With the decline of the home video market and the rise of streaming and TV sets with a multitude of options, “serious” filmmakers have struggled to be sure their films will be presented to the home audience in a way that brings out the best they have to offer and enhances, rather than detracting from, the viewing experience. A group of high-profile filmmakers including Martin Scorcese, Rian Johnson, and the filmmakers behind some of the best-reviewed blockbusters in recent years are working with the home entertainment industry to introduce a “filmmaker mode” that will automatically adjust a TV’s settings to the demands of the film.
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According to The Hollywood Reporter, Black Panther‘s Ryan Coogler and Wonder Woman‘s Patty Jenkins are among the hundreds of filmmakers consulted by the UHD Alliance, a coalition whose members include Hollywood studios and consumer electronics manufacturers. Per the announcement, “This new ‘Filmmaker Mode’ for supported TV models is aimed at giving viewers a consistent, cinematic representation of images as the filmmakers intended, in terms of color, contrast, aspect ratio and frame rates.” While this is important to big-budget blockbusters, who myriad technologies to create immersive worlds, filmmakers like Martin Scorcese and Christopher Nolan, who typically make more grounded and less VFX-heavy films, will benefit as well, if only because of the often incredibly specific demands that those filmmakers have for aspect ratio, frame rate, and sound mixing.
One of the most consistent complaints among filmmakers is the “motion smoothing” feature, which helps live sports look better and is turned on by default on a lot of TVs. The feature artificially adds frames to the content’s frame rate, which is great for live content which might otherwise look a little choppy, but alters the filmmaker’s intent when watching a movie, especially one that is on DVD or Blu-ray and has where connection speeds are not an issue.
Johnson said in the announcement that Filmmaker Mode provides “a single button that lines up the settings so it works for the benefit of the movie and not against it….If you love movies, Filmmaker Mode will make your movies not look like poo-poo.”
Coogler appeared at D23 last week to announce the release date of Black Panther II — May 6, 2022 — while Jenkins directed Wonder Woman 1984, which is set for release on June 5, 2020.
