Although motion is a defining feature of moving images, it is also one of their most problematic aspects due to blurred or partially stuttering images (strobe effect) at the standard frame rate of 24 frames per second (fps). This research was conducted to test the aesthetic and perceptual consequences of higher frame rates in narrative films.
In a first step, typical camera movements were recorded at different frame rates and shutter angles to compare assumptions about production aesthetics. Film sequences were then tested using questionnaires and eye-tracking measurements in a cinema experiment involving 69 participants. The results showed that while participants valued the enhanced image quality of higher frame rates, they rated the standard frame rate as more realistic. Movements recorded with higher frame rates seem slower. In general, high frame rates produced more perceptual exploration (e.g. higher number of fixations).
Second, a complete short film was shot at 96 fps and finished in different versions (96 fps, 48 fps, 24 fps, and a variable frame rate). All frame rate conversions were carried out in postproduction. The version with a variable frame rate was produced to assess its aesthetic potential. Several presentations and subsequent discussions with film professionals, experts, and students revealed an initial preference for the “cinematic look” of the standard frame rate of 24 fps. Workshop participants also believed that both staging and editing need to be adapted to higher frame rates.
OUTPUT
Conference:
- Die Unerträglichkeit der Bewegung (The Trouble with Motion), Zurich University of the Arts ZHdK, June 6, 2015
Short Papers:
- Iseli C., Loertscher M.L. (July 2016). Digitized Reality: The Trouble with Motion. In A. C. Valente, R. Capucho (Eds.), Avanca | Cinema 2016: Proceedings of the International Conference Cinema – Art, Technology, Communication (pp. 1071-1076) Avanca, Portugal. Edições Cine-Clube de Avanca. ISBN: 978-989-96858-8-8
Prize Engr. Fernando Gonçalves Lavrador for best the conference paper 2016.
- Iseli, C.; Loertscher, M.L., (June 2017) The Cinematic Look and the Paradox of High Frame Rate, Paper presentation at for the Conference of the Society for Cognitive Studies of the Moving Image (SCSMI), Helsinki, Finnland.
- Loertscher, M.L., Iseli C. (April 2016) Digitized Reality – The Effects of High Frame Rate on Visual Perception, Paper presentation at for the Conference of the Society for Cognitive Studies of the Moving Image (SCSMI), Ithaca, NY.
- Iseli, C. (Feb 2015) Digitized Reality: 4K and HFR (unpublished). In: Cinematography Days, HdM Stuttgart
- Iseli C., (April 2015). The Trouble with Motion (unpublished). In: European Film School Network Conference (EFSN), Paris