By Nathalie Caron, Source: Blastr.com
Last week, Peter Jackson showed 10 minutes of footage from the highly anticipated The Hobbit. What should have been a moment of crowning glory for the director turned into a flurry of criticism regarding the look of the film. So what’s Peter Jackson to do? Why, respond to those criticisms, of course.
During CinemaCon last week, Warner Bros. showed off 10 minutes of footage from The Hobbit. While critics were rather ecstatic about the scenes that were shown, they weren’t happy with the look of the footage — which is apparently more “realistic” in appearance than Jackson’s previous Middle-earth opus, The Lord of the Rings.
Why is that? Well, movies have a format of 24 frames per second, whereas The Hobbit was filmed at 48 frames per second, which makes for a huge difference in the look and feel of the movie and will make 3-D less of a strain on the eyes, according to Jackson.
“At first it’s unusual because you’ve never seen a movie like this before. It’s literally a new experience, but you know, that doesn’t last the entire experience of the film—not by any stretch, [just] 10 minutes or so. That’s a different experience than if you see a fast-cutting montage at a technical presentation,” Jackson said.
So what about all those naysayers? What does Jackson have to say about the fact that critics don’t like the look of the new format he’s using for The Hobbit?
“I can’t say anything. Just like I can’t say anything to someone who doesn’t like fish. You can’t explain why fish tastes great and why they should enjoy it.”
He adds “There can only ever be a real reaction, a truthful reaction, when people actually have a chance to see a complete narrative on a particular film.”
“A couple of the more negative commenters from CinemaCon said that in the Gollum and Bilbo scene [which took place later in the presentation] they didn’t mind it and got used to that. That was the same 48 frames the rest of the reel was. I just wonder if it they were getting into the dialogue, the characters and the story. That’s what happens in the movie. You settle into it.”
Is Peter Jackson right in asking everyone to wait to see the whole movie before passing judgement? Do you think critics were over-reacting?
Part 1, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, opens on December 14, 2012.
