Most emerging technologies in the film industry are met with a combination of hope and dread. We’ve seen this throughout movie history, with many objecting to the inception of talkies when sound was first used in popular movies. This continued with color, and has persisted with things like digital filmmaking, and perhaps most recently the new push by champions like Peter Jackson for 48 frames per second. There are as many detractors of these innovations as there are enthusiasts. One development that has proved especially divisive is the employment and rise of 3D in big budget movies.
I’m personally of two minds about 3D movies. There are some that exercise the effect brilliantly, like the commonly used examples of Avatar, Alice in Wonderland, Hugo, and most recently Life of Pi. There are others for whom it’s used as a fun gimmick but doesn’t warrant the extra three dollars we have to pay every single time we want to put on those annoying glasses. In a lot of cases it seems ineptly used altogether, making people think that there was no added depth to the image at all. But I would maintain that it’s still a relatively new effect (this iteration of it at least; the concept isn’t terribly new), and it needs time for smart people to work out the kinks.
There are a number of reasons to be optimistic about 3D technology in movies. Here are 5 of them.
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Published: Apr 18, 2013 10:51 am