James Cameron Defends Using High Frame Rates in Avatar 2

• James Cameron is one of the most creatively sound and brilliant directors.
• There have been some criticisms and complaints about the film’s high frame rates.
• James Cameron stated that the audience complained more about the land scenes than the underwater scenes.

James Cameron is one of the most creatively sound and brilliant directors of all time, having given the Hollywood industry some cult classics such as Titanic and the Avatar franchise. Since its initial release, Avatar: The Way of Water has received widespread acclaim. The third and fourth installments of the franchise have already been reported.

However, among all of this, there have been some criticisms and complaints about the film’s high frame rates, to which James has now responded. Apparently, films are shot at 24 frames per second, but filmmakers are recently experimenting with a different approach to add more definition to the scenes.

According to The Direct, James Cameron recently broke his silence on the use of high frame rates at a fan screening for Avatar: The Way of Water. In response to audience criticism, the filmmaker revealed the reason for this. Andrew J Salazar shared on Twitter that one of the attendees expressed dissatisfaction with HFR. “It looks too much like a video game,” said one. James reacted to this. “I think they are some people who are more bothered by it than others… our goal is to keep making it better.”

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Someone just said they weren’t a big fan of the HFR. Said it looks too much like a video game. James Cameron’s response: “I think they are some people who are more bothered by it than others… our goal is to keep making it better.”#AvatarTheWayOfWater

— Andrew J. Salazar (@AndrewJ626) February 17, 2023

Further in the screening discussion, James Cameron stated that the audience complained more about the land scenes than the underwater scenes, and that he is aware that HFR works perfectly underwater and that most complaints are for scenes on land. He stated that it is mostly there to aid 3D but that there is still a long way to go.

This is not the first time the director has mentioned High Frame Rates. Earlier, as reported by Variety, James Cameron spoke at length about why he decided to increase the frame rates at the Busan International Film Festival in South Korea. He had stated “We’re using [high frame rate] to improve the 3D where we want a heightened sense of presence, such as underwater or in some of the flying scenes. For shots of just people standing around talking, [high frame rate] works against us because it creates a kind of a hyper-realism in scenes that are more mundane, more normal. And sometimes we need that cinematic feeling of 24fps.”

Because theatres do not support switching between 24 and 48 frames per second, James Cameron decided to keep it at 48 for the duration, claiming it was just a simple hack “to use the high frame rate platform that already exists.”

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