Scorsese, Cameron, Nolan, Jenkins, Coogler & More Champion New "Filmmaker Mode" TV Setting To End Motion Smoothing

In the general sense, there are definitely more important issues plaguing our world than bad TV settings. However, as film and TV nerds (and I say that lovingly, as a member myself), there are few things that irritate me more than terrible TV picture settings. Thankfully, according to THR, some of the biggest filmmakers in the world are joining forces in creating “Filmmaker Mode” to rid the world of the scourge known as “motion smoothing.”

Martin Scorsese, Christopher Nolan, Ryan Coogler, Patty Jenkins, and Rian Johnson have joined forces alongside the UHD Alliance for a new picture settings standard for HDTVs. Dubbed “Filmmaker Mode,” the standard will be utilized as a way to replace the current default settings that TV manufacturers place on their products, which amp up the framerate and drastically oversaturated colors, giving consumers a picture that looks like it belongs in a soap opera or on Instagram, instead of the cinema. The framerate setting is commonly known as “motion smoothing.”

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“Motion smoothing,” combined with other default image tweaks, allow for TVs to show dazzling colors and impressive visuals while on display in the store. Sadly, those settings just aren’t anywhere close to color accurate and make the average TV series or film look terrible.

“Filmmaker Mode” would be an instantaneous way to update color, contrast, aspect ratio and frame rates, to give the films and TV series a closer representation of what the original filmmakers intended. To help create this new standard, the UHD Alliance conducted a survey of 400 filmmakers, including 140 directors and cinematographers, as well as the Directors Guild of America, American Society of Cinematographers, American Cinema Editors, and Martin Scorsese’s The Film Foundation.

Rian Johnson summed it up best by saying, “Your Skynet is motion smoothing. … Luckily our John Connor has arrived.”

Other filmmakers that have lent their names to this initiative include Paul Thomas Anderson, James Cameron, J.J. Abrams, Ava DuVernay, Judd Apatow, Ang Lee, Reed Morano, and the Duffer Brothers.

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TV manufacturers LG, Panasonic, and Vizio have already said that they’re committed to including “Filmmaker Mode” on their upcoming TVs. That being said, there’s no exact timetable for when we might see the setting arrive.

Ryan Coogler added, “I care deeply about how cinema is experienced at home because that’s where it lives the longest. That’s where cinema is watched and re-watched and experienced by families. By allowing the artists in the tent to help consult and give feedback to the electronics companies on Filmmaker Mode, we can collectively help make the consumer’s experience even more like it is in the cinema.”

As someone with a deep appreciation of the intricacies of calibrating the picture and sound settings on a TV and entertainment system, I appreciate this one-button method that “Filmmaker Mode” promises. If nothing else, it’ll same me time when I have to set up my friends and family’s future TV purchases.