3-D blows chunks – right at ya!
Went to an advanced screening of Monsters vs. Aliens at the Bridge Wednesday night and I lasted oh, I dunno, 15 minutes. Trouble with the 3-D projection system rendered the screen images blurry, as everybody sat there in the dark with those dorky Real D glasses on…. Things were fixed momentarily (on screen: a dweeb playing with one of those rubber balls tied to a racket things, and the ball seemingly bounces out right at your nose). But then the screen went fuzzy and double-lined again.
The other problem with 3-D: the tinted glasses makes the screen image darker than it should be, so even a bright, vibrant DreamWorks ’toon loses its luster.
Eventually, the projectionist fixed things, I’m told, but I had already quit the theater – more convinced than ever that 3-D is just another lame gimmick, despite what Jeffrey Katzenberg has to say.
posted by Steven Rea at 11:59 AM
1 Comments:
Oh, man. I have to disagree there. Eventually, all the crappy symptoms - dark tints, unstable projections, dorky glasses - will get smoothed out. This is an exciting time for the art form. Movies as an art form are the most photo-realistic and because of that, I would argue they are far and away the most visceral art form. Or rather, I should say, they have the most POTENTIAL for visceral engagement, though that potential is not always capitalized on. 3-D offers a new dimension, literally. I'm terribly excited to see what James Cameron is going to do with it. Tim Burton, not so much; I read a while back that Cameron or maybe Del Toro insulted Burton's lack of an innovative explorative spirit in relation to the medium, that he was basically just doing the 50s gimmickry. But Cameron/Spielberg/Peter Jackson and I believe Del Toro are all on board with the change. You're right not to trust Katzenberg and Dreamworks and Disney and all the producers/studios, but when the talent is on board, well, that's something to get excited about.
Also, there's a really incredible article in American Cinematographer on the techniques employed in making Coraline that gives a lot of insight into how the medium can be used to enhance the film-watching experience. I still have my copy. I'll bring it into class if you're interested.
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