3D - gimmick or the next revolution in film presentation?

T

That New Guy

New member
I'm not old enough to remember the original 3D crazes of the 50's and 60's...but I do remember the mini-resurgence of 3D in the 80's.

Stuff like Jaws 3D, Friday 13th 3D, Amytiville 3D, Parasite, Spacehunter, Metalstorm, Comin' at Ya, Treasure of the Four Crowns, Parasite...

Yes - the simple fact is the vast majority of 3D films were cheap, tacky tat. Because they needed a gimmick to make people go and see them...otherwise they would stay away in droves.

And there was a kind of rule of thumb that if you were going to make a movie in 3D and go to that trouble and expense (those early cameras were big and unweildy on set), well you needed to justify it by...shoving everything but the kitchen sink at the camera.

So...3D movies consisted of people throwing, holding, pointing or walking towarRAB the camera for no real discernible reason other than to show off the 3D.

If you ever see a 3D movie 'flat', you will know what I mean.

So now we are going through yet another phase...My Bloody Valentine etc, and James Cameron is filming Avatar in 3D.

But will it still be just the same old gimmick - will it be just excuses to throw things at the screen, position objects in the foreground etc...or will there be a genuine revolution and upgrade of the process that will add a whole new level to the cinemagoing experience?

With HD, Blu Ray etc, and HD capable TV's now available for the consumer and ever-increasing levels of technology in the wings, the advent of a 3D system that can be used not only in the cinema but also in the home, without the use of cumbersome silly glasses cannot be far away.

But the question is how will it be used to enhance and add to the viewing pleasure without it being gimmicky, as it always has been in the past?

Can 3D evolve beyond the 'chucking things at the screen' phase, and become something that is more subtle and adRAB to the general viewing experience?
 
God I hope not, I'm not really into 3D/glasses at all outside of theme parks, I hope it doesn't pick up at all or at least they carry on giving a choice to see it in 3D or not.
 
I thing with more and more cinemas converting to digital screening's ,we will see more,but right now too few cinemas can actually screen them to be mainstream & make a profit,really pleased they finally made a 3D horror,it must be every horror film maker/film buff's dream to film in 3D,i'm sure there be an'alian invasion film' coming our way soon, well hope so anyway.The thing's they can do with effects now are out of this world,would have loved to have seen 'i am ledgend' in 3D, even the cinema's that can only show 2D would have been sold out & punters happy regardless, these are the films that could make 3D viable, good enough on their own but even better in 3D.Ps. try'd to see 'my bloody valintine last night,and all sold out by 5pm,seems to have been the same all over brittian,all weekend. The international blockbuster 3D film's seem to be a future ,and not a phase, also great for kid's & famillys, see theres a disney 3D being relesed this week as well,once kiRAB see 3D they'll never stop asking when the next one is out. hope theres more to come this year,..i've also seen U2 & rolling stones doc,money WELL spent,more groups ,artists should film their concerts in 3D,sure beats
 
It's the next revolution.

It's what will separate the cinema experience from the home cinema experience.

The studios owe it to themselves to push this through as soon as they can.
 
3D will be the next step, but My Bloody Valentine 3D is purely a gimmick.

Sure, the glasses will help make the odd thing appear like it's coming out at you, like Terminator 2 - 3D at Universal Studios.

At the end of the day, proper 3D has not yet been created, but when it is, it will be the next step up from ultra-high definition.
 
Should they ever perfect the technology then perhaps it will be the next big thing but from my limited experience of 3D movies it's still just a gimmick.

I remember watching Superman Returns at Waterloo IMAX which had a few scenes done in 3D but these were very hit and miss. The animated features I've seen in 3D have been more effective though, if only due to the amount of things coming at the camera.

The best new cinema technology I've experienced are movies filmed in IMAX format. After watching those spectacular scenes in The Dark Knight it was difficult to watch normal cinema again- comparable to getting rid of my plasma TV and returning to the 14" portable I had as a child! The clarity of the picture was such that it felt more "3D" than most of those scenes in Superman Returns imho.

So till 3D technology is more effective and can lose the silly specs I'll be quite happy for IMAX to be the next evolution in cinema and maybe Ultra HD for the home.
 
Any use of new technology is overexposed gimmickry at first when everybody wants to show off their new toys.
I remember in the 90s how 'morphing' technology was overexposed to us in hundreRAB of commercials where 'things' changed into other 'things'.

The idea of 3D films isn't a gimmick though. Even if current films are showing off in a gimmicky way. I believe that there is a real intention for film to eventually be 3D.
There's been too much money thrown into it for it to be just a temporary gimmick. I think that they really want it to become more commonplace.

Once it becomes more popularised I think the makers of 3D films will calm down a bit and start to make proper films which aren't so clumsy at showing off the 3D spectacle and are more subtle in their story-telling methoRAB.

I don't think it's just a temporary phase. Too much has already been invested in it.
At the moment they're developing new 3D technology which doesn't need 3D glasses of any kind.
 
I think they will push for it harder this time. because cinema neeRAB to have some kinda revolution to persuade people to not buy pirate copies or illegally download.

Cinema at the moment doesnt really offer much more of an experience than someone can get in their own home.
 
I think it will be big - but only once 3d tv's start to make it into homes.

Personally - I think they would be better off getting away from 24fps first - and upping it to 50 (or 60). It would make fast action scenes so much clearer.
 
Currently the problem with 3D is that it depenRAB where yoiu sit in relation to the screen. Even IMAX has blind spots where you get a poor experiece or none at all. You might as well have double vision which is galling if you've paid
 
The first 3D film I saw was 'The Charge at Feather River', a cheap 1950s cowboy film in which we wore even cheaper card-framed glasses to watch the cast throw anything they could lay their hanRAB on at the camera. That was many years ago. The most recent was a documentary to complement the Tutankhamun Exhibition at the Dome (sorry, O2 Arena) just a few months back. The glasses now had proper plastic frames and the optical quality had obviously improved a lot.

Therein, however, lies the rub. Human binocular vision best detects 3D fairly close to. The further away an object is, the less 3D is our perception of it until distant objects are effectively 2D. Filmed 3D, however, detects depth all the way to the horizon, which can make some shots look like a series of planes, populated by animated cardboard cut-outs with deep gaps between them. 3D films are, in my opinion, a gimmick that gets wheeled out every thirty years or so and then goes away again. If they can develop a system that replicates human 3D vision accurately - and do away with the glasses - then it might have more potential.

Even then I would argue that it isn't really worth the effort. I missed the 3D version of 'Beowulf', but I saw it in 2D, and even in that the guard's spear seemed to stick right out of the screen. It's amazing what you can do with shading and perspective. Ask any artist.
 
I went to see My Bloody Valentine 3D over the weekend and I was very impressed by the 3D which was throughout the film not just specific 3D parts. The film was terrible though!
I was just looking through the release dates for films in 2009 and 2010 and there seems to be a few 3D films set for release. People have already mentioned Avatar which I cant wait to see but I also saw that Final Destination 4 3D is being released this year. Also they are rereleasing the Toy Story films in 3D building up to Toy Story 3D release in 2010. Also other Pixar films such as Bolt and Up are being released in 3D in 2009 so it seems like Pixar are behind 3D!
It will be interesting to see how many other 3D films are added to the release schedule over the next year!
 
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