– Why are most movies released at 24fps?
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Silent movies would be shown at pretty much a random frame rate, because they were literally done by someone turning a crank on a projector and it was almost impossible to get the frame rate consistent. When “talkies” came along, though, the sound was recorded alongside the film and had to be played back at the right speed or else it wouldn’t sound right, so a standard frame rate was needed. AFAIK it was Warner Bros with their “Vitaphone” system who chose 24 fps–it was picked because it was fast enough for smooth animation, but didn’t use enormous amounts of film stock (which was very expensive at the time). 24 is also easily divisible, so it’s easy when editing a film to know that a third of a second is 8 frames, for instance–important when you’re having to physically cut out frames and stick them back together!
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