Soap opera effect

The soap opera effect is a complaint against motion pictures with a high frame rate or shot on video as opposed to film stock. Images are denounced as "too realistic" or "too smooth" and therefore undesirable, especially for theatrical films.

These complaints are less common outside of cinema, where some people praise or prefer higher frame rates (such as the increasingly common 50 and 60 FPS or higher), especially for sports, news and video games, due to superior ergonomics and fluidity onscreen.

The opposite effect is the film look, felt by some as desirable enough to imitate through "filmization" or film emulation.