'Watching movies the way the filmmakers intended': Christopher Nolan and Tom Cruise battle against the soap opera effect
Tom Cruise and Christopher Nolan are highlighting "Motion Smoothing" or "The Soap Opera Effect" in HDTV. It generates new frames, making large-scale movies look like soap operas. Nolan and Cruise petitioned television manufacturers to retain their work's technical standards for home viewing.
Updated : October 20, 2023 05:24 PM ISTTom Cruise and Christopher Nolan are highlighting "Motion Smoothing" or "The Soap Opera Effect" in HDTV. It generates new frames, making large-scale movies look like soap operas. Nolan and Cruise petitioned television manufacturers to retain their work's technical standards for home viewing.
Tom Cruise
The advent of High Definition (HD) television, while bringing crisper, sharper, and more vibrant images to screens, also ushered in a contentious feature known as 'Motion Smoothing' or 'The Soap Opera Effect'. According to an article by the Independent published in December 2018, acclaimed Hollywood director Christopher Nolan and star actor Tom Cruise are rallying against this feature.
"Watching movies the way the filmmakers intended," Cruise warned viewers, alluding to how Motion Smoothing deviates from filmmakers' creative intentions.
The 'Soap Opera Effect', more formally known as Motion Interpolation, is a function inherent in modern TVs that corrects the tendency of HD screens to blur moving objects. The TV processes two consecutive frames and estimates an intermediary frame. While this feature enhances clarity during a sports match or a nature documentary, it can make blockbuster movies seem as though they were shot by an American soap opera crew.
A few months before the PSA, a formal objection was raised through a letter sent to the members of the Directors Guild of America from the co-chairs of its Creative Rights Committee. The letter highlighted the need to adopt new technologies in a way that allows the home viewer to see the work presented as closely as possible to the original creative intentions.
"Christopher Nolan and Paul Thomas Anderson reached out to television manufacturers," the letter stated, stressing that the interaction aims to give directors a voice in maintaining the technical standards of their work at home.
An avid defender of the cinematic experience, Nolan, along with Cruise, is pushing for a dialogue with manufacturers to maintain a high-quality home viewing experience. Though it's uncertain if television companies will adhere to their appeal, their voice adds a critical perspective to the discussion about the evolution of home entertainment technology.
As we continue to adapt to changing technologies, it's important to remember the words of these industry heavyweights, reminding us that maintaining the artistic integrity of film should be a paramount concern. After all, every film, regardless of whether it's viewed in a cinema or at home, deserves to be seen as its filmmakers intended.
(Several parts of the text in this article, including the title, were generated with the help of an AI tool.)