I’m a big movie fan, but I’ve always been curious about why some movies are shot in different frame rates. I’ve heard that 48 fps is a “sweet spot” between sharoness and smoothness, and that it has something to do with shutter speed allowing more light per frame. Can someone explain this?
What are the benefits of shooting a movie in 24, 30, 48, or 60 fps? How does it affect the look and feel of the movie? And why do some movies choose to use a different frame rate than others?
Thanks for your help in advance!
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The amount of FPS affects how smooth the action is. Life of course is not limited to a finite update rate so the more frames the closer you get to real life. This has diminishing returns at some point.
The way cameras work is by letting light in to activate film. While digital filming is common these days it’s fairly similar in this regard. The rule of thumb on photography is that more light is better. The same applies to film.
If you shoot at 24 FPS, this means that the film on each frame gets exposed for at most 1/24th of a second. If you instead shoot at 48 FPS, then each frame is exposed for at most 1/48th of a second. That’s half as long, which means the film gets half the light. You can make up for this in a number of ways. All of them end up affecting the quality of the image in various ways to make it less clear.
Obviously this creates a conflict: more frames creates more fluid movement, while less frames creates more clear pictures. Where precisely to put the balance is of course for the most part an artistic decision.
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