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34 DGA QUARTERLY E VO LU T I O N S N E V E R C O M E E A S Y. Convincing an audience to change its habits is hard enough, but coaxing direc- tors and crews out of their safety zones can be even more difficult. So when it comes to new filmmaking technologies, whether it's 4K video or high frame rates, most of Hollywood is waiting to see how the efforts of film giants are accepted by audiences before it follows suit. So far, it hasn't gone great. Ang Lee's Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk, shot in 4K, 3D and at 120 frames per second, drew a lukewarm response. And moviegoers largely balked at the 48 fps version of Peter Jackson's Hobbit trilogy. Now, many insiders are keeping a close eye on the performance of James Cameron's Avatar sequels, in which he says he will push high frame rates and 3D. Directors who have worked with these new technologies concede the advantages and disadvantages are fairly equal at present, but as filmmakers get more comfortable with the advances, they say, the pros will quickly outweigh the cons. "The bottom line is 4K is just the medium; it's a science," says Lee. "The art is in how you deal with it." There's a lot to deal with. The tremendous amount of data collected when shoot- ing in 4K can result in images that more closely resemble video than film. That same incredible detail can shine a spotlight on shortcomings. Onscreen shadows can be exaggerated to the audience. Costumes need to be more authentic. And set design is more challenging, since viewers can see things that previ- ously could be easily camouflaged. "When we do The Upside Down in Stranger Things, a lot of that is practical [ef- fects]," says series co-director Ross Duffer. "But if you walk around the set, there's a version of that that looks very plastic and fake. ... You don't want to see too much. You want the imagination to fill it in for you." The technologies also require CGI and VFX teams to work harder. While the past decade's breakthroughs in computer-generated images have been astonishing, some don't hold up well in a 4K world. (Similarly, shooting against a green screen can be more noticeable.) FILMMAKING IN THE BY CHRIS MORRIS ILLUSTRATED BY DANIEL HERTZBERG 4K AGE