There is also "uncanny valley" in real shooting - 120 frames of "Billy Lynn's Midfield War"

Christa 2022-04-01 09:01:19

There are also "uncanny valleys" in real shooting
- "Billy Lynn's Midfield War" 120-frame look and feel

November 13, 2016

This article will simply talk about the 120-frame technology, not the story. The filming location is Shanghai Cinema.

First of all, I would like to thank Ang Lee, the spirit of "the mountain is there", let us have the honor to see the legendary 120 frames. "Billy Lynn's Halftime Battle" is another film after "Avatar" and "Gravity" that can inspire and think about film fundamentalism. However, Ang Lee does not do like Kashen and Ka Xiaoshen (Alfonso Cuaron), who have very mature experiments and thinking in the movie 3D, and then appear smooth and conservative in the movie performance; instead, he bravely The advantages and disadvantages of 120 frames are exposed one by one, but it gives people a "you wait and see, I'll rush first" vitality, very similar to Robert Zemeckis' "Beowulf" and "Polar Express" The exploration of CG characters and motion capture technology is full of vitality, but it can be considered a failure.

"Beowulf" and "The Polar Express", including the earliest "Final Fantasy", have proved one thing: the current technology can't really break through the "uncanny valley" effect of CG characters. The subsequent "Avatar" and "Rise of the Planet of the Apes" all took a step back rationally and achieved success. The next "Tron Chronicles", "Fast and Furious 7", "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button", "Terminator 4, 5" make the old people younger and resurrect the dead. . This year's "Dream Realizing Giant" has carefully stepped forward on their basis, making it more human, but the giant's face has not yet completed the leap to the "uncanny valley", after all, giants are giants, not the original Kingsley.

And "Billy Lynn's Halftime Battle" proves another point: between the visual information received by the human eye and the brain's interpretation of this information, there is indeed an area that we have not fully studied. The feature of 120 frames, I think, "roughly" achieves a density that is really imperceptible to the naked eye in terms of frame number, which changes our traditional image receiving habits, thereby enhancing the sense of realism. However, the picture we see with the naked eye is not the only feature of high frame rate. If other forms of features are not matched, there will be a contradiction between the real and the unreal, resulting in an inexplicable sense of weirdness.

That is to say, "Billy Lynn's Midfield Battle" made us see one thing clearly: there is also a "uncanny valley" in real shooting. If it can leave traces in film history, this is its greatest significance.

Now I briefly summarize the viewing effect of "Billy Lynn" at 120 frames:

1. The brightness of 3D is enough (but this can also be achieved in traditional IMAX3D, which may have nothing to do with 120 frames).

2. In the 3D scene, the three shooting techniques of "shaking", "moving" and "turning" can no longer make people dizzy, and truly achieve smoothness, as if we are really scanning the scene (the press conference scene is particularly prominent). It can be said that Ang Lee's use of "shake" in this film is simply unscrupulous, playing HIGH, and the effect surpasses all previous 3D movies. "Avatar" does not dare to play like this.

3. The details of the characters' faces are really very clear and real. This may lead to two changes: one is that the actor's very subtle expressions can be captured (Billy Lynn's eye bags are shaking when he is nervous), and the other is that just like the bad reviews of "The Hobbit" 48 frames a few years ago, It's too smooth, it feels too real, and if the actor wears makeup, it can be seen that the makeup is on, which may create a sense of alienation. Whether or not this can be compensated with lighting and color grading, I don't know. Ang Lee did not explore the limit in this regard.

4. Shallow depth of field causes the characters to be seriously separated from the background, and some shots even feel like watching a shadow play. Because realism is achieved in frame rate, our naked eye longs for the same level of realism in depth of field and resolution, but most shots don't. In many pictures, Ang Lee still expresses according to the traditional lens vocabulary, and even has a quick zoom. These shots are especially awkward.

5. The large depth of field picture makes people feel weird watching TV documentaries. This is the same feeling that we first watched HD movies on a small screen, but now everyone is used to it, so I default that in the future we will lose sensitivity to the large depth of field 120fps.

6. Large dynamic scene, 120 frame effect is unmatched. If you look at the normal version, the war scenes in this film are actually very mediocre. But change it to 120 frames, I'll be good, a bullet will startle you. At this point, I would suddenly feel that the next one to try 120 fps should be Selling Copy and Paul Greengrass. Their 3D movies, whether intentional or not, are malicious to our vision. However, if you replace it with 120 frames, whether it is fast editing or handheld photography, the shortcomings of 3D movies can be made up.

7. Inheriting Article 6, I will spread it out. Originally, through "Avatar", "Gravity", and "Walking in the Clouds", I summed up the principles of a good 3D movie: fully respect and imitate the human eye vision, it should be a wide angle, a large depth of field, a long shot, and a sports shot Should be steady. 3D movies that do not meet these three points should properly return to 2D prototypes. Now let’s get straight to the point: if combined with high-frame technology, fast cuts and motion shots can be introduced into 3D vocabulary, of course, the wide angle and depth of field remain unchanged. Let the naked eye of the audience find the focal point in the picture by itself.

To sum up, many people now sing badly about 120 frames, and I think it is not bad. Ang Lee's attempt cannot be said to be successful, but it is extremely valuable. Like the first soldier to be sniped on the battlefield, he fell, but he pointed us to the general direction of the sniper on the opposite side.

A 120-frame movie with a perfect experience will definitely come. At that time, we will see another bloody storm in the film industry and the theater industry.

Kudos to Ang Lee for his courage.

It is a blessing to have you as a movie fan.

View more about Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk reviews

Extended Reading

Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk quotes

  • Norm Oglesby: [from trailer] Your story Billy, no longer belongs to you. It's America story now.

  • [last lines]

    Dime: Seatbelts, ladies.