#MediaMonday: 24 FPS
Good Morning Everyone,
Through my experience of working with film festivals every year, it always surprises me how many students allow simple mistakes to affect the final outcomes of their films. I always sort of wonder, "did they not know?" and the answer typically is, probably not. One of the most common film faux pas that I see all the time is an incorrect frame rate.
Therefore, for this week's media talk, let's talk about frame rates for film.
Okay, so, back in the early days of hand-cranked film (1895-1927), filmmakers were often using homemade, simple film cameras that had no standard film speed, as the speed was dictated by the cinematographer's arm. So, once films began to be screened in theaters, projectors had to be set at a standard speed for projection, regardless of capture speed. Coincidentally, most were set to a speed of 24 frames per second, which allowed for the film action to feel sped up and thus, more exciting to the viewer.
In 1927, when the Vitaphone audio process was adopted for the film The Jazz Singer, the creators of the "synchronized sound" process had to make a decision: what speed do we use to sync sound and film? They looked around at what projection speeds theaters were using and the common answer was 24 frames per second. Therefore, in a moment of innovative necessity, the industry adopted a frame rate that would dictate cinema for now close to 100 years.
Since then, cameras have been capable of capturing higher and lower frame rates. However, due the conditioning of theatergoers, 24 frames per second became the "Feel of Cinema". The slower speeds created a smoother, dreamlike quality that the audiences just could not get enough of. However, over the last 100 years, directors and filmmakers have tried to switch it up; the audience always has the same reaction: "Why didn't that look right?".
Famously, Peter Jackson tried to screen The Hobbit in 48 frames per second to a critics' screening in Los Angeles in 2012. The result? Critics were leaving the screening with nausea, anxiety and motion sickness. Needless to say, their initial reviews were unkind and the film was dropped back to 24 frames per second before the national release.
24 frames per second just looks like a movie to us and it is one of the easiest first steps in leading student films to look more like a Hollywood feature and less like a home video.
Have your students try out a variety of frame rates and see the changes that they make to their films and to the audiences who screen them. I imagine, they are going to like the results.
Talk to you soon,
Josh Cantrell