And oddly, this coincides with reports that an audience of cult movie buffs
reacted badly to test footage from Peter Jackson's forthcoming Hobbit movie. The Hobbit is shot at 48 frames per second – twice as many frames as standard films. The studio claims this gives it an unparalleled fluidity. The viewers complained it was
too smooth – like raw video. Some said it looked like daytime TV. What they meant, I guess, is that it seemed too "real", and therefore inherently underwhelming. The traditional cinematic frame rate lends everything a comforting, unreal and faintly velvety feel, whereas the crisper motion of video seems closer to reality, and therefore intrinsically more harsh and pedestrian.
