2010-05-30 14:26:35
This Ain’t Your Grandma’s 3D
We all remember it; coming home from the grocery store, dumping out the cereal box, and searching for the red and blue 3D glasses so that we can see the secret message on the back of the box. For those of you who may be a little bit younger than me, maybe you remember doing the same, but instead of finding a secret message on the back of the cereal box you got to wear them during your favorite cartoon anxiously waiting for that one 10 second scene where a ball seems to fly directly at your face. Either way, that is what most people think of when they hear “3D”. So it’s reasonable to assume that most people are skeptical when it comes to the current barrage of 3D movies.I was skeptical. My first introduction to this new era of 3D wasn’t really an introduction so much as it was an aural acquainting. I listen to a lot of tech shows and they beat the horse until it was dead when 3D was first released. The big deal, according to them, was sports. One person watched a football game in 3D and thought that it was amazing; as if you’re actually on the field with the players. Growing up with 3D cereal glasses, I was still skeptical.
I was expecting to walk into the theater and experience a gimmick, just like it was back in the day. But I took the plunge; I paid the eleventy million dollars for the ticket, got the yellow clown glasses, and took a seat in front of the silver IMAX screen. The previews started, then the theater ads, then finally the main event, How To Train Your Dragon.
*jawdrop*
Let me be painfully clear, you NEED to watch movies in 3D. This isn’t a suggestion, I’m telling you. If you have the choice between seeing a movie in regularD and in 3D you NEED to choose 3D. No exceptions.
For all intents and purposes, there are two main reasons that today’s 3D movies are super-amazingly awesome. Firstly, today’s 3D movies are not gimmicks. Gone are the days of the random red ball flying at your face or the characters doing some action that is clearly only to make use of the 3D and not to further the plot at all. When watching today’s 3D movies you will not be taken out of the movie by some random 3D gimmick.
So what will you get? This brings me to my second point; you will be immersed in the action. You will literally feel like you are in the movie. It’s as if you can reach out and touch the characters, like you have to bend your head to see around a wall, like the action isn’t happening on screen but all around you. It’s as if you’re a specter in some other universe. No one knows your there and you can just sit back and watch the story unfold all around you.
I am inclined to believe that my experience was so good because it was an IMAX movie and I was sitting about 40% away from the screen. Those two factors led to the large IMAX screen completely filling my peripheral vision. As long as I didn’t turn my head, my eyes couldn’t see anything except screen. So that alone immersed me in the action. But there is one thing that I know for certain. I want 100% of video content to be in 3D. I don’t ever want to watch another thing in 2D again... ever. That’s how good today’s 3D is.
What do you think?
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2 comments
2010-05-30 23:54:16
slonkak says...
Yeah, I haven't given much thought into 3D in the home. From what I've been reading, there are two types of 3D; the kind that requires a silver screen and the kind that requires active glasses. The consensus is that the silver screen kind is fine but the active glasses kind will actually hurt your vision. Unfortunately that's the only kind we'll ever get in the home unless they expect everyone to paint a wall silver and buy a $30K 3D projector. Though, I wouldn't put that past the money hungry morons running the movie business. $17 for a 3D movie ticket... puh-lease.
2010-05-30 22:32:44
DeVito says...
Well I agree when done correctly 3D is Amazatron!!! Even though I thought Avatar was just an OK movieâ¦The visual experience was beyond compare. OMG Clash of the Titans though was a complete waste of time. Actually took away from the movie. Thereâs a difference between âmade for 3Dâ and âmade into 3Dâ. Clash of the Titans was not filmed in 3D and all the effects were applied in post production. But I paid the same extra fee for that garbage pile of 3D that I paid for Avatar pristine and beautiful 3D
As for 3D for the home...Not convinced that people are going to buy in until the prices for extra glasses come down. I mean seriously Panasonic is selling a 65 inch 3D Plasma that costs over $4k and they give you one pair of 3D glasses and expect you to buy additional pairs for $150 each. That's a little disappointing. Plus I wonder how mad people are going to be when they finally realize theyâre going to have to buy a new Blu Ray player to boot.
Of course early adopters are going to pay up front for the discounts that the rest of us enjoy.
But stillâ¦Not convincedâ¦Even if they drop the glasses by half twice theyâre still too expensive.
I donât knowâ¦I think ttâs not going to work in the home until it can be done well without the glasses.
Check out the following articlesâ¦
Francis Ford Coppola
http://www.electronichouse.com/article/francis_ford_coppola_3d_is_tiresome/
Jeffrey Katzenberg
http://is.gd/cwpd2