Back to the third dimension
By Peter Griffin,
Why Hollywood is betting on 3D … again
[Screen]
I’m sitting in the second plushest movie theatre I’ve ever been in, watching Shark Boy and Lava Girl in 3D and wondering when I’ll be able to do this without having to wear these stupid glasses.
The movie isn’t great, but the 3D effect is impressive and Shark Boy is three years old. I also watch some clips from rock band U2’s live 3D concert U2:3D, a 3D re-rendering of one of the tedious Star Wars prequels and a particularly impressive animated movie of a space shuttle blasting off from Cape Canaveral and soaring into space. The tip of the rocket points out through the screen to what appears to be a couple of feet from my nose. Appearances are deceptive. Taking off the glasses, the image turns to a blurry mush.
The lights go up in the theatre at Dolby’s San Francisco headquarters, where the company that’s most famous for its cinema and home theatre surround sound technology has installed the 3D digital cinema system it hopes to build into a reasonable number of theatres around the world.
“Hollywood is in a panic right now,” says Dolby cinema product manager Jeff McNall. “A lot of directors are saying ‘I’m the king of 3D’. There’s a big rush to get this out like there’s never been before.”
That’s because the theatre-going audience is dwindling as the Internet, an ever increasing collection of TV channels and fancy LCD TV screens capable of playing high-definition content are keeping people sitting in their lounge rooms.
The movie studios are looking to 3D to get audiences excited about going to the theatre and are spending big bucks to shoot movies with 3D cameras.
James Cameron’s sci-fi epic Avatar, currently in production at Weta, is expected to be one of the biggest 3D productions ever mounted. Cameron will use a new digital 3D camera system known as Fusion, which he helped develop with camera expert Vince Pace.
Dolby is hurrying to sell its 3D system in advance of Paramount’s release later this year of Beowulf, a live-action feature directed by Robert Zemeckis. It will play in a small handful of 3D-equipped theatres in the US on the same day the 35mm version opens in theatres.
But here’s the challenge Dolby faces in bringing 3D to the masses: only 4,000 of the world’s 120,000 cinema screens have been converted for digital playback of movies, 2,500 of them in the US. It costs US$80,000–$100,000 to take a theatre’s projection system digital, where the movie is played from a computer hard drive rather than film reels.
“The movie studios are looking to 3D to get audiences excited about going to the theatre and are spending big bucks to shoot movies with 3D cameras. “Hollywood is in a panic right now … a lot of directors are saying ‘I’m the king of 3D’. There’s a big rush to get this out like there’s never been before””
Still, the benefits are great for those making the change—no more scratchy pictures three or four weeks after opening day, meaning happier punters, and the movie studios can send their films around the world via the Internet.
“They stand to save a billion-plus dollars a year by not shipping prints around the world,” says McNall.
While 3D has potential for everything from live sports events (the NBA used Pace’s 3D cameras to film some basketball games to great effect) to animated and live action movies, the 3D glasses are necessary for the meantime.
Dolby’s suppliers spent a year designing the curved lenses in the glasses viewers need to wear to see the 3D images its system displays. There are 50 layers of filters on each lens and the glasses cost US$50 per pair.
Still, there are plenty of tech companies trying to come up with 3D systems that don’t require the traditional red and green-tinged, thick-rimmed spectacles.
There’s also a move to apply the technology to TV screens for use in the home. At the IFA consumer electronics show in early September, Philips displayed a 42-inch LCD TV that showed 3D video to the naked eye. The filtering process required to create the 3D effect meant a good deal of the image resolution was lost and the 3D effect was only visible when you stood directly in front of the screen. But it was an impressive effect nonetheless.
Philips hasn’t announced a release date for 3D screens yet. There’s still an inherent fear that the tendency for some 3D images to make the viewer go cross-eyed and quickly feel nauseous will turn audiences away from the technology, even at this advanced stage in its development—the glory days of 3D cinema was after all, back in the 1950s. But McNall says Hollywood filmmakers are learning how to edit 3D movies to avoid the cross-eyed effect.
For now, Weta is the only local filmmaker that can afford to create quality 3D films, but if 3D takes off it’s a given that the technology and the expertise will become affordable. First, though, cinemas will need 3D projectors. Independent theatre owners and the multiplex operators alike are spending large to deck out theatres for premium viewing—plush seats and the like. Any introduction of digital 3D technology is likely to complement this move designed to bump up the average ticket price. One thing’s for sure, the 3D experience will have to prove more successful at pulling in punters than the large screen IMAX theatre on Queen Street, which regularly plays to tiny audiences.
It seems Hollywood has its heart set on displaying some of its movies in three dimensions. The challenge now is getting theatre chains and the movie-going public to buy into the 3D vision.
Comments
Kevin Andreassend
3D is now in NZ with the world's first 3D gaming monitor. The 22" wide screen is designed for all major games and ideal for 70% out on the market. Designed for the average gaming computer the display displays stunning imagery for the viewer by simply wearing some cool polarising glasses that can be worn outdoors. The display will be compatible with over 40 CAD type programmes by the end of the year and can display 3d movies and graphics with the player software. The iZ3D monitor redfeines the gaming expereince to a previosuly unseen experience. Well worth checking out. www.iceav.co.nz and www.iz3d.com
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