A 3D or 3-D (three-dimensional)
film or S3D (stereoscopic 3D) film[1]
is a
motion picture that enhances the
illusion of
depth perception. Derived from
stereoscopic photography, a regular motion picture camera system is
used to record the images as seen from two perspectives (or
computer-generated imagery generates the two perspectives in
post-production), and special projection hardware and/or eyewear are
used to provide the illusion of depth when viewing the film. 3D films
are not limited to
feature film theatrical releases;
television broadcasts and
direct-to-video films have also incorporated similar methods,
especially since
3D television and
Blu-ray 3D.
3D films have existed in some form since 1915, but had been largely
relegated to a niche in the motion picture industry because of the
costly hardware and processes required to produce and display a 3D film,
and the lack of a standardized format for all segments of the
entertainment business. Nonetheless, 3D films were prominently featured
in the 1950s in American cinema, and later experienced a worldwide
resurgence in the 1980s and 1990s driven by
IMAX
high-end theaters and
Disney themed-venues. 3D films became more and more successful
throughout the 2000s, culminating in the unprecedented success of 3D
presentations of
Avatar in December 2009 and January 2010.
Audience watching a 3D film
Timeline
Early patents
and tests
The stereoscopic era of motion pictures began in the late 1890s when
British film pioneer
William Friese-Greene filed a
patent
for a 3D movie process. In his patent, two films were projected side by
side on screen. The viewer looked through a
stereoscope to converge the two images. Because of the obtrusive
mechanics behind this method, theatrical use was not practical.[2]
Frederic Eugene Ives patented his stereo camera rig in 1900. The
camera had two lenses coupled together 1 3/4 inches (4.45 centimeters)
apart.[3]
On June 10, 1915,
Edwin S. Porter and William E. Waddell presented tests to an
audience at the Astor Theater in New York City. In red-green
anaglyph, the audience was presented three reels of tests, which
included rural scenes, test shots of
Marie Doro, a segment of
John Mason playing a number of passages from
Jim the Penman (a film released by
Famous Players-Lasky that year, but not in 3D), Oriental dancers,
and a reel of footage of
Niagara Falls.[4]
However, according to
Adolph Zukor in his 1953
autobiography The Public Is Never Wrong: My 50 Years in the
Motion Picture Industry, nothing was produced in this process after
these tests.
Early systems of stereoscopic filmmaking (pre-1952)
The earliest confirmed 3D film shown to a paying audience was
The Power of Love, which premiered at the
Ambassador Hotel Theater in Los Angeles on 27 September 1922.[5][6][7]
The camera rig was a product of the film's producer, Harry K. Fairall,
and
cinematographer Robert F. Elder.[2]
It was projected dual-strip in the red/green anaglyph format, making it
both the earliest known film that utilized dual strip projection and the
earliest known film in which anaglyph glasses were used.[8]
Whether Fairall used colored filters on the projection ports or whether
he used
tinted prints is unknown. After a preview for exhibitors and press
in New York City, the film dropped out of sight, apparently not booked
by exhibitors, and is now considered
lost.
Early in December 1922, William Van Doren Kelley, inventor of the
Prizma
color system, cashed in on the growing interest in 3D films started by
Fairall's demonstration and shot footage with a camera system of his own
design. Kelley then struck a deal with
Samuel "Roxy" Rothafel to premiere the first in his series of
"Plasticon" shorts entitled Movies of the Future at the Rivoli
Theater in New York City .[9]
Also in December 1922,
Laurens Hammond (later inventor of the
Hammond organ) and William F. Cassidy unveiled their
Teleview system. Teleview was the earliest alternate-frame
sequencing form of
film projection. Through the use of two interlocked projectors,
alternating left/right frames were projected one after another in rapid
succession. Synchronized viewers attached to the arm-rests of the seats
in the theater open and closed at the same time, and took advantage of
the viewer's
persistence of vision, thereby creating a true stereoscopic image.
The only theater known to have installed this system was the Selwyn
Theater in New York. Only one show was ever produced for the system, a
groups of shorts and the only Teleview feature
The Man From M.A.R.S. (later re-released as Radio-Mania)
on December 27, 1922 in New York City.[10]
In 1922,
Frederic Eugene Ives and Jacob Leventhal began releasing their first
stereoscopic shorts made over a three-year period. The first film
entitled, Plastigrams, which was distributed nationally by
Educational Pictures in the red/blue anaglyph format. Ives and
Leventhal then went on to produce the following stereoscopic shorts in
the "Stereoscopiks Series" for
Pathé Films
in 1925: Zowie (April 10), Luna-cy! (May 18), The
Run-Away Taxi (December 17) and Ouch (December 17).[11]
On 22 September 1924, Luna-cy! was re-released in the
DeForest
Phonofilm sound-on-film system.[12]
The late 1920s to early 1930s saw little to no interest in
stereoscopic pictures, largely due to the
Great Depression. In Paris,
Louis Lumiere shot footage with his stereoscopic camera in September
1933. The following March he premiered a remake of his 1895 film
L'Arrivée du Train, this time in anaglyphic 3D, at a meeting of the
French Academy of Science.[13]
In 1936, Leventhal and John Norling were hired based on their test
footage to film MGM's Audioscopiks series. The prints were by
Technicolor in the red/green anaglyph format, and were narrated by
Pete Smith. The first film, Audioscopiks, premiered January
11, 1936 and The New Audioscopiks premiered January 15, 1938.
Audioscopiks was nominated for the Academy Award in the category
Best Short Subject, Novelty in 1936.
With the success of the two Audioscopiks films, MGM produced one more
short in anaglyph 3D, another Pete Smith Specialty called
Third Dimensional Murder (1941). Unlike its predecessors, this
short was shot with a studio-built camera rig. Prints were by
Technicolor in red/blue anaglyph. The short is notable for being one of
the few live-action appearances of the Frankenstein Monster as conceived
by
Jack Pierce for
Universal Studios outside of their company.
While many of these films were printed by color systems, none of them
was actually in color, and the use of the color printing was only to
achieve an anaglyph effect.
Introduction
of Polaroid
While attending
Harvard University,
Edwin H. Land conceived the idea of reducing
glare by
polarizing light. He took a
leave of absence from Harvard to set up a lab and by 1929 had
invented and patented a polarizing sheet.[14]
In 1932, he introduced Polaroid J Sheet as a commercial product.[15]
While his original intention was to create a filter for reducing glare
from car headlights, Land did not underestimate the utility of his
newly-dubbed
Polaroid filters in stereoscopic presentations.
In January 1936, Land gave the first demonstration of Polaroid
filters in conjunction with 3D photography at the
Waldorf-Astoria Hotel.[citation
needed] The reaction was enthusiastic, and he
followed it up with an installation at the New York Museum of Science.[citation
needed] It is unknown what film was run for
audiences at this exhibition.
Using Polaroid filters meant an entirely new form of projection,
however. Two prints, each carrying either the right or left eye view,
had to be synced up in projection using an external
selsyn motor. Furthermore, polarized light would be largely
depolarized by a matte white screen, and only a
silver screen or screen made of other reflective material would
correctly reflect the separate images.
Later that year, the feature, Nozze Vagabonde appeared in
Italy, followed in Germany by Zum Greifen Nah (You Can Nearly
Touch It), and again in 1939 with Germany's Sechs Mädel Rollen
Ins Wochenend (Six Girls Drive Into the Weekend). The Italian
film was made with the Gualtierotti camera; the two German productions
with the Zeiss camera and the Vierling shooting system. All of these
films were the first exhibited using Polaroid filters. The
Zeiss Company in Germany manufactured glasses on a commercial basis
commencing in 1936; they were also independently made around the same
time in Germany by E. Käsemann and by J. Mahler.[16]
In 1939, John Norling shot In Tune With Tomorrow, the first
commercial 3D film using Polaroid in the US[citation
needed]. This short premiered at the
1939 New York World's Fair and was created specifically for the
Chrysler Motors Pavilion. In it, a full 1939 Chrysler Plymouth is
magically put together, set to music. Originally in black and white, the
film was so popular that it was re-shot in color for the following year
at the fair, under the title New Dimensions[citation
needed]. In 1953, it was reissued by RKO as
Motor Rhythm.
Another early short that utilized the Polaroid 3D process was 1940's
Magic Movies: Thrills For You produced by the
Pennsylvania Railroad Co. for the
Golden Gate International Exposition[citation
needed]. Produced by John Norling, it was filmed by
Jacob Leventhal using his own rig. It consisted of shots of various
views that could be seen from the Pennsylvania Railroad's trains.
In the 1940s, World War II prioritized military applications of
stereoscopic photography and it once again went on the back burner in
most producers' minds.
The "golden era" (1952–1955)
What aficionados consider the "golden era" of 3D began in 1952 with
the release of the first color stereoscopic feature,
Bwana Devil, produced, written and directed by
Arch Oboler. The film was shot in Natural Vision, a process
that was co-created and controlled by M. L. Gunzberg. Gunzberg, who
built the rig with his brother, Julian, and two other associates,
shopped it without success to various studios before Oboler used it for
this feature, which went into production with the title, The Lions of
Gulu.[17]
The film starred
Robert Stack,
Barbara Britton and
Nigel Bruce.
As with practically all of the features made during this boom,
Bwana Devil was projected dual-strip, with
Polaroid filters. During the 1950s, the familiar disposable anaglyph
glasses
made of cardboard were mainly used for comic books, two shorts by
exploitation specialist
Dan
Sonney, and three shorts produced by
Lippert Productions. However, even the Lippert shorts were available
in the dual-strip format alternatively.
Because the features utilized two projectors, a capacity limit of
film being loaded onto each projector (about 6,000 feet (1,800 m), or an
hour's worth of film) meant that an intermission was necessary for every
feature-length film. Quite often, intermission points were written into
the script at a major plot point.
During Christmas of 1952, producer
Sol
Lesser quickly premiered the dual-strip showcase called Stereo
Techniques in Chicago.[18]
Lesser acquired the rights to five dual-strip shorts. Two of them,
Now is the Time (to Put On Your Glasses) and Around is Around,
were directed by
Norman McLaren in 1951 for the
National Film Board of Canada. The other three films were produced
in Britain for
Festival of Britain in 1951 by Raymond Spottiswoode. These were A
Solid Explanation, Royal River, and The Black Swan.
James Mage was also an early pioneer in the 3D craze. Using his 16 mm
3D Bolex system, he premiered his Triorama program on February
10, 1953 with his four shorts: Sunday In Stereo, Indian Summer,
American Life, and This is Bolex Stereo.[19]
This show is considered lost.
Another early 3D film during the boom was the Lippert Productions
short, A Day in the Country, narrated by
Joe
Besser and composed mostly of test footage. Unlike all of the other
Lippert shorts, which were available in both dual-strip and anaglyph,
this production was released in anaglyph only.
April 1953 saw two groundbreaking features in 3D:
Columbia's
Man in the Dark and
Warner Bros.
House of Wax, the first 3D feature with
stereophonic sound.
House of Wax, outside of
Cinerama, was the first time many American audiences heard recorded
stereophonic sound. It was also the film that typecast
Vincent Price as a horror star as well as the "King of 3-D" after he
became the actor to star in the most 3D features (the others were
The Mad Magician,
Dangerous Mission, and
Son of Sinbad). The success of these two films proved that major
studios now had a method of getting moviegoers back into theaters and
away from television sets, which were causing a steady decline in
attendance.
The Walt Disney Studios waded into 3D with its May 28, 1953 release
of
Melody, which accompanied the first 3D western, Columbia's
Fort Ti at its Los Angeles opening. It was later shown at
Disneyland's Fantasyland Theater in 1957 as part of a program with
Disney's other short
Working for Peanuts, entitled, 3-D Jamboree. The show was
hosted by the
Mousketeers and was in color.
Universal-International released their first 3D feature on May 27,
1953,
It Came from Outer Space, with stereophonic sound. Following
that was Paramount's first feature, Sangaree with
Fernando Lamas and
Arlene Dahl.
Columbia released several 3D westerns produced by
Sam Katzman and directed by
William Castle. Castle would later specialize in various technical
in-theater gimmicks for such Columbia and Allied Artists features as
13
Ghosts,
House on Haunted Hill, and
The Tingler. Columbia also produced the only slapstick comedies
conceived for 3D.
The Three Stooges starred in Spooks and Pardon My Backfire;
dialect comic Harry Mimmo starred in Down the Hatch. Producer
Jules White was optimistic about the possibilities of 3D as applied
to slapstick (with pies and other projectiles aimed at the audience),
but only two of his stereoscopic shorts were shown in 3D. Down the
Hatch was released as a conventional, "flat" motion picture.
(Columbia has since printed Down the Hatch in 3D for film
festivals.)
John Ireland,
Joanne Dru and
Macdonald Carey starred in the
Jack Broder color production Hannah Lee, which premiered June
19, 1953. The film was directed by Ireland, who sued Broder for his
salary. Broder counter-sued, claiming that Ireland went over production
costs with the film.[citation
needed]
Another famous entry in the golden era of 3D was the 3 Dimensional
Pictures production of
Robot Monster. The film was allegedly scribed in an hour by
screenwriter Wyott Ordung and filmed in a period of two weeks on a
shoestring budget.[citation
needed] Despite these shortcomings and the fact
that the crew had no previous experience with the newly-built camera
rig, luck was on the
cinematographer's side, as many find the 3D photography in the film
is well shot and aligned. Robot Monster also has a notable score
by then up-and-coming composer
Elmer Bernstein. The film was released June 24, 1953 and went out
with the short Stardust in Your Eyes, which starred nightclub
comedian, Slick Slavin.[citation
needed]
20th Century Fox produced their only 3D feature,
Inferno in 1953, starring
Rhonda Fleming. Fleming, who also starred in
Those Redheads From Seattle, and Jivaro, shares the spot
for being the actress to appear in the most 3D features with Patricia
Medina, who starred in Sangaree, Phantom of the Rue Morgue
and Drums of Tahiti.
Darryl F. Zanuck expressed little interest in stereoscopic systems,
and at that point was preparing to premiere the new widescreen film
system,
CinemaScope.
The first decline in the theatrical 3D craze started in August and
September 1953. The factors causing this decline were:
- Two prints had to be projected simultaneously.
- The prints had to remain exactly alike after repair, or
synchronization would be lost.
- It sometimes required two projectionists to keep sync working
properly.
- When either prints or shutters became out of sync, the picture
became virtually unwatchable and accounted for headaches and
eyestrain.
- The necessary silver projection screen was very directional and
caused sideline seating to be unusable with both 3D and regular
films, due to the angular darkening of these screens. Later films
that opened in wider-seated venues often premiered flat for that
reason (such as Kiss Me Kate at the
Radio City Music Hall).
- The few cartoons made in 3D had a "cardboard cutout" effect,
where flat objects appeared on different planes.
Because projection booth operators were at many times careless, even
at preview screenings of 3D films, trade and newspaper critics claimed
that certain films were "hard on the eyes."[citation
needed]
Sol Lesser attempted to follow up Stereo Techniques with a new
showcase, this time five shorts that he himself produced.[citation
needed] The project was to be called The 3-D
Follies and was to be distributed by RKO.[citation
needed] Unfortunately, because of financial
difficulties and the growing disinterest in 3D, Lesser canceled the
project during the summer of 1953, making it the first 3D film to be
aborted in production.[citation
needed] Two of the three shorts were shot:
Carmenesque, a burlesque number starring exotic dancer
Lili St. Cyr. and Fun in the Sun, a sports short directed by
famed set designer/director
William Cameron Menzies, who also directed the 3D feature The
Maze for Allied Artists.
Although it was more expensive to install, the major competing
realism process was
anamorphic, first utilized by Fox with
Cinemascope and its September premiere in
The Robe.
Anamorphic features needed only a single print, so synchronization
was not an issue. Cinerama was also a competitor from the start and had
better quality control than 3D because it was owned by one company that
focused on quality control. However, most of the 3D features past the
summer of 1953 were released in the flat
widescreen formats ranging from 1.66:1 to 1.85:1. In early studio
advertisements and articles about widescreen and 3D formats, widescreen
systems were referred to as "3D", causing some confusion among scholars.
There was no single instance of combining Cinemascope with 3D until
1960, with a film called September Storm, and even then, that was
a blow-up from a non-anamorphic negative.[citation
needed] September Storm also went out with
the last dual-strip short, Space Attack, which was actually shot
in 1954 under the title The Adventures of Sam Space.
In December 1953, 3D made a comeback with the release of several
important 3D films, including MGM's musical
Kiss Me, Kate. Kate was the hill over which 3D had to
pass to survive. MGM tested it in six theaters: three in 3D and three
flat.[citation
needed] According to trade ads of the time, the 3D
version was so well-received that the film quickly went into a wide
stereoscopic release.[citation
needed] However, most publications, including
Kenneth Macgowan's classic film reference book Behind the Screen,
state that the film did much better as a "regular" release. The film,
adapted from the popular
Cole Porter
Broadway musical, starred the MGM songbird team of
Howard Keel and
Kathryn Grayson as the leads, supported by
Ann
Miller,
Keenan Wynn,
Bobby Van,
James Whitmore, Kurt Kasznar and
Tommy Rall. The film also prominently promoted its use of
stereophonic sound.
Several other features that helped put 3D back on the map that month
were the John Wayne feature
Hondo (distributed by Warner Bros.), Columbia's Miss Sadie
Thompson with
Rita Hayworth, and Paramount's Money From Home with
Dean Martin and
Jerry Lewis. Paramount also released the cartoon shorts Boo Moon
with
Casper, the Friendly Ghost and Popeye, Ace of Space with
Popeye the
Sailor.
Paramount Pictures released a 3D
Korean War film
Cease Fire filmed on actual Korean locations in 1953.
Top Banana, based on the popular
stage musical with
Phil Silvers, was brought to the screen with the original cast.
Although it was merely a filmed stage production, the idea was that
every audience member would feel they would have the best seat in the
house through color photography and 3D.[citation
needed] Although the film was shot and edited in
3D,
United Artists, the distributor, felt the production was
uneconomical in stereoscopic form and released the film flat on January
27, 1954.[citation
needed] It remains one of two "Golden era" 3- D
features, along with another United Artists feature, Southwest
Passage (with John Ireland and Joanne Dru), that are currently
considered lost (although flat versions survive).
A string of successful 3D movies followed the second wave. Some
highlights are:
-
The French Line, starring
Jane Russell and
Gilbert Roland, a
Howard Hughes/RKO production. The film became notorious for
being released without an MPAA seal of approval, after several
suggestive lyrics were included, as well as one of Ms. Russell's
particularly revealing costumes.[citation
needed] Playing up her sex appeal, one tagline
for the film was, "It'll knock both of your eyes out!" The
film was later cut and approved by the MPAA for a general flat
release, despite having a wide and profitable 3D release.[citation
needed]
-
Taza, Son of Cochise, a sequel to 1950s
Broken Arrow, which starred
Rock Hudson in the title role, Barbara Rush as the love
interest, and
Rex Reason (billed as Bart Roberts) as his renegade brother,
released through Universal-International. It was directed by the
great stylist
Douglas Sirk, and his striking visual sense made the film a huge
success when it was "re-premiered" in 2006 at the Second 3D Expo in
Hollywood.
- Two ape films: Phantom of the Rue Morgue, featuring
Karl Malden and Patricia Medina, and produced by Warner Bros.
and based on
Edgar Allan Poe's "The
Murders in the Rue Morgue", and Gorilla At Large, a
Panoramic Production starring
Cameron Mitchell, distributed through Fox.
-
Creature from the Black Lagoon, starring
Richard Carlson and
Julie Adams, directed by
Jack Arnold. Arguably the most famous 3D movie, and the only 3D
feature that spawned a sequel,
Revenge of the Creature in 3D (followed by another sequel,
The Creature Walks Among Us, shot flat).
-
Cat-Women of the Moon, an
Astor Picture starring
Victor Jory and
Marie Windsor. Elmer Bernstein composed the score.
-
Dial M for Murder, directed by
Alfred Hitchcock and starring
Ray Milland,
Robert Cummings, and
Grace Kelly, is considered by aficionados of 3D to be one of the
best examples of the process. Although available in 3D in 1954,
there are no known playdates in 3D, since Warner Bros. had just
instated a simultaneous 3D/2D release policy. The film's screening
in 3D in February 1980 at the York Theater in San Francisco did so
well that Warner Bros. re-released the film in 3D in February 1982.
-
Gog, an
Ivan Tors production, dealing with realistic science fiction.
The second film in Tors' "Office of Scientific Investigation"
trilogy of film, which included, The Magnetic Monster and
Riders to the Stars.
- The Diamond Wizard, the only stereoscopic feature shot in
Britain, released flat in both the UK and US. It starred and was
directed by
Dennis O'Keefe.
-
Irwin Allen's
Dangerous Mission released by RKO in 1954 featuring Allen's
trademarks of an all star cast facing a disaster (a forest fire).
- Son of Sinbad, another RKO/Howard Hughes production,
starring
Dale Robertson, Lili St. Cyr, and Vincent Price. The film was
shelved after Hughes ran into difficulty with The French Line,
and wasn't released until 1955, at which time it went out flat,
converted to the SuperScope process.
3D's final decline was in the late spring of 1954, for the same
reasons as the previous lull, as well as the further success of
widescreen formats with theater operators. Even though
Polaroid had created a well-designed "Tell-Tale Filter Kit" for the
purpose of recognizing and adjusting out of sync and phase 3D,[citation
needed] exhibitors still felt uncomfortable with
the system and turned their focus instead to processes such as
CinemaScope. The last 3D feature to be released in that format
during the "Golden era" was
Revenge of the Creature, on February 23, 1955. Ironically, the
film had a wide release in 3D and was well received at the box office.[20]
Revival (1960–1984) in single strip format
Stereoscopic films largely remained dormant for the first part of the
1960s, with those that were released usually being anaglyph exploitation
films. One film of notoriety was the Beaver-Champion/Warner Bros.
production,
The Mask (1961). The film was shot in 2-D, but to enhance the
bizarre qualities of the dream-world that is induced when the main
character puts on a cursed tribal mask, these scenes went to anaglyph
3D. These scenes were printed by Technicolor on their first run in
red/green anaglyph.
Although 3D films appeared sparsely during the early 1960s, the true
second wave of 3D cinema was set into motion by Arch Oboler, the same
producer who started the craze of the 1950s. Using a new technology
called Space-Vision 3D, stereoscopic films were printed with two
images, one above the other, in a single academy ratio frame, on a
single strip, and needed only one projector fitted with a special lens.
This so-called "over and under" technique eliminated the need for dual
projector set-ups, and produced widescreen, but darker, less vivid,
polarized 3D images. Unlike earlier dual system, it could stay in
perfect synchronization, unless improperly spliced in repair.
Arch Oboler once again had the vision for the system that no one else
would touch, and put it to use on his film entitled The Bubble,
which starred
Michael Cole,
Deborah Walley, and
Johnny Desmond. As with Bwana Devil, the critics panned
The Bubble, but audiences flocked to see it, and it became
financially sound enough to promote the use of the system to other
studios, particularly independents, who did not have the money for
expensive dual-strip prints of their productions.
In 1970,
Stereovision, a new entity founded by director/inventor Allan
Silliphant and optical designer
Chris Condon, developed a different 35 mm single-strip format, which
printed two images squeezed side-by-side and used an anamorphic lens to
widen the pictures through Polaroid filters. Louis K. Sher (Sherpix) and
Stereovision released the softcore sex comedy
The Stewardesses (self-rated X, but later re-rated R by the
MPAA). The film cost $100,000 USD to produce, and ran for months in
several markets.[citation
needed] eventually earning $27 million in North
America, alone ($140 million in constant-2010 dollars) in fewer than 800
theaters, becoming the most profitable 3-Dimensional film to date, and
in purely relative terms, one of the most profitable films ever. It was
later released in 70 mm 3D. Some 36 films worldwide were made with
Stereovision over 25 years, using either a widescreen (above-below),
anamorphic (side by side) or 70 mm 3D formats.[citation
needed] In 2009 The Stewardesses was
remastered by Chris Condon and director Ed Meyer, releasing it in
XpanD
3D,
RealD Cinema and
Dolby
3D.
The quality of the 1970s 3D films was not much more inventive, as
many were either softcore and even hardcore adult films, horror films,
or a combination of both. Paul Morrisey's
Flesh For Frankenstein (aka Andy Warhol's Frankenstein)
was a superlative example of such a combination.
Between 1981 and 1983 there was a new Hollywood 3D craze started by
the spaghetti western
Comin' at Ya!. When
Parasite was released it was billed as the first horror film to
come out in 3D in over 20 years. Horror movies and reissues of 1950s 3D
classics (such as Hitchcock's Dial ´M´ for Murder) dominated the
3D releases that followed. The second sequel in the
Friday the 13th series,
Friday the 13th Part III, was released very successfully.
Apparently saying "part 3 in 3D" was considered too cumbersome so it was
shortened in the titles of
Jaws
3-D and
Amityville 3-D, which emphasized off the screen effects to the
point of being annoying at times, especially when flashlights were shone
into the eyes of the audience.
The science fiction film
Spacehunter: Adventures in the Forbidden Zone was the most
expensive 3D movie made up to that point with production costs about the
same as
Star
Wars but not nearly the same box office success, causing the
craze to fade quickly through spring 1983. Other sci-fi/fantasy films
were released as well including
Metalstorm: The Destruction of Jared-Syn and
Treasure of the Four Crowns, which was widely criticized for
poor editing and plot holes, but did feature some truly spectacular
closeups.
3D releases after the second craze included
The Man Who Wasn't There (1983), Silent Madness and the
1985 animated film
Starchaser: The Legend of Orin, whose plot seemed to borrow
heavily from Star Wars .
Only Comin' At Ya!, Parasite, and Friday the 13th
Part III have been officially released on VHS and/or DVD in 3D in
the United States (although Amityville 3D has seen a 3D DVD
release in the United Kingdom). Most of the 1980s 3D movies and some of
the classic 1950s movies such as
House of Wax were released on the now defunct Video Disc (VHD)
format in Japan as part of a system that used shutter glasses. Most of
these have been unofficially transferred to DVD and are available on the
grey market through sites such as eBay.
Rebirth of 3D (1985–2003)
In the mid-1980s,
IMAX began
producing non-fiction films for its nascent 3D business, starting with
We Are Born of Stars (Roman
Kroitor, 1985). A key point was that this production, as with all
subsequent IMAX productions, emphasized mathematical correctness of the
3D rendition and thus largely eliminated the eye fatigue and pain that
resulted from the approximate geometries of previous 3D incarnations. In
addition, and in contrast to previous 35mm based 3D presentations, the
very large field of view provided by IMAX allowed a much broader 3D
"stage", arguably as important in 3D film as it is theatre.
In 1986,
The Walt Disney Company began more prominent use of 3D films in
special venues to impress audiences,
Captain Eo (Francis
Ford Coppola, 1986) starring
Michael Jackson, being a very notable example. In the same year, the
National Film Board of Canada production
Transitions (Colin
Low), created for
Expo 86
in Vancouver, was the first IMAX presentation using polarized glasses.
Echoes of the Sun (Roman
Kroitor, 1990) was the first IMAX film to be presented using
alternate-eye shutterglass technology, a development required because
the dome screen precluded the use of polarized technology.
From 1990 onward, numerous films were produced by all three parties
to satisfy the demands of their various high-profile special attractions
and IMAX's
expanding 3D network. Films of special note during this period include
the extremely successful Into the Deep (Graeme
Ferguson, 1995) and the first IMAX 3D fiction film
Wings of Courage (1996), by director
Jean-Jacques Annaud, about the pilot
Henri Guillaumet.
Other stereoscopic films produced in this period include:
- The Last Buffalo (Stephen
Low, 1990)
-
Jim Henson's Muppet*Vision 3D (Jim
Henson, 1991)
- Imagine (John Weiley, 1993)
-
Honey, I Shrunk the Audience (Daniel Rustuccio, 1994)
- Into the Deep (Graeme
Ferguson, 1995)
- Across the Sea of Time (Stephen
Low, 1995)
-
Wings of Courage (Jean-Jacques
Annaud, 1996)
- L5, First City in Space (Graeme
Ferguson, 1996)
-
T2 3-D: Battle Across Time (James
Cameron, 1996)
- Paint Misbehavin (Roman
Kroitor and Peter Stephenson, 1997)
- IMAX Nutcracker (1997)
- The Hidden Dimension (1997)
- T-Rex: Back to the Cretaceous (Brett
Leonard, 1998)
- Mark Twain's America (Stephen
Low, 1998)
- Siegfried & Roy: The Magic Box (Brett
Leonard, 1999)
- Galapagos (Al Giddings and David Clark, 1999)
- Encounter in the Third Dimension (Ben
Stassen, 1999)
-
Alien Adventure (Ben
Stassen, 1999)
- Ultimate G's (2000)
-
Cyberworld (Hugh Murray, 2000)
- Cirque du Soleil: Journey of Man (Keith Melton, 2000)
-
Haunted Castle (Ben
Stassen, 2001)
-
Space Station 3D (Toni Myers, 2002)
- SOS Planet (Ben
Stassen, 2002)
- Ocean Wonderland (2003)
-
Falling in Love Again (Munro Ferguson, 2003)
- Misadventures in 3D (Ben
Stassen, 2003)
By 2004, 54% (133 theaters of 248) of the IMAX community was
3D-capable.[21]
Shortly thereafter, higher quality
computer animation, competition from DVDs and other media, digital
projection, digital video capture, and the use of sophisticated IMAX
70mm film projectors, created an opportunity for another wave of 3D
films.[22][23]
Mainstream resurgence (2003–present)
In 2003,
Ghosts of the Abyss by
James Cameron was released as the first full-length 3D IMAX feature
filmed with the
Reality Camera System. This camera system used the latest HD video
cameras, not film, and was built for Cameron by Vince Pace, to his
specifications. The same camera system was used to film
Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over (2003),
Aliens of the Deep IMAX (2005), and
The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl in 3-D (2005).
In 2004, Las Vegas Hilton released
Star Trek: The Experience which included two films. One of the
films,
Borg Invasion 4-D (Ty Granoroli), was in 3D. In August of the same
year, rap group
Insane Clown Posse released their ninth studio album
Hell's Pit. One of two versions of the album contained a DVD
featuring a 3D short film for the track "Bowling
Balls", shot in high-definition video.[24]
In November 2004,
The Polar Express was released as IMAX's first full-length,
animated 3D feature. It was released in 3,584 theaters in 2D, and only
66 IMAX locations. The return from those few 3D theaters was about 25%
of the total. The 3D version earned about 14 times as much per screen as
the 2D version. This pattern continued and prompted a greatly
intensified interest in 3D and 3D presentation of animated films.
In June 2005, the Mann's Chinese 6 theatre in Hollywood became the
first commercial movie theatre to be equipped with the Digital 3D
format. Both
Singin' in the Rain and
The Polar Express were tested in the Digital 3D format over the
course of several months. In November 2005, Walt Disney Studio
Entertainment released
Chicken Little in digital 3D format.
The Butler's in Love, a
short film directed by
Anders Laursen and starring
Elizabeth Berkley and
Thomas Jane[25]
was released on June 23, 2008. The film was shot at the former
Industrial Light & Magic studios using
KernerFX's prototype Kernercam stereoscopic camera rig.
Ben Walters suggests that both filmmakers and
film exhibitors regain interest in 3D film. There are now more 3D
exhibition equipments, and more dramatic films being shot in 3D format.
One incentive is that the technology is more mature. Shooting in 3D
format is less limited, and the result is more stable. Another incentive
is the fact that while 2-D ticket sales are in an overall state of
decline, revenues from 3D tickets continue to grow.[26]
Through the entire history of 3D presentations, techniques to
convert existing 2D images for 3D presentation have existed. Few
have been effective or survived. The combination of digital and
digitized source material with relatively cost-effective
digital post-processing has spawned a new wave of conversion
products. In June 2006,
IMAX and
Warner Bros. released
Superman Returns including 20 minutes of 3D images converted
from the 2-D original digital footage.
George Lucas has announced that he will re-release his
Star
Wars films in 3D based on a conversion process from the company
In-Three. Later on in 2011, it was announced that Lucas works with the
company Prime Focus on this conversion.[27]
In late 2005,
Steven Spielberg told the press he was involved in patenting a 3D
cinema system that does not need glasses, and which is based on plasma
screens. A computer splits each film-frame, and then projects the two
split images onto the screen at differing angles, to be picked up by
tiny angled ridges on the screen.[citation
needed]
Animated films
Open Season, and
The Ant Bully, were released in Analog 3D in 2006.
Monster House and
The Nightmare Before Christmas were released on
XpanD
3D, RealD
and
Dolby 3D systems in 2006.
On May 19, 2007
Scar3D opened at the Cannes Film Market. It was the first US
produced 3D full length feature film to be completed in
Real D 3D. It has been the #1 film at the
box
office in several countries around the world, including Russia where
it opened in 3D on 295 screens.
2008 3D films included
Hannah Montana & Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert,
Journey to the Center of the Earth, and
Bolt.
On January 16, 2009,
Lionsgate released
My Bloody Valentine 3D, the first horror film and first R-rated
film to be projected in
Real D 3D.[28]
It was released to 1,033 3D screens, the most ever for this format, and
1,501 regular screens. Another R-Rated film,
The Final Destination, was released later that year (August 28)
to even more screens. It was the first of its
series to be released in HD 3D.
On May 7, 2009 the
British Film Institute commissioned a 3D film installation. The film
Radio Mania: An Abandoned Work consists of two screens of
stereoscopic 3D film with 3D
Ambisonic sound. It stars
Kevin Eldon and is by British artists
Iain Forsyth and Jane Pollard.
The first 3D Webisode series was
Horrorween starting September 1, 2009.
Major 3D films in 2009 included
Coraline,
Monsters vs. Aliens,
Up,
X Games 3D: The Movie,
The Final Destination, and
Avatar.[29]
Avatar has gone on to be one of the most expensive films of all
time, with a budget at 237M; it is also the highest-grossing film of all
time. The main technologies used to exhibit these films, and many others
released around the time and up to the present, are
Real D 3D,
Dolby
3D,
XpanD 3D,
MasterImage 3D, and
IMAX 3D.
March and April 2010 saw three major 3D releases clustered together,
with
Alice in Wonderland hitting US theaters on March 5, 2010,
How to Train Your Dragon on March 26, 2010 and
Clash of the Titans on April 2, 2010.
On May 13, 2010, China's first
IMAX 3D film started shooting.[30]
The pre-production of the first 3D film shot in France,
Derrière les murs, began in May 2010, and it will be released in
mid-2011.
On October 1, 2010
Scar3D was the first-ever stereoscopic 3D
Video-on-demand film released through major cable broadcasters for
3D televisions in the United States.
Released in the United States on May 21, 2010,
Shrek Forever After by
DreamWorks Animation (Paramount
Pictures) used the
Real D 3D system, also released in
IMAX 3D.
World 3-D
Expositions
In September 2003, Sabucat Productions organized the first World 3-D
Exposition, celebrating the 50th anniversary of the original craze. The
Expo was held at
Grauman's Egyptian Theatre. During the two-week festival, over 30 of
the 50 "golden era" stereoscopic features (as well as shorts) were
screened, many coming from the collection of film historian and
archivist Robert Furmanek, who had spent the previous 15 years
painstakingly tracking down and preserving each film to its original
glory. In attendance were many stars from each film, respectively, and
some were moved to tears by the sold-out seating with audiences of film
buffs from all over the world who came to remember their previous
glories.
In May 2006, the second World 3-D Exposition was announced for
September of that year, presented by the
3-D Film Preservation Fund. Along with the favorites of the previous
exposition were newly discovered features and shorts, and like the
previous Expo, guests from each film. Expo II was announced as being the
locale for the world premiere of several films never before seen in 3D,
including The Diamond Wizard and the Universal short, Hawaiian
Nights with
Mamie Van Doren and
Pinky
Lee. Other "re-premieres" of films not seen since their original
release in stereoscopic form included Cease Fire!, Taza, Son
of Cochise, Wings of the Hawk, and Those Redheads From
Seattle. Also shown were the long-lost shorts Carmenesque and
A Day in the Country (both 1953) and William Van Doren Kelley's
two Plasticon shorts (1922 and 1923).
Reported
audience decline
In the wake of its initial popularity and corresponding increase in
the number of screens, more films are being released in the 3D format.
However, industry observers have noted that 2011 showed a considerable
decline in audience interest. For instance, only 45% of the premiere
weekend box office earnings of
Kung Fu Panda 2 came from 3D screenings as opposed to 60% for
Shrek Forever After in 2010.[31]
In addition, the premiere of
Cars 2
opening weekend gross consisted of only 37% from 3D theatres.[32]
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2 and
Captain America: The First Avenger were major releases that
achieved similar percentages: 43% and 40% respectively.[33]
In view of this trend, there has been box office analysis concluding the
implementation of 3D presentation is apparently backfiring by
discouraging people from going to movie theatres at all. As Brandon Gray
of
Box Office Mojo notes, "In each case, 3D's
more-money-from-fewer-people approach has simply led to less money from
even fewer people."[34]
According to the Motion Picture Association of America, despite a
record total of 47 3D movies being released in 2011, the overall
domestic box office receipts were down 18% to $1.8 billion from $2.2
billion in 2010.[35]
Although revenues as a whole increased during 2012, the bulk has so far
come from 2D presentations as exemplified by little over 50% of
moviegoers opting to see the likes of
The Avengers and 32% choosing
Brave in their 3D versions. Conflicting reasons are respectively
offered by studios and exhibitors: whereas the former blame more
expensive 3D ticket prices, the latter argue that the quality of movies
in general is at fault. However, despite the perceived decline of 3D in
the U.S. market, studio chiefs are optimistic of better receipts
internationally, where there still appears to be a strong appetite for
the format.[36][37]
Studios are also using 3D to generate additional income from films
that are already commercially successful. Such re-releases usually
involve a conversion from 2D. For example, Disney has reissued both
The Lion King and
Beauty and the Beast, with plans to add some of its other
well-known titles.[38]
Titanic has also been modified for 3D,[39]
and there are also plans to similarly present all six
Star
Wars films.[40]
Jeffrey Katzenberg, one of the leading proponents of 3D film and the
producer of some of the most critically acclaimed films in this format,
such as
How to Train Your Dragon (RT 98%[41])
and Kung Fu Panda 2 (RT 82%[42]),
blames oversaturation of the market with inferior films, especially ones
photographed conventionally and then digitally processed in
post-production. Examples include
The Last Airbender (RT 6%[43])
and
Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore (RT 13%[44]),
which have led audiences to conclude that the format is not worth the
additional expense to see.[45]
Daniel Engber, a columnist for
Slate, comes to a similar conclusion: "What happened to 3-D? It
may have died from a case of acute
septicemia—too
much crap in the system."[46]
However, at the global box office there are six films whose combined 2D
and 3D versions achieved grosses of over $1 billion each: three in
2011, two in
2010 and one in
2009.
Film critic
Mark Kermode, a noted detractor of 3D, has surmised that there is an
emerging policy of distributors to limit the availability of 2D
versions, thus 'railroading' the 3D format into cinemas whether the
paying moviegoer likes it or not. This was especially prevalent during
the release of
Prometheus in 2012, where only 30% of prints for theatrical
exhibition (at least in the UK) were in 2D.[47]
His suspicions were later reinforced by a substantial number of
complaints about
Dredd
from those who wished to see it in 2D but were denied the opportunity.[48]
Techniques
Stereoscopic motion pictures can be produced through a variety of
different methods. Over the years the popularity of systems being widely
employed in movie theaters has waxed and waned. Though
anaglyph was sometimes used prior to 1948, during the early "Golden
Era" of 3D cinematography of the 1950s the polarization system was used
for every single feature length movie in the United states, and all but
one short film.[49]
In the 21st century,
polarization 3D systems have continued to dominate the scene, though
during the 1960s and 1970s some classic films which were converted to
anaglyph for theaters not equipped for polarization, and were even shown
in 3D on television.[50]
In the years following the mid-1980s, some movies were made with short
segments in anaglyph 3D. The following are some of the technical details
and methodologies employed in some of the more notable 3D movie systems
that have been developed.
Producing 3D films
Live action
The standard for shooting live-action films in 3D involves using two
cameras mounted so that their lenses are about as far apart from each
other as the average pair of human eyes, recording two separate images
for both the left eye and the right eye. In principle, two normal 2D
cameras could be put side-to-side but this is problematic in many ways.
The only real option is to invest in new stereoscopic cameras. Moreover,
some cinematographic tricks that are simple with a 2D camera become
impossible when filming in 3D. This means those otherwise cheap tricks
need to be replaced by expensive CGI.[51]
In 2008,
Journey to the Center of the Earth became the first live-action
feature film to be shot with the earliest
Fusion Camera System released in Digital 3D and was later followed
by several others. Avatar (2009) was shot in a 3D process that is
based on how the human eye looks at an image. It was an improvement to
the existing 3D camera system. Many 3D camera rigs still in use simply
pair two cameras side by side, while newer rigs are paired with a
beam splitter or both camera lenses built into one unit. While
Digital Cinema cameras are not a requirement for 3D they are the
predominant medium for most of what is photographed. Film options
include IMAX 3D and
Cine
160.
Animation
CGI animated films can be rendered as stereoscopic 3D version by
using two virtual cameras.
In 2004
The Polar Express was the first stereoscopic 3D
computer-animated feature film. In November 2005, Walt Disney Studio
Entertainment released
Chicken Little in digital 3D format. The first 3D feature by
DreamWorks Animation,
Monsters vs Aliens, followed in 2009 and used a new digital
rendering process called
InTru3D,
which was developed by
Intel to
create more realistic animated 3D images. InTru3D is not used to exhibit
3D films in theaters; they are shown in either RealD 3D or IMAX 3D.
2D to 3D
conversion
In the case of 2D CGI animated films that were generated from 3D
models, it is possible to return to the models to generate a 3D version.
For all other 2D films, different techniques must be employed. For
example, for the 3D re-release of the 1993 film
The Nightmare Before Christmas, Walt Disney Pictures scanned
each original frame and manipulated them to produce left-eye and
right-eye versions. Dozens of films have now been converted from 2D to
3D. There are several approaches used for
2D to 3D conversion, most notably depth-based methods.[52]
Displaying 3D
films
Anaglyph
Main article:
Anaglyph 3D
The archetypal 3D glasses, with modern red and cyan color
filters, similar to the red/green and red/blue lenses used
to view early anaglyph films.
Anaglyph images were the earliest method of presenting theatrical 3D,
and the one most commonly associated with
stereoscopy by the public at large, mostly because of non-theatrical
3D media such as comic books and 3D television broadcasts, where
polarization is not practical. They were made popular because of the
ease of their production and exhibition. The first anaglyph movie was
invented in 1915 by
Edwin S Porter. Though the earliest theatrical presentations were
done with this system, most 3D movies from the 1950s and 1980s were
originally shown polarized.[53]
In an anaglyph, the two images are
superimposed in an
additive light setting through two filters, one red and one cyan. In
a
subtractive light setting, the two images are printed in the same
complementary colors on white paper. Glasses with colored filters in
each eye separate the appropriate images by canceling the filter color
out and rendering the complementary color black.
Anaglyph images are much easier to view than either parallel sighting
or crossed eye
stereograms, although the latter types offer bright and accurate
color rendering, particularly in the red component, which is muted, or
desaturated with even the best color anaglyphs. A compensating
technique, commonly known as Anachrome, uses a slightly more transparent
cyan filter in the patented glasses associated with the technique.
Process reconfigures the typical anaglyph image to have less
parallax.
An alternative to the usual red and cyan filter system of anaglyph is
ColorCode 3D, a patented anaglyph system which was invented in order
to present an anaglyph image in conjunction with the NTSC television
standard, in which the red channel is often compromised. ColorCode uses
the complementary colors of yellow and dark blue on-screen, and the
colors of the glasses' lenses are amber and dark blue.
The polarization 3D system has been the standard for
theatrical presentations since it was used for
Bwana Devil in 1952,[53]
though early Imax presentations were done using the eclipse system and
in the 1960s and 1970s classic 3D movies were sometimes converted to
anaglyph for special presentations. The polarization system has better
color fidelity and less ghosting than the anaglyph system. In the
post-'50s era, anaglyph has been used instead of polarization in feature
presentations where only part of the movie is in 3D such as in the 3D
segment of
Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare and the 3D segments of
Spy Kids 3D.
Anaglyph is also used in printed materials and in 3D television
broadcasts where polarization is not practical. 3D polarized televisions
and other displays only became available from several manufacturers in
2008; these generate polarization on the receiving end.
Polarization
systems
cardboard 3D linear polarized glasses from the 1980s similar
to those used in the 1950s. Though some were plain white,
they often had the name of the theatre and/or graphics from
the movie
To present a stereoscopic motion picture, two images are projected
superimposed onto the same screen through different
polarizing filters. The viewer wears low-cost eyeglasses which also
contain a pair of polarizing filters oriented differently
(clockwise/counterclockwise with circular polarization or at 90 degree
angles, usually 45 and 135 degrees,[54]
with linear polarization). As each filter passes only that light which
is similarly polarized and blocks the light polarized differently, each
eye sees a different image. This is used to produce a three-dimensional
effect by projecting the same scene into both eyes, but depicted from
slightly different perspectives. Since no head tracking is involved, the
entire audience can view the stereoscopic images at the same time.
Additionally, since both lenses have the same color, people with one
dominant eye (amblyopia),
where one eye is used more, are able to see the 3D effect, previously
negated by the separation of the two colors.
Resembling sunglasses, RealD circular polarized glasses are
now the standard for theatrical releases and theme park
attractions.
Circular polarization has an advantage over linear polarization, in
that the viewer does not need to have their head upright and aligned
with the screen for the polarization to work properly. With linear
polarization, turning the glasses sideways causes the filters to go out
of alignment with the screen filters causing the image to fade and for
each eye to see the opposite frame more easily. For circular
polarization, the polarizing effect works regardless of how the viewer's
head is aligned with the screen such as tilted sideways, or even upside
down. The left eye will still only see the image intended for it, and
vice versa, without fading or crosstalk.
In the case of
RealD a
circularly polarizing
liquid crystal filter which can switch polarity 144 times per second
is placed in front of the projector lens. Only one projector is needed,
as the left and right eye images are displayed alternately.
Sony
features a new system called
RealD XLS, which shows both circular polarized images
simultaneously: A single
4K projector (4096×2160 resolution) displays both
2K images (2048×858 resolution) on top of each other at the same
time, a special lens attachment polarizes and projects the images.[55]
Optical attachments can be added to traditional 35mm projectors to
adapt them for projecting film in the "over-and-under" format, in which
each pair of images is stacked within one frame of film. The two images
are projected through different polarizers and superimposed on the
screen. This is a very cost-effective way to convert a theater for 3-D
as all that is needed are the attachments and a non-depolarizing screen
surface, rather than a conversion to digital 3-D projection. Thomson
Technicolor currently produces an adapter of this type.[56]
A metallic screen is necessary for these systems as reflection from
non-metallic surfaces destroys the polarization of the light.
Polarized stereoscopic pictures have been around since 1936, when
Edwin H. Land first applied it to motion pictures. The so-called
"3-D movie craze" in the years 1952 through 1955 was almost entirely
offered in theaters using linear polarizing projection and glasses. Only
a minute amount of the total 3D films shown in the period used the
anaglyph color filter method. Linear polarization was likewise used
with consumer level stereo projectors. Polarization was also used during
the 3D revival of the 1980s.
In the 2000s,
computer animation, competition from DVDs and other media, digital
projection, and the use of sophisticated IMAX 70mm film projectors, have
created an opportunity for a new wave of polarized 3D films.[22][23]
All types of polarization will result in a darkening of the displayed
image and poorer contrast compared to non-3D images. Light from lamps is
normally emitted as a random collection of polarizations, while a
polarization filter only passes a fraction of the light. As a result the
screen image is darker. This darkening can be compensated by increasing
the brightness of the projector light source. If the initial
polarization filter is inserted between the lamp and the image
generation element, the light intensity striking the image element is
not any higher than normal without the polarizing filter, and overall
image contrast transmitted to the screen is not affected.
Eclipse method
A pair of LCD shutter glasses used to view XpanD 3D films.
The thick frames conceal the electronics and batteries.
With the eclipse method, a shutter blocks light from each appropriate
eye when the converse eye's image is projected on the screen. The
projector alternates between left and right images, and opens and closes
the shutters in the glasses or viewer in synchronization with the images
on the screen. This was the basis of the
Teleview system which was used briefly in 1922.[10][57]
A variation on the eclipse method is used in
LCD shutter glasses. Glasses containing
liquid crystal that will let light through in synchronization with
the images on the cinema, television or computer screen, using the
concept of
alternate-frame sequencing. This is the method used by nVidia,
XpanD
3D, and earlier
IMAX
systems. A drawback of this method is the need for each person viewing
to wear expensive, electronic glasses that must be synchronized with the
display system using a wireless signal or attached wire. The
shutter-glasses are heavier than most polarized glasses, though lighter
models are no heavier than some sunglasses or deluxe polarized glasses.[58]
However these systems do not require a silver screen for projected
images.
Liquid crystal light valves work by rotating light between two
polarizing filters. Due to these internal polarizers, LCD
shutter-glasses darken the display image of any LCD, plasma, or
projector image source, which has the result that images appear dimmer
and contrast is lower than for normal non-3D viewing. This is not
necessarily a usage problem; for some types of displays which are
already very bright with poor grayish
black levels, LCD shutter glasses may actually improve the image
quality.
Interference filter technology
Dolby 3D uses specific wavelengths of red, green, and blue for the
right eye, and different wavelengths of red, green, and blue for the
left eye. Eyeglasses which filter out the very specific wavelengths
allow the wearer to see a 3D image. This technology eliminates the
expensive silver screens required for polarized systems such as
RealD,
which is the most common 3D display system in theaters. It does,
however, require much more expensive glasses than the polarized systems.
It is also known as spectral comb filtering or wavelength
multiplex visualization
The recently introduced Omega 3D/Panavision
3D system also uses this technology, though with a wider spectrum
and more "teeth" to the "comb" (5 for each eye in the Omega/Panavision
system). The use of more spectral bands per eye eliminates the need to
color process the image, required by the Dolby system. Evenly dividing
the visible spectrum between the eyes gives the viewer a more relaxed
"feel" as the light energy and color balance is nearly 50-50. Like the
Dolby system, the Omega system can be used with white or silver screens.
But it can be used with either film or digital projectors, unlike the
Dolby filters that are only used on a digital system with a color
correcting processor provided by Dolby. The Omega/Panavision system also
claims that their glasses are cheaper to manufacture than those used by
Dolby.[59]
In June 2012 the Omega 3D/Panavision
3D system was discontinued by DVPO Theatrical, who marketed it on
behalf of Panavision, citing "challenging global economic and 3D market
conditions".[60]
Autostereoscopy
In this method, glasses are not necessary to see the stereoscopic
image.
Lenticular lens and
parallax barrier technologies involve imposing two (or more) images
on the same sheet, in narrow, alternating strips, and using a screen
that either blocks one of the two images' strips (in the case of
parallax barriers) or uses equally narrow lenses to bend the strips of
image and make it appear to fill the entire image (in the case of
lenticular prints). To produce the stereoscopic effect, the person must
be positioned so that one eye sees one of the two images and the other
sees the other.
Both images are projected onto a high-gain, corrugated screen which
reflects light at acute angles. In order to see the stereoscopic image,
the viewer must sit within a very narrow angle that is nearly
perpendicular to the screen, limiting the size of the audience.
Lenticular was used for theatrical presentation of numerous shorts in
Russia from 1940–1948[50]
and in 1946 for the feature length film
Robinzon Kruzo[61]
Though its use in theatrical presentations has been rather limited,
lenticular has been widely used for a variety of novelty items and has
even been used in amateur 3D photography.[62][63]
Recent use includes the
Fujifilm FinePix Real 3D with an
autostereoscopic display that was released in 2009. Other examples
for this technology include autostereoscopic
LCD displays on monitors, notebooks, TVs, mobile phones and gaming
devices, such as the
Nintendo 3DS.
Health effects
Some viewers have complained of headaches and eyestrain after
watching 3D films.[64]
Motion sickness, in addition to other health concerns,[65]
are more easily induced by 3D presentations.
There are primarily two effects of 3D film that are unnatural for the
human vision: crosstalk between the eyes, caused by imperfect image
separation, and the mismatch between convergence and accommodation,
caused by the difference between an object's perceived position in front
of or behind the screen and the real origin of that light on the screen.
It is believed that approximately 12% of people are unable to
properly see 3D images, due to a variety of medical conditions.[66][67]
According to another experiment up to 30% of people have very weak
stereoscopic vision preventing them from depth perception based on
stereo disparity. This nullifies or greatly decreases immersion effects
of digital stereo to them.[68][69][70]
The concerns affected such a large portion of audiences that, in
2010, online entrepreneur
Hank Green created "2D Glasses", a product designed to combat
adverse effects by reversing three-dimensional cinema images into
ordinary two-dimensional ones, selling his creation through online
retailers.[71][72]
Criticism
“ |
After
Toy Story, there were 10 really bad CG movies because
everybody thought the success of that film was CG and not great
characters that were beautifully designed and heartwarming. Now,
you've got people quickly converting movies from 2D to 3D, which
is not what we did. They're expecting the same result, when in
fact they will probably work against the adoption of 3D because
they'll be putting out an inferior product. |
” |
— Avatar director James Cameron[73] |
Most of the cues required to provide humans with relative depth
information are already present in traditional 2D films. For example,
closer objects occlude further ones, distant objects are desaturated and
hazy relative to near ones, and the brain subconsciously "knows" the
distance of many objects when the height is known (e.g. a human figure
subtending only a small amount of the screen is more likely to be 2 m
tall and far away than 10 cm tall and close). In fact, only two of these
depth cues are not already present in 2D films:
stereopsis (or parallax) and the focus of the eyeball (accommodation).
3D film-making addresses accurate presentation of stereopsis but not
of accommodation, and therefore is insufficient in providing a complete
3D illusion. However, promising results from research aimed at
overcoming this shortcoming were presented at the 2010 Stereoscopic
Displays and Applications conference in San Jose, U.S.[74]
Film critic
Mark Kermode[75]
argued that 3D adds "not that much" value to a film, and said that,
while he liked Avatar, the many impressive things he saw in the
movie had nothing to do with 3D. Kermode has been an outspoken critic of
3D film describing the effect as a "nonsense" and recommends using two
right or left lenses from the 3D glasses to cut out the "pointy, pointy
3D stereoscopic vision", although this technique still does not improve
the 30% colour loss from a 3D film.[76]
Versions of these "2-D glasses" are being marketed.[77]
Film critic
Roger Ebert has repeatedly criticized 3D film as being "too dim"
(due to the polarized-light technology using only half the light for
each eye), sometimes distracting or even nausea-inducing, and argues
that it is an expensive technology that adds nothing of value to the
movie-going experience (since 2-D movies already provide a sufficient
illusion of 3D).[78]
While Ebert is "not opposed to 3-D as an option", he opposes it as a
replacement for traditional film, and prefers 2-D technologies such as
MaxiVision48 that improve image area/resolution and
frames per second.[78]
Director
Christopher Nolan has stated that while two dimensional film
displays at 16
foot lamberts of luminance, the addition of 3D sacrifices up to
three foot lamberts, which he criticises as, "A massive difference.
You're not that aware of it because once you're "in that world," your
eye compensates, but having struggled for years to get theaters up to
the proper brightness, we're not sticking polarized filters in
everything."
Another major criticism is that many of the movies in the 21st
century to date were not filmed in 3D, but converted after filming.
Filmmakers who have criticized this process include
James Cameron, whose film
Avatar was created in 3D from the ground up and is largely
credited with the revival of 3D, and
Michael Bay, whose film
Transformers: Dark of the Moon was also created in 3D from the
ground up and has been considered the best use of 3D since Avatar.[73]
Director Christopher Nolan has criticised the notion that traditional
film does not allow depth perception, saying "I think it's a misnomer to
call it 3D versus 2D. The whole point of cinematic imagery is it's three
dimensional... You know 95% of our
depth cues come from occlusion, resolution, color and so forth, so
the idea of calling a 2D movie a '2D movie' is a little misleading."[80]
Nolan also criticised that shooting on the required
digital video does not offer a high enough quality image[81]
and that 3D cameras cannot be equipped with
prime lenses.[80]