Director James Cameron pushed the boundaries with Avatar and now he wants to push them again with the sequels.
The Oscar-winning director tells the Hollywood Reporter he want to shoot the sequels at 60 frames per second (FPS) because he believes the higher frame rate offers a more truthful image.
Cameron says he’s looked at shooting 48 and 60 FPS for the sequels but is leaning toward 60. He also says that if he makes the jump, he wants Hollywood to follow his lead.
“The 3D shows you a window into reality; the higher frame rate takes the glass out of the window,” he says.
“The reason I went down that path is because I believe it makes for better 3D,” Cameron says. “There were lots of arguments for why 48 and why 60. My feeling is if it is a software upgrade (for digital cinema projectors), do both. It doesn’t change anything at the projector; you don’t have to change the lamp house or the lenses. If you are uploading software you can upload it for 48 and 60 and let the filmmakers decide.”
In terms of how he will decide at what rate to shoot the Avatar sequels, Cameron said, “If the exhibitors will adopt the idea of a dual standard, than I’ll probably want to shoot 60. If they don’t, then I will have to look very carefully at the pros and cons of 60 and 48.”
Frame rates are the number of images displayed by a projector within one second. 24 frames per second (fps) has long been the standard in cinema; television uses higher rates including 50 fps and 60 fps, which can mean less motion blur and judder in the images.
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