HFR Testing Day

This post is a quick pre-show update. I'm planning on seeing The Hobbit tonight, in full 4K HFR 3D. I've still been reading up on the format, and I wanted to write my quick thoughts on HFR before I go. Right now, I'm cautiously optimistic about 48 fps. I've said previously that I think people are overstating the clarity HFR 3D causes. I think it's ridiculous to claim HFR 3D makes things look fake. However, reading another article, I came to the realization I may be underestimating how much motion blur shows up in 24 fps. I still think they're overstating things, but I concede that it's at least possible that minute actions the actors make could be blurring the image enough to make it look too real. I also done my own experiments, and found 48 fps to be less comfortable than both 24 and 60 fps. That could change in a 3 hour movie making it more tolerable or less, so I don't know how to interpret that data. Plus, my tests didn't take motion blur into effect (due to technical limitations in how I did it). I did notice that the jarring effect was lessened in 3D, so chances are good that I'll like it.

Regarding the movie itself, I've heard it moves slowly, but among non-critics it's been a runaway hit. To put it another way, I have this rule with few exceptions that the way to tell how much fun a movie is is to go to Rotten Tomatoes and see how different the critic score is from the audience score. If the critic score is higher, the film will be snobby trash. If the audience score is higher, then it's going to be amazing. The Hobbit scores 16 more points with the audience than the critics, and 5 is usually what I'm looking for. I admit, it's a trashy way of deciding whether a movie will be good. But it's too ingrained in me not to affect my perceptions. I suspect that my favorite scene will be the encounter with the Stone Giants, but most of the reviews say that the encounter with Gollum is the best scene.

I suspect that the 3D will be technically amazing, but not really do anything artistically relevant to communicate profound ideas. It's possible I could be wrong, and I'll be watching for emotions and ideas expressed either by the relative depth of objects, the increased negative space, and occlusions especially. I may have to see the movie again in 2D to be able to tell the differences completely, but I'll be watching closely anyway. I'll also try and determine if the HFR is doing anything special to the 3D.
Anyway, that's how I'm going to be reading the film, and what I intend to review on this blog. That is all.