Why is Tom Cruise instructing us to turn off a TV setting we were ‘trained’ to trust without question?

Hollywood maverick Tom Cruise has joined forces with director Christopher McQuarrie for an unusual goal: Teaching people how to choose their TV settings.

Cruise and McQuarrie are industry veterans with extensive experience in cinema. Cruise has been a leading actor for over four decades, starring in numerous blockbusters such as Top Gun, Jerry Maguire, and the Mission: Impossible franchise. He has also received critical acclaim for his performances in films like Born on the Fourth of July, for which he earned an Oscar nomination, and Magnolia, which garnered him a Golden Globe win. On the other hand, McQuarrie won an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for The Usual Suspects, named one of the greatest screenplays of all time by the Writer’s Guild of America. He transitioned from screenwriting to directing, making his directorial debut with 2000’s The Way of the Gun. 

The collaboration between Cruise and McQuarrie began with the 2008 film Valkyrie, which McQuarrie co-wrote and produced. Since then, the duo has worked on multiple projects, including Jack Reacher, Edge of Tomorrow, and several installments of Mission: Impossible. In short, Cruise and McQuarrie live and breathe cinema, with a deep understanding of their craft on both an artistic and commercial level. So, if they decide to teach you how to improve your film-watching experience on your TV, it’s better to listen to them.

What is motion smoothing, and why is Tom Cruise against it?

The target of Cruise and McQuarrie’s crusade is the motion-smoothing setting. This technology, also called motion interpolation, is a default setting on many modern televisions that artificially increases the frame rate of the displayed content.

To understand motion smoothing, it’s essential first to grasp the concept of frame rate. Frame rate refers to the number of individual images or frames displayed per second to create the illusion of motion. Most films are shot at 24 frames per second (fps), a standard used in cinema since the late 1920s. On the other hand, television shows are typically filmed at 30 fps in North America and Japan or 25 fps in Europe and other regions. 

Motion smoothing technology analyzes these existing frames and creates new, intermediate frames to increase the perceived frame rate, often to 60, 120, or even 240 fps. This process involves the TV’s processor using complex algorithms to predict and generate new frames based on the existing ones. The TV’s processor analyzes the movement of objects between existing frames and creates new frames that show the estimated positions of these objects at intermediate points. For instance, in a scene where a car is moving from left to right, the TV will generate new frames showing the vehicle at positions between its locations in the original frames, creating a smoother appearance of motion. So, for TVs that reach 240 fps, only one in every ten frames was part of an original movie shot at 24 fps.

While this technology can make motion appear smoother, especially in fast-paced content like sports, it can significantly alter the visual characteristics of films and TV shows. Many directors and filmmakers, including Cruise and McQuarrie, have criticized it for distorting films’ original look and feel. They argue that the 24 fps frame rate is an integral part of the cinematic language, contributing to movies’ dreamlike quality and emotional impact. 

The controversy stems from filmmakers carefully choosing their frame rates and shooting techniques to achieve specific visual effects. For example, the slight motion blur at 24 fps can contribute to a film’s aesthetic and mood. When motion smoothing artificially increases the frame rate, it can eliminate this intentional blur and create an unnaturally sharp image that may not align with the filmmaker’s artistic vision. Moreover, since motion smoothing is a default setting in modern television, most people are unaware of its effects.

To address these concerns, the UHD Alliance, a coalition of consumer electronics manufacturers, film and television studios, content distributors, and technology companies, introduced the “Filmmaker Mode” in 2019. This mode is designed to optimize the viewing experience of films at home by disabling post-processing effects like motion smoothing and preserving the original aspect ratio, colors, and frame rates. Filmmaker Mode has been available on select TVs since 2020, with support from companies like LG, Panasonic, and Vizio. Yet, since motion smoothing remains a default setting, people need to actively choose to change their TV configurations to enjoy a movie as the filmmakers intended.

Cruise and McQuarrie are not alone in their stance against motion smoothing. A host of renowned directors and filmmakers have joined the cause, including Rian Johnson, Christopher Nolan, Paul Thomas Anderson, Martin Scorsese, James Gunn, Reed Morano, Ryan Coogler, Patty Jenkins, Jonathan Mostow, Karyn Kusama, and Jason Reitman. These filmmakers have been vocal about the negative impact of motion smoothing on the viewing experience and have participated in efforts to address the issue. 

Yes, it might be bothersome to switch your TV settings when going from a football match to a movie. Yet, to watch a movie or TV show as its creators intended, it’s best to follow Tom Cruise’s advice.