On November 11, Ang Lee's new film Billy Lynn's long halftime walk officially premiered. Not to mention the movie, its technical gimmick alone is enough to attract attention - 3d+4k+120 frames!
Billy Lynn's Halftime Battle tells an anti-war story. Billy Lynn, a 19-year-old young soldier who engaged in an enemy firefight in the Iraq War, became a hero and the rest of the squad after the sacrifice of a comrade-in-arms, and returned home to attend a promotional campaign, appearing on stage during a rugby match halftime performance. The experience of the war continued to torment Lynn, and the day of the event became a day of both glory and pain for him.
The film's reception after its release was somewhat mixed, with some fans affirming its anti-war themes, but the novel story, mediocre dialogue, and unsperforming performances have made the film critical. However, in any case, anyone who has fully enjoyed the three technologies of 3D, 4K, and 120 frames is always impressed by the movie "Billy Lynn's Halftime Battle". Therefore, today we will abandon the traditional narrative and performance of the film, and only talk about the techniques of director Ang Lee in the new film.
It's worth mentioning that to experience the most complete "Billy Lynn's Halftime Battle", there are only five theaters in the world for you to choose from, because it is very demanding on projection equipment. Fortunately, Chinese mainland account for two of them, namely Bona Youtang Cinema in Beijing and Shanghai Cinema in Shanghai. In addition, Taipei's Beijing Station Weixiu Cinema is also one of them.
We all know that the frame rate used in general films is 24 frames, a standard that has been continued since the film era many years ago, and it is still the same in this digital age today.
Gamers generally know that we can only say that a game runs "very smoothly" only when the frame count reaches 60 frames or more. Early filmmakers chose 24 frames, more of a compromise, because in the film era frame rate and cost were directly linked. Stephen Chow's "King of Comedy" has a line of "because you don't want to die, how many seconds are wasted, how many lattice negatives, how much money" is a good illustration of this. 24 frames per second is just enough to leave a continuous image for the human eye, and it becomes a minimum and best standard.
Even in the digital age, an increase in frame rates still means an increase in the amount of information, making the size of the film difficult to control. The existing Blu-ray Disc has a capacity of 50gb, and it can only fit a 24-frame 1080p resolution movie. Like Ang Lee to a 4k +120 frame in one breath, I really don't know how much data should be.
However, the film industry's consistent adoption of the 24-frame standard is not entirely the result of compromise. The blurring, flickering and shaking of the picture brought about by its "unsmooth" has been regarded as a "cinematic feeling" that has been accepted by all moviegoers for nearly a hundred years.
But what Ang Lee wants to express in "Billy Lynn's Halftime Battle" is different. Promoting new technologies is only one aspect, the film is to show the inner pain and struggle of a young soldier, and the director may want to bring the audience a more immersive feeling through these new technologies, so that they are no longer just bystanders, but cross the "fourth wall" and establish an emotional connection directly with the protagonist.
Some people may say: 3D movies have been seen by everyone, plus a 4K and 120fps, isn't it a 3D movie with higher definition and smoother? This is not the case.
"When the frame rate of video recording and playback exceeds the standard (24 frames), the audience's perceived picture dynamics and the visual effects of the film are affected – the overall look and feel is different." Mitch Martinez, a cinematographer familiar with 120-frame cameras, says so.
In simple terms, when a video is playing at an ultra-high frame rate of 120 frames, you will feel that things in the video appear brighter and more realistic. To achieve these effects in the cinema, Ang Lee specified the equipment used by Christie's mirage 4klh laser projection system. Dr Don Shaw, the lead developer of the system, explains that this phenomenon is called "temporal resolution."
"If something passes (at this number of frames) across the screen, it looks smoother and more realistic. The traditional cinema experience is the complete opposite, when something passes by, you will find that it seems to be a bit of a stutter, which is called 'jitter' in the film industry. At 120 frames, you feel as if you were looking through a window. Dr. Shaw said.
The realism of the 120-frame image itself, coupled with the more detailed presentation at 4k resolution, will make fans feel that the film's footage is exceptionally clear and bright (the brightness experience is said to be 4x to 9 times that of a normal 3D movie). This is not the perception that traditional movies can provide, and the viewer seems to be watching an event that is being staged in real time, just across from them.
We can't forget about 3D technology. From the very beginning of the filming, we knew that this would be a movie with 3D as one of its selling points. This means that Billy Lynn's Halftime Battle is not a "pseudo-3d" that was converted from the post-2d shooting, but a "true 3d" shot in 3D technology. Pseudo-3D movies are often jokingly called "no three-dimensional except subtitles", and friends who have seen "Avatar" must know what kind of shock the real 3D movie can bring.
Director Ang Lee must hope that through the comprehensive use of these technologies, the audience can immerse themselves in the general experience of everything that the protagonist has experienced. If he can really realize these ideas, it will definitely be a reform for the film industry.
From a purely technical point of view, Billy Lynn's Halftime Battle has delivered a satisfactory answer. Even fans who are critical of its content cannot deny that the film brings "uncompromising clarity and massive details".
Film critic Daniel Engber said: "When Billy Lynn was lying in bed, it was as if I was looking at a three-dimensional figure relief. "This seems to illustrate the horror of the technique used by director Ang Lee.
However, in these film reviews, the most we can see is indeed "not like a movie". As we've said before, the jittery feel of 24 frames has become part of the cinematic feel, which makes the film full of a unique sense of momentum and art. Once the frame count exceeds this standard, we begin to feel that it is "not like a movie." Director Peter Jackson also used 48-frame technology when filming The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, but the final widely praised was "like a TV series".
If your TV at home has a feature like dynamic compensation, try turning it on and having the TV interpolate the movie to 60 frames. You may also find that although the picture magically becomes clearer, because the sense of realism is strengthened, there is a dull feeling of watching a soap opera.
In addition, the cost of promoting these technologies is also a big problem. Dr. Xiao did not give a specific cost of playback equipment, but revealed that the price point is 10 times that of the equipment used in general cinemas. Such an expensive price, coupled with the fact that there are not many film resources, the vast majority of theaters are unlikely to be equipped with them in the short term.
However, although the reform has not yet arrived, technology must continue to develop. The 24-frame standard may remain acceptable to all for a long time to come, but it is not impossible for new technologies to be used as other forms of expression. Just like Ang Lee tried to do.