category, & some must see short ranging from trailer mash-ups to tire commercials.
News & Link Round-up is a regular column where I showcase the Vimeo shorts, film news, and other online content that’s caught my eye over the past couple weeks, but for whatever reason (time, importance, amount of content, etc.) didn’t make the blog sooner.
In this edition: Canon 5DMkIII announced, Wally Pfister gets feature directorial gig, Ralph McQuarrie dies, and a couple must see shorts
If you kept up with my posts last week, then you’re familiar with my article on the predicted winners from last night’s Academy Awards. How did I do?
Entering a contest to guess the most Academy Awards winners this year? I’m entering at least one. Here are my picks for the most likely winners in every category.
Oscar Lineup and Predictions 2013
Other than the documentary shorts and foreign films, I’ve only missed two nominees (titles not screened are noted in the categories below).
My “Will Win” and “Dark Horse” picks were chosen based on aggregated results of various industry experts, winners of other award shows, trends from years past, and my own personal knack for such things
As for who the Academy will actually pick Sunday night, there are a lot more close races than in recent years. If I match last year’s total of 16 correct picks (or if anyone does) I’ll be more than a touch surprised.
UPDATE: 20 out of 24 – not bad at all.