Artifacts in film (1 Viewer)

[Bill_Weinreich]

Watched Behind Enemy Lines tonight and just though I'd ask. On those fast action scenes (usually things blowing up with a lot of debris), things look less film like. I've also noticed this on other films including Gladiator(Fight sequences). Does this have to do with the frame rate these scenes were filmed in or because they used digital equip. or is it something else. I dont see this in all movies with action, but it seems alot of the newer ones do.

Bill

 

[Dave Poehlman]

This is just a guess but, I think the director opts for a more "choppy" looking frame rate and a shaky camera to make the scene look more chaotic and less choreographed. I think if you were to watch some of the fight scenes in Gladiator on a standard frame rate and a static camera, they would look pretty cheesy.

 

[Everlasting Gobstopper]

What you're talking about is, I think, a narrow shutter, as used in Saving Private Ryan, Gladiator, Black Hawk Down, and Three Kings, among others. The frame rate of the movie isn't slowed, it's still moving at 24 fps. What has changed is that the shutter is open for less time, and therefore there is less motion blur on the film. What this does is it makes the movement look more choppy while at the same time making edges of moving objects sharper to look at. It's one of the many different ways film can convey information to us, and another example of film as an analogue medium being used to its fullest potential to tell a story: it has nothing to do with a digital effect.

 

[Qui-Gon John]

The only artifacts I can think of are the Lost Ark of the Covenant, The Holy Grail, and Coronado's Cross.