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Topic: 3D is kaput once more!
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David M. Ballew
Expert Film Handler
Posts: 113
From: Burbank, CA USA
Registered: Nov 2009
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posted March 11, 2016 01:41 PM
Given that stereoscopic motion pictures have been an intermittent part of the scene since 1915, and an ongoing part of the scene since 2005 (when Disney released Chicken Little in digital stereo in ordinary, first-run movie houses), one would expect less outright hostility from those who truly love cinema, even those who don’t personally prefer stereoscopic films.
I’ve been a 3-D hobbyist since I was a kid in the 1980s. Started out drawing (by hand!) my own red and blue anaglyphs. Graduated to home-built stereo cameras, including a dual Super 8mm rig, then later a Nimslo and a Stereo Realist. Here's a link to one of my two 3-D monster movies on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WF2mhJ-6yxg.
I was around back in 1986, 1987, 1988. That’s when 3-D really was dead. Trust me, this present state of affairs does not constitute “dead.”
I wish to second Jean-Marc’s enthusiasm for vintage 3-D titles on Blu-Ray. There are some genuine classics out there now—House of Wax, Dial “M” for Murder, Kiss Me Kate—and even lesser-known, lesser-quality titles can be a great deal of fun. And I happen to know for a fact that more are on the way.
And this is far from the only reason to be hopeful. A promising new approach to autostereoscopic television is in the offing: http://www.ultra-d.com/.
Head Mounted Displays and Virtual Reality are the coming thing too. Witness Oculus Rift, Samsung VR, even Google Cardboard. I personally already have the latter, and believe me, it’s marvelous for watching 3-D footage.
If there’s one thing I have learned down through the years, it’s that people who hate 3-D really, really, really hate 3-D and really, really, really love to gloat—an unseemly habit.
My guess is that people who hate 3-D do so for the same reasons many people hate treadmills and Stair Masters and uphill rides on bicycles—because the old muscles are tired and flabby. An occasional 3-D movie can have therapeutic benefits, strengthening the eye muscles, and once in a while one hears of moviegoers discovering for the first time they have a vision problem when they wonder how they can see stereo at the movies, through glasses, but not in their everyday lives.
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David M. Ballew
Expert Film Handler
Posts: 113
From: Burbank, CA USA
Registered: Nov 2009
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posted March 11, 2016 02:47 PM
"I feel a lot of 3D has been a cynical money-grab by the studios..."
Amen to that! And furthermore, the big decision makers are so skittish about audience complaints or backlash, they tend to allow only shallow imagery with minimal parallax. As a consequence, many recent 3-D movies look about as deep and dimensional as your average coin. This is a topic I will cheerfully unpack later, in a separate diatribe--er, I mean, a separate post. :-)
I thoroughly agree with you about the latest Star Wars flick. I took the family to see it at the Chinese Theater in Hollywood, which offers very bright IMAX 3-D projection. I paid almost as much for the tickets as I do for car insurance! Ha ha ha! But in the end, I felt the experience was well worth every penny. Part of that was the beautiful venue, part of that was the visual majesty of IMAX, and (for me) a major part of it was the lovely 3-D.
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