MEDIA

3D insanity

3D is the new wave in Hollywood and is sweeping the TV industry as well.
Avatar (live action science fiction) and Despicable Me (animation) have received rave reviews for their 3D effects, and that is great for them and their audiences. But so ‘cool’ in 3D today that 2010 Hollywood releases shot in the regular way – not using 2 eyed cameras as needed – are being ‘tweaked’ in post-production to have 3D-like scenes, The conversion process was used, for example, in Tim Burrton’s Alice in Wonderland. Maybe that’s why I found most of the frequent zoom in effects annoying and distracting from the story. Extra glitz that mired the film’s impact.


TV is also on the 3D bandwagon. Just yesterday I was at a Sony Style store and tried their special, battery powered glasses to watch clips and a video game in 3D. The 3 D glasses are great, but the 3D is just silly outside of the world of animation and game cartooning – where everything is always possible, and coyotes regularly stand in mid-air or survive a canon blast through the stomach.

You see, Hollywood’s 3D is not really 3D in the normal scientific sense. It is NOT how we see the real world. We do not see objects jump out from their settings, to float before our eyes as if in space. But that is the core of Hollywood 3D as it applies to Sony’s demonstration butterflies or a golf tournament audience standing just in front of your viewpoint. It is not reality any more than a painting’s use of the perspective trick.
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Only if a bull or shark or Jabberwocky dragon is charging directly at the viewer is the 3D effect helpful, if exaggerated.

And as this craze is pushed further, team sports are the next big target. Soccer and hockey camera crews are rethinking how they film these events, as look down angles – for a broad view of the play – is not amenable to 3D impacts. The cameras will have to be at ground level looking up at the players so each individual ‘stands out’ and the 3D sense of extra nearness can be created.
For hockey, this could be a plus when players crash into the boards and a camera is directly there; it may be nice to feel as if you, the audience, are getting body checked too.

But the trade off will be reduced high angle camera shots following the ball or puck. So, who needs to see the game’s back and forth flow when, instead, players can be enlarged like Santa Claus parade giant balloons? Who would care?

I would.


In brief, 3D has its place in animation and fantasy/science fiction tales were suspension of disbelief are the norm. But not when supposed reality is being depicted. Then, the extra 3D element is a jarring hindrance.


PS - Word from inside Sony tech staff is that last year's tv - if 120hz or 240 hz - will play 3D; maybe not as well as the 3 times more expensive new units, but well. Also Intel already has a chip that will play 3D without the need for glasses. It should be in the next generation 3D TVs by next year - at least in Japan and vacinity. They get all the new stuff first, then Europe and finally North America.