I think its funny that this story was circulating around the interwebs yesterday. Apparently the creators and directors of Stranger Things, the Duffer brothers, are urging the public to try and watch the series as intended, in 24 frames per second.

In a recent New York Magazine article they talked about going to Comic Con and soon realizing that all the TVs on the showroom floor had the wrong settings - the dreaded soap-opera-effect.

They also mentioned in the article an identical situation that I’ve experienced. Soon after HDTVs started implementing a motion effect, to “provide a better experience,” I’ve made it my mission to go to friend’s and family’s houses and turn it off. Well, at least make a profile named “movies” where it is off, and another one named “sports” where the motion setting is activated. When I show them a movie and switch between settings, almost 100% of the time they say, “it looks the same to me… so I guess just leave it however you want.” The fact that TVs come with it enabled as the default setting drives me bonkers!

The Duffer brothers talk about an identical experience in the article which made me think, this must still be happening!

So let’s explain how all of this works, so we understand why all of this is important.

We all know that movies and video are a sequence of still images displayed at a speed that our brain no longer sees individual images and sees fluid motion. This speed is called frame rate.

During the silent film era, film cameras were hand cranked and usually captured with a variable frame rate of 16-26 (roughly, but you get the idea) frames per second. In the projection rooms, the projectors were able to project the film at a higher and constant frame rate, which is why we have an image in our minds of old silent films running in fast-motion all the time.

Talkies, what they used to call movies with sound, settled the playing field. Since the human ear can detect differences in pitch easily, they had to settle on a constant and similar frame rate of capture and projection. Think about it- if they hadn't, everyone would sound like the chipmunks!

They settled on 24 frames per second for film.

Even though the capture was 24 frames per second, the projection was a simulated 48 frames per second. People complained of a shutter or strobing effect when they watched projections at pure 24 frames per second. So what they devised was a shutter mechanism inside the projector. Imagine an hourglass shape cutout inside of a circle. A claw mechanism would advance a frame into place while the shutter was blocking the light. As it continued moving and light passed, it projected light through the frame and gave us our first frame. The claw mechanism held the frame in place as the shutter spun to block and allow light a second time. As it spun around to block the light again, the claw mechanism advanced the next frame into place, so on and so on. This allowed light to pass through 48 times a second, and still only showing 24 actual frames. This got rid of the strobe effect.

Later when video was invented, the power frequencies of different countries (50hz and 60hz) forced the frame rate to conform to either 25 or 30. Instead of going and capturing material at that frame rate, they did the same thing back when the projectors ran 2 frames for every 1 frame. This in turn created what we know as fields in video.

This will all make sense in a second, how the motion setting works, and why it’s called the soap opera effect.

So somewhere along the line, someone came up with the idea that since TVs were upgrading their hardware capabilities to be able to process footage in realtime, they could also enhance our viewing experience by “smoothing” out the motion. That way we could get rid of “juddery” video.

What it really does, is it interpolates the difference between two frames and adds them in there. If your TV is 120hz or 240hz you can bet it does this.

The only time I think this can actually be helpful is with sports. It can make movements much more lifelike and sports more enjoyable… Until you remember that your TV is actually making up frames in between real frames.

When Peter Jackson shot and distributed The Hobbit in 48 frames per second, cinemas gave it a marketing term high frame rate, and the majority of people walked out unhappy. Peter Jackson received a lot of backlash for having his film look like a soap opera. I remember thinking the exact same thing while watching it on opening weekend in HFR (high frame rate). What really pushed it over the edge was the warm lighting in the interiors and over the top costumes. It really looked like a theaterical production shot on video cameras. I was baffled… how could they release it like this? Why are there more productions in the future going to be shot this way? Years ago we read that James Cameron was experimenting with even higher frame rates for Avatar 2. The one thing I did like about The Hobbit’s high frame rate is that the computer animations seemed more life-like. So that being said, Avatar 2 being completely CGI might actually benefit from some hyperreal super high frame rate like 120fps!

The beauty of 24 frames per second is that it takes enough frames out of real life that it seems fantastical. In my opinion, film frame rate elevates real life to the imaginary, to dreams, to fantasies. I think that is why we’ve fallen in love with film. Not because of realism, but what we wish real life was like. We’re dreamers after all.

There’s a ton of work done to movies and tv shows you watch every day on your television. Wouldn’t you want to watch them the way they were intended? Take a minute, mess with your settings, and fine tune your TV. You’ll be happy you did!

If you like to learn more about filmmaking in general, what happens behind the scenes, and reading about some of my other hobbies, don't forget to follow me here!

I'll be glad to read any questions, comments or feedback!

Until next time, have a great day!

Copyrighted Works:
New York Magazine Article
Stranger Things Poster
Film Camera
Sound Movie Era Picture
Film Shutter
Example of Interpolated Frames
The Hobbit Poster