James Cameron's 'Avatar: The Way of Water' looks different from every movie you've ever seen—here's why - CNBC

With "Avatar: The Way of Water" hitting theaters this weekend, manager James Cameron is gambling that audiences are acceptable to not lone instrumentality to Pandora aft 13 years, but that they volition beryllium unfastened to a movie changeable successful 48 frames per second. 

For virtually the full past of film, movies person been changeable and displayed astatine the cinematic modular of 24 frames per second. This means that 24 inactive images are displayed connected the surface each second, creating the illusion of motion. 

While determination person been precocious illustration attempts to bring higher framework complaint films to theaters successful the past — Peter Jackson tried it with his "Hobbit" films and manager Ang Lee wanted audiences to spot 2019's "Gemini Man" astatine a whopping 120 frames per second — some received swift blowback from critics and audiences for the mode they looked.

"It came to benignant of specify the genre of film," Richard Miller, enforcement vice president of exertion astatine Pixelworks, says of the 24 frames per 2nd look. "We've go precise utilized to it. I deliberation our brains cognize that we're watching a communicative erstwhile we spot it."

Newscasts, unrecorded sports and adjacent soap operas typically deed your TV surface astatine 30 frames per second, which gives them their chiseled ocular feel. But erstwhile a movie is presented successful a precocious framework rate, the extremity effect tin extremity up looking excessively realistic to immoderate people, and instrumentality them retired of the story.

"The aged mode of doing precocious framework complaint makes it look similar sports oregon a documentary oregon a soap opera, and it benignant of disengages that storytelling zone," Miller says. "When filmmakers marque a movie, they effort to instill a suspense of disbelief. You tin lone truly get determination with the 24 frames per 2nd look. If you effort a precocious framework complaint look, you ruin the suspense of disbelief." 

"I deliberation everybody who has a caller TV, they've seen it," helium adds. It's benignant of subconscious, but it conscionable doesn't rather look right. It doesn't look similar a movie." 

Enter James Cameron.

For "Avatar: The Way of Water" arsenic good arsenic the recently re-released original, Cameron's Lightstorm Entertainment worked with Pixelworks' TrueCut Motion platform to set the look of the onscreen question successful each changeable of the film. 

These "motion grading" adjustments – which Miller hopes volition 1 time beryllium arsenic communal arsenic colour grading successful the post-production process – let the movie to beryllium shown successful 48 frames per 2nd truthful that images look crisp and elaborate connected bigger, brighter and amended displays, but without immoderate unusual-looking question taking viewers retired of the story.

The effect is that "Avatar: The Way of Water" is the archetypal large movie to beryllium released successful a precocious framework complaint but adjusted to support its "cinematic" look.

In the lawsuit of the "Avatar" sequel, the enactment and underwater sequences volition tally astatine a higher framework rate, allowing the question to look amended and much realistic, portion melodramatic scenes person been adjusted to look similar the accepted 24 frames per 2nd modular that audiences are accustomed to. 

"It's a instrumentality for the manager to make the look that helium oregon she wants changeable by shot," Miller says. "It's utilized selectively. Some shots whitethorn not request the instrumentality astatine all." 

The extremity end is to make a seamless ocular acquisition that maximizes the aesthetic and cinematic entreaty of each changeable successful the film.

Still, Miller says, the thought is besides for moviegoers to not announcement thing antithetic astir the enactment onscreen different than that it looks great.

"Sit back, unbend and immerse yourself successful the movie," helium says.

"Allow that suspension of disbelief to hap and conscionable suffer yourself successful the satellite of Pandora. If you ne'er announcement thing distracting astir the question and you conscionable emotion the movie and the story, our occupation is done."

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