Gemini Man: Seeing Double @ 120 FPS
We see a lot of movies influenced by videos games and watching the trailer of Oscar-winning director Ang Lee’s Gemini Man gives you that familiar feeling. Will Smith leads the film, playing 2 characters, one of whom is shown 23 years younger than the up-to-date version. As one YouTube commenter put it: “Starring Will Smith, Co-starring Will Smith.”
But Gemini Man was shot in such a way that it can’t be played at full quality in any movie theaters in the US. Lee filmed the movie at 120 frames per second, which gives the movie an incredibly sharp, smooth look. Motion blur? Almost none.
Upping the frame rate to sharpen picture clarity is yet another attempt at bringing audiences back to theatres. And Lee hoped the movie could be shown in theaters at 120 frames per second, on a 4K projector, and in 3D. Problem is, no US theatres are equipped to do so.
The question is, do cinema-goers really want this experience? Cinema owners are probably asking themselves the same question, before they invest in the tech needed to project them. Some theatre owners have even reported crashes when trying to play at 4K, in 3D and 120 fps.
Heightened reality, or just plain old reality?
There’s two schools of thought when it comes to the argument over high frame rates. One group says the extra detail is the future, while the other believes it just makes digital look more… well… video-ey. The traditional 24 frames per second is still used by digital cinematographers for the motion blur it creates.
In other words, film doesn’t look like reality. Film, they say, creates a more artistic, painterly look to the projected image. High frame rates deliberately destroy that.
Certainly, not everyone is happy watching films shot and projected at high frame rates. Peter Jackson got in some trouble with The Hobbit, as the extra detail meant character make-up was more visibly make up. Sets were more visibibly made of cardboard and plastic.
The beauty of motion blur is that it hides an awful lot of detail filmmakers would rather you didn’t see. As well as creating a more dreamy effect.
New TVs caused a lot of consternation when they started being shipped with frame interpolation switched on. This is a digital process which adds in the missing frames in a 24fps movie, turning it into a 48fps movie (for example).
When I watched Silent Running this way a couple of years ago, I could almost see the paint brush strokes on the scenery. And that was supposed to be a high-tech spaceship! It looked truly horrible and I thought my memory of the film must be suspect.
Only when I heard about the auto-interpolation effect being applied did it make sense. So I hunted through the TVs settings to turn it off and Silent Running was returned to it’s intended look.
But… video games
However, I didn’t grow up with high definition graphics in computer games. And when you think about gamers and their quest for greater detail in their games, including high frame rates, perhaps this idea starts to make some sense.
Gemini Man is an action thriller with a heavy video game influence. The film will most certainly attract an audience who play video games. So, we’re talking about people who have grown up with the idea that extra detail = good.
Video games are one of cinema’s biggest competitors for eyeballs. Therefore, perhaps we can understand filmmakers attempting to talk to gamers in their own language. A strategy which tempts gamers away from the console for a couple of hours makes more sense.
Most video games today aim for a frame rate of 60 fps. So, that perhaps explains why Ang lee wants to go one step further. You think 60fps looks good, Lee seems to be saying, come and see what 120fps looks like.
However, whether even gamers want this experience remains to be tested. And cinemas equipped no better than video gamers are going to hold things up. So, until someone proves this extra detail can be turned into $ (like 3D was), that investment won’t be made. Until it becomes so affordable it’s a regular feature of cinema projectors, that is.
The closest way to see the movie in the US in the way Lee wants you to is offered at 14 theaters, all run by AMC, which have Dolby theaters showing it at 120 fps on a 2K projector in 3D.
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