The Magic Numbers of Film

2K/4K … okay, i’d choose 2k as 4k can be too much ‘dead’ information, or in other words; interpolated – the construction of new data points from the discrete set of known data points (curve fitting). Interpolating is a useful tool in digital restoration (i.e. clearing scratch marks or stopping frame jumping), but for actual filming and projection, you want to be as close to the real as possible, that means equal resolution and true edge detection. 

In the theatre, our brain is in a state of mystopic, which is the combination of stopic (day-time, bright light colour vision) or scotopic (night time monocromatic vision). So, we don’t always notice the frame rate, but if the luminance was turned up we would actually see the 24fps flicker.  
How did we get to 24fps? It was actually designed for sound around 1926. Before sound movies, silent film would run at variable frame rates, often between 18-23fps. So actually, to increase picture quality, we could potentially increase the frame rate rather than the size. 
Now we can record sound digitally, when shooting, we don’t actually have to worry about the fps. I’d love to watch a Kinetoscope, which ran at 48fps. 
Check out the Phantom high-speed camera and other Vision Research camera footage here. I wish I could afford to shoot on one…
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Filed under action film, cinema, data, editing, Film, moving image, New Media

One Response to The Magic Numbers of Film

  1. Pingback: High Frame-Rate Television « novelty shoe

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