Peter Jackson talks controversial new Hobbit film speed

Peter Jackson has spoken about the pioneering 48 frames-per-second film speed of his latest Tokien adaptation 'The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey'.

Audiences and critics have been split on the use of the faster speed, some saying that it makes the action too realistic – a few even claiming a feeling of nausea from watching the film – while others have enjoyed the sharper pictures, especially when combined with 3D.

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“I'm fascinated by reactions,” he said at the New York press conference for the film. “I'm tending to see that anyone under the age of 20 or so doesn't really care and thinks it looks cool.

“I think 3D at 24 frames is interesting, but it's the 48 that actually allows 3D to almost achieve the potential that it can achieve because it's less eye strain and you have a sharper picture.

“The big thing to realize is that it's not an attempt to change the film industry. It's another choice. The projectors that can run at 48 frames can run at 24 frames - it doesn't have to be one thing or another.”

He added that making the shift to higher film speeds, using new RED Epic cameras, was a huge risk for the production.

“Warner Bros. were very supportive,” he continued. “They just wanted us to prove that the 24 frame version would look normal, which it does, but once they were happy with that, on first day, when we had to press that button that said '48 frames' even though on that first day we started shooting at 48 fps, you could probably say there wasn't a single cinema in the world that would project the movie in that format. It was a big leap of faith.”

The film opens in the UK on December 14.