The 200hz acting lesson

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Skykid
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The 200hz acting lesson

Post by Skykid »

You know how I'm always banging on about how the average joe can't differentiate between actual acting and the character being portrayed ("oh, but Nick Cage was really great in The Rock!")?

The special illusory gloss that's painted over film is stripped clean away in 100hz and above. It's great. It goes from that special movie lens used to mask all imperfections to being much closer to stage. You can see the makeup, every intentional movement of the camera, and more importantly, how fucking rubbish everyone is at acting! Every pregnant pause, tryhard delivery of lines, off-beat reaction. It's a Hollywood actor's worst nightmare, and it's great.

Just to prove a point, I put on Jurassic Park III (terribad, but the only thing to hand) to see Sam Neill, and lo and behold, he survives the 100hz test: his ability to perform shines through. Everyone else playing ensemble, on the other hand, jeepers. Like they turned up, had a coffee, got handed a piece of paper with a line on it, walked on and ran it off in one take. And then got paid.

I urge you to go revisit your 'favourite' actors in 100hz. It's educational. ;)
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Re: The 200hz acting lesson

Post by Ed Oscuro »

yeah well mine goes to 1100Hz, it even makes my neighbor's windows sparkly

Seriously though, where are you getting old content at a 200Hz frame rate? I'm not seeing how the TV running speed is going to do it. *checks the post again, sees that really is what you're saying* Really, now.

Yeah I agree that if anybody's going to survive this kind of test it's Sam Neill. I mean he's got an OBE and stuff. There's even some letters I don't recognize (DCNZM)! But I bet Attenborough and even Goldblum are pretty good and you're just being silly if you say they aren't - Goldblum is an acquired taste sure.
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Re: The 200hz acting lesson

Post by Skykid »

Yo!

It's a Hisense Vidaa TV with some kind of Android system. You go to apps and then China's best net channel, PPLive, where you can stream a shit ton of films for free and in HD. I don't know what Hz it is really, I just seem to remember the manual say 200 or something when we were trying to find the option to knock it back to 60 (fruitlessly!)

Sam Neill survived with honours. Ethan Hawke, ropey, every other tom dick and harry, positively laughable.

It destroys the filter created by the film lens to such a degree, it really is like stage - a superb opportunity for people who want an in-depth lesson in acting to see just how useless 90% of Hollywood "actors" (use the word loosely) really are.

A highly recommended feature for students in training!
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Friendly
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Re: The 200hz acting lesson

Post by Friendly »

Please tell me you are joking; otherwise you have just displayed an amazing level of technological ignorance. Those Chinese channels can't magically show frames that were never filmed. What you are seeing is called motion interpolation. Cinematic movies are traditionally filmed at 24fps; when you watch them at 60fps (or whatever) the in-between frames are interpolated by a special image processing software. Pretty much every modern TV set has this feature.
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Re: The 200hz acting lesson

Post by Skykid »

^ I don't understand your point. The thread isn't about the technological aspects of a TV.
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Re: The 200hz acting lesson

Post by ryu »

Skykid wrote:^ I don't understand your point. The thread isn't about the technological aspects of a TV.
bad motion interpolation is what usually leads to the "stage look" of film when watched on a hd tv. film is usually shot in 24 or 48 fps, there is no such thing as a "200hz film". 100hz tv specs often (always?) refer to a black frame insertion while 200hz+ specced tvs feature proper motion interpolation.

i think your point is that actors will look more or less convincing when the film looks like a stage, which sounds plausible. it's still a side-effect of tv tech though.

and if you an see the make-up, that's because of a sharp display and the film being displayed in a very high resolution when it originally wasn't supposed to be shown like that.
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Re: The 200hz acting lesson

Post by Skykid »

ryu wrote: film is usually shot in 24 or 48 fps, there is no such thing as a "200hz film".
I know, I never said there was. :idea:
i think your point is that actors will look more or less convincing when the film looks like a stage, which sounds plausible. it's still a side-effect of tv tech though.

and if you an see the make-up, that's because of a sharp display and the film being displayed in a very high resolution when it originally wasn't supposed to be shown like that.
Yes this is absolutely correct. I don't know why you're repeating this information back to me but I do appreciate you getting the point of the thread.

I think Friendly was just wittering on because reading is hard.
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Re: The 200hz acting lesson

Post by ryu »

I don't know why you're repeating this information
well, shit. i missed reading your second post. things were indeed clear enough w/o me butting in
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Re: The 200hz acting lesson

Post by Skykid »

ryu wrote:
I don't know why you're repeating this information
well, shit. i missed reading your second post. things were indeed clear enough w/o me butting in
All good bud, no harm done. Now go check out some 100hz performances, it's interesting. ;)
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Re: The 200hz acting lesson

Post by Aguraki »

I hate new tvs,never had one for like 20 years now but everytime I see one somewhere it feels fake cause image is too perfect.
I guess I need to educate my eyes to it but I can see myself downlowding sub par quality dvix instead of blue ray must seen version.
feels it kinda like magic,in plain light u can see the tricks.
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Re: The 200hz acting lesson

Post by gct »

I never understood much the benefit of motion interpolation with low-framerate sources.

I have a true 120 Hz monitor for my desktop, and have tried native 30Hz video with software motion interpolation to 120Hz and didn't really notice anything spectacular.

Native 60Hz video played at 60Hz though, I noticed a big difference there. I just don't believe in creating something from nothing. The higher framerate really needs to come at the source IMO. Can't wait to see some native 120Hz footage.
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Re: The 200hz acting lesson

Post by Skykid »

gct wrote:Can't wait to see some native 120Hz footage.
For things like sports and documentaries, it's revelatory. Kind of puts you right there. But that they force it on you as the default setting is ridiculous. The manual even states that it's great for "big action movies", when it's not good for any movies.
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Re: The 200hz acting lesson

Post by CMoon »

I am assuming this was kinda the same effect people got watching The Hobbit at 60 fps or whatever it was being shown at. Beyond headaches and dizziness, a lot of people said it was more like the actors were there on stage instead of in a movie.
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Re: The 200hz acting lesson

Post by Skykid »

CMoon wrote:I am assuming this was kinda the same effect people got watching The Hobbit at 60 fps or whatever it was being shown at. Beyond headaches and dizziness, a lot of people said it was more like the actors were there on stage instead of in a movie.
That must have been so unusual on the big screen. I assume Jackson won't release the sequel in the same format.

Although I'm not technical enough to state whether 60fps and a movie interpolated on a 100hz display would be the same effect, if folks said it looked like stage it was probably similar.

This acting examination business: I don't recommend it for films you haven't seen, as it's a good way to kill most movies. But something average, definitely worth a look if you get the chance.

Charlie Sheen was made for 100hz.
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Re: The 200hz acting lesson

Post by CMoon »

Skykid wrote:
The special illusory gloss that's painted over film is stripped clean away in 100hz and above.
You know it is also stripped away by watching films with good directors and actors (a rare combination these days.) Not to sound like such an old fuck, but can't think of a single movie as good as Sunset Blvd in the last decade. (yes, your mind can strip that shit away without 100 hz!)
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Re: The 200hz acting lesson

Post by Skykid »

CMoon wrote:
Skykid wrote:
The special illusory gloss that's painted over film is stripped clean away in 100hz and above.
You know it is also stripped away by watching films with good directors and actors (a rare combination these days.) Not to sound like such an old fuck, but can't think of a single movie as good as Sunset Blvd in the last decade.
Yes! And I alluded to as much with my Sam Neill-in-bad-film experiment above. ;)

The only reason I brought the subject up is because people seem to struggle to identify bad/poor/average acting through that thick magical movie gloss.
Jennifer Lawrence in HG is a great example. She's well cast, looks the part, and is half-decent. But she's regularly cited as giving the performance of the century, even though she's limited to a small index of stoic facial expressions and little else.

But for really good actors (John Hurt, Gary Oldman, Donald Sutherland, James Earl Jones, D.Day-Lewis etc) I agree it won't matter either way.
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Re: The 200hz acting lesson

Post by shmuppyLove »

I remember seeing this garbage being touted as a "feature" last time I was at an AV shop.

They had a few sets side-by-side running the same content, some with the interpolation on and some off, and even though you knew they were all running exactly the same film, the ones with the motion interpolation looked like they were somehow playing at a higher speed.

It was kind of a mind-fuck.
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Re: The 200hz acting lesson

Post by ancestral-knowledge »

After reading the thread I was very interested. So I did the same thing you did, Skykid and I must say: Nicolas Cage survives the test easily. Especially the roles where he plays a madman (pretty much every role he had, see "Vampire’s Kiss").

This has been very educational.

Edward Harrison Norton is very good too.
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Re: The 200hz acting lesson

Post by Skykid »

Nicolas Cage doesn't pass the test in 60hz.
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Re: The 200hz acting lesson

Post by trap15 »

Nicolas Cage doesn't pass the test at 24Hz either :lol:
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Re: The 200hz acting lesson

Post by Mortificator »

Cage reacts.

I wonder how higher hz affects your perception of stuff like stop-motion or CG?
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Re: The 200hz acting lesson

Post by Ed Oscuro »

Wow, he actually goes "BOO-HOO." Somebody dip this man in gold already.
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Re: The 200hz acting lesson

Post by Skykid »

Mortificator wrote:Cage reacts.

I wonder how higher hz affects your perception of stuff like stop-motion or CG?
Nightmare Before Christmas would be really interesting.

I know Jurassic Park 3 isn't exactly old, but has anyone tried movies from the 70's and 80's? I'd really like to see Rod Steiger and Sidney Poitier in The Heat of the Night. They're two performances that would stand up to scrutiny, but would the 200hz effect be the same with old film stock?
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Re: The 200hz acting lesson

Post by ancestral-knowledge »

trap15 wrote:Nicolas Cage doesn't pass the test at 24Hz either
Skykid wrote:Nicolas Cage doesn't pass the test in 60hz
Yes, but he still is a great actor. Just see the "Wicker Man". Awesome stuff.
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Re: The 200hz acting lesson

Post by shmuppyLove »

ancestral-knowledge wrote:Yes, but he still is a great actor. Just see the "Wicker Man". Awesome stuff.
Don't bother, just watch this instead

MURDER! MURDER!

It's a terrible film, but it did change my life. I will never watch another Nicolas Cage movie. 8)
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Re: The 200hz acting lesson

Post by Skykid »

shmuppyLove wrote: Don't bother, just watch this instead
Man, thank you!

I haven't cried with laughter like that in a while. :o Is the film meant to be a parody?
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Re: The 200hz acting lesson

Post by trap15 »

NO NOT THE BEES! AAAAAA THEY'RE IN MY EYES

Dodonpachi, the movie.
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