James Cameron’s Bold Frame Rate Gamble Divides Directors

Avatar: Fire and Ash is set to hit cinemas soon, and anticipation is running high among filmgoers. In a recent chat with Discussing Film, director James Cameron shared that roughly 40% of the upcoming release will feature high frame rate sequences. The interviewer noted that this approach felt “more seamless” in Fire and Ash, especially compared to the now-familiar 3D format.

High Frame Rate: Cameron’s Take

Cameron was quick to clarify his stance on the technology, saying,

High frame rate shouldn’t be thought of as a format. 3D is a format. 70mm is a format. High frame rate is a way of improving 3D. So, it’s an authoring tool.

He went on to explain how the team used this technique in the film:

We’ve used it in two ways. To create an otherworldly sense of hyper clarity in the underwater scenes. We just used it for every underwater scene in ‘The Way of Water’ and in ‘Fire and Ash’. In the above water scenes, we only use it where we have a stroboscopic artifact due to panning or lateral motion of a character.

Some scenes in The Way of Water, particularly those set underwater, were shown at 48 frames per second—double the standard 24 FPS most punters are used to. It’s no wonder the visuals came across so smooth and crisp.

Nolan’s Reservations About High Frame Rate

Christopher Nolan, a director known for his meticulous approach, has been vocal about his reservations regarding motion smoothing and higher frame rates. Along with a few other filmmakers, he’s pushed back against TV settings that artificially boost frame rates, arguing that it changes the intended look of films. In a letter to the Directors Guild of America’s Creative Rights Committee, Nolan wrote,

Many of you have seen your work appear on television screens looking different from the way you actually finished it. Modern televisions have extraordinary technical capabilities, and it is important that we harness these new technologies to ensure that the home viewer sees our work presented as closely as possible to our original creative intentions.

While motion smoothing might be handy for sports, Nolan and his peers reckon it strips away the cinematic feel from films by making them look too slick. Neill Blomkamp, another director, has also weighed in, saying,

If you were to show a child who’s six months now a 48fps movie, when they’re sixty, it’ll be as familiar to them as 24fps are for us now. But there may be an alien quality from 48fps; it has kind of a hyper-realism that takes away the cinema of it. I don’t actually like 48fps. I prefer 24fps

Not everyone’s keen on the new look, it seems.

Box Office Prospects for Fire and Ash

With a production budget of $250 million, Avatar: Fire and Ash is a major investment. Cameron has previously admitted he wasn’t entirely sure if the third instalment would pull in enough to keep the franchise going. He told Variety,

We’ll make some money. But the question is, what kind of a profit margin, if any, is there, and how much of an inducement is that to continue on in this universe?

Despite his doubts, early projections suggest a strong opening, with estimates ranging from $100 million to $130 million for the debut weekend. That’s just a touch below The Way of Water’s $134.1 million start. Whether Fire and Ash can keep the series afloat remains to be seen, but the buzz is certainly there among locals.

Avatar: Fire and Ash is scheduled for release on 19 December.