If you’ve ever watched certain older DVD movies on a new panel TV, you may have noticed that some of them render incorrectly due to an issue with the refresh rate of the modern TV and the original refresh rate and/or pull-down method used by the DVD, giving a cheap daytime tv look and destroying the original cinematic ambience.

Apparently this is how movies are increasingly going to look in the future. A higher refresh rate will allow for smoother transitions and more accurate recording of fast moving objects, but it also generates this cheap, ‘daytime soap’ look. Jackson argues that it will make for a more immersive experience, however to me and others I’ve spoken to the effect is just the opposite. Rather than take you into the world of the movie, the effect distances you from it, making you hyper aware of the arrtificiality of every scene. It is as if you can ‘feel’ the crew crowded around the actors with all their lights and equipment. Is that ‘immersion’? Peter Jackson and James Cameron think so, so I guess you’d better get used to it.

bbc.co.uk

“It does take you a while to get used to,” admitted Jackson. “Ten minutes is sort of marginal, it probably needed a little bit more.

“Another thing that I think is a factor is it’s different to look at a bunch of clips - and some were fast-cutting, montage-style clips. This is a different experience than watching a character and story unfold.”

Jackson told the Hollywood Reporter that he had no plans to shoot a trailer for the film using the same 48-frame-per-second technique.

“The 48 frames is something you should experience with the entire film. A two-and-a-half minute trailer isn’t enough time to adjust to the immersive quality.”