The 3D Movie Witness

Is 5D Better Than 3D?

2019-04-11T15:36:00.002-07:00

With a 5D porn cinema recently opened in Amsterdam, is it actually better than its 3D predecessor?

By: Ringo Bones

Famous for its liberal cannabis laws, Amsterdam has yet found another way to turn your fantasies into reality – well, sort of. Said to indulge all the five senses of the human body, the newfangled 5D Porn Cinema recently debuted in the Dutch capital’s world-famous Red Light District. Aside from a 3D screen, the racy theater will feature bouncing chairs and water cannons to give moviegoers the most sexually arousing experience ever, because apparently, nothing turns people on more than watching porn with complete strangers. Or it might turn out to be the ultimate Rocky Horror Picture Show audience participation ever.

5D Porn’s owner, Natalie, says the experience is similar to a ride at an amusement park. The theater can seat 18 customers per viewing. In spite of the stigma surrounding her venture, Natalie insists that the cinema is actually a good place for couples to visit and experiment on. Given that the format is still at its “infancy” so to speak only time will tell if 5D is actually better than 3D.

The 2009 Disney’s A Christmas Carol: The Only IMAX 3D Christmas Movie Ever Made?

2017-12-24T21:52:00.000-08:00

Released back when James Cameron’s Avatar was still fresh on everyone’s minds, was the 2009 Disney’s A Christmas Carol the only IMAX 3D Christmas movie ever made?

By Ringo Bones

Often remembered as that other Jim Carey Yuletide movie besides The Grinch it is hard to believe that the 2009 Disney’s A Christmas Carol was by so far the only IMAX 3D movie ever made. Given that in recent years artistic merit driven virtual reality 3D movies had been proliferating at the Tribeca Film Festival, Yuletide themed IMAX 3D movies should have been the year-end holiday season staple, but why the dearth of the so-called IMAX 3D Christmas Movies?

After the gleeful optimism in search of the next IMAX 3D blockbuster like James Cameron’s Avatar died down, it seems like everyone in America who can afford to be early adopters of IMAX 3D at home seems to have lost interest on anything 3D related. To the dismay of consumer electronic manufacturers, the time it took for affluent America to have lost interest in 3D in such a short time given that it took decades for majority of affluent America to have lost interest in surround-sound high fidelity audio, never mind stereo.

From the audience’s perspective, it seems that IMAX 3D can be the ideal platform for whiz-bang Yuletide flavored visual extravaganza. Just ask anyone who recently visited a high-end Christmas décor exposition. And Dickensian from the casual observer’s perspective it may be, many have probably wondered if The Grinch move that stars Jim Carey will be re-released in IMAX 3D in the near future just to fill in the gap in Yuletide themed IMAX 3D Christmas Movies.

Could The Tribeca Film Festival Make Virtual Reality Movies Mainstream?

2016-05-15T16:25:00.000-07:00

Given that the organizers have been exhibiting feature length virtual reality films since 2015, could Tribeca Film Festival make virtual reality movies mainstream?

By: Ringo Bones

From computer generated animation extravaganzas to serious documentary films, exhibitors at Tribeca had been taking advantage of the improved virtual reality headsets now commonly available to the general public. From Oculus Rift and related virtual reality headsets, it seems like the virtual reality format is no longer limited to serious computer gaming and thanks to Tribeca, virtual reality could represent the next step in the evolution of the art of cinema – even a step above current Imax 3D.

Ever since it has evolved past its nystagmus plagued and sea-sickness inducing first generation virtual reality headsets of the early 1990s, serious computer gamers have been the first ones to exploit the potential of a new generation of improved virtual reality headsets – like the Oculus Rift – during the first decade of the 21^st Century. And thanks to Tribeca’s first crop of virtual reality films of 2015, it seems like this year’s Tribeca will be remembered as the time when immersive virtual reality movies went mainstream.

The 2016 Tribeca was also notable for Turning Forest virtual reality because it was one of the first VR based films that uses motion tracked surround sound that makes the headset wearer experience a wrap-around surround sound that’s congruent to the virtual reality film being played. Most virtual reality headsets on the market still don’t have this newfangled surround sound feature. And the same motion tracked surround sound technology will be used for the upcoming Chernobyl VR documentary that aims to make the viewer as if he or she were actually there during the world’s worst nuclear power plant accident that happened back in April 26, 1986.

Could 3-D Virtual Reality Headsets Increase The Popularity of 3-D Movies?

2016-03-28T01:48:00.000-07:00

Given that more and more people are now downloading (hopefully legally) movies online, could new and improved affordable 3-D virtual reality headsets increase the popularity of 3-D movies?

By: Ringo Bones

Despite 2016 is being dubbed as the “Year of Virtual Reality” it seems that Hollywood has yet to tap into the 3-D virtual reality headset PC gaming world for the high resolution 3-D movie viewing potential of their existing kit. At present, those “large-scale” IMAX movie theaters are the most popular way to watch 3-D movies in its maximum quality at a relatively “affordable” cost. But due to the increasing popularity of online movie downloads (hopefully legally downloaded) could the increasing availability of relatively affordable 3-D virtual reality headsets make high quality 3-D movie viewing at home a possibility and make 3-D movies popular again since the post James Cameron’s Avatar dip?

The reason why Facebook purchased Oculus Rift for 2 billion US dollars is probably due to the perfection of its “headache free” virtual reality headset a few years ago. Oculus Rift VR headset costs US$599 and is one of the widely available models out there. HTC Vive is another widely available VR headset at US$799 while the “cheapest” one out there is the Sony PlayStation VR at US$499. But can all of them be used to watch 3-D movies at home with an image quality as good as or better than those in large scale IMAX movie theatres at your local mall?

At present, there aren’t any dedicated 3-D movies that can take advantage of existing VR headset’s 360-degree surround view capability. Worse still, personal computers that are powerful enough to be fully compatible to those widely available 3-D virtual reality headsets that serious PC gamers can do without only represent 1-persent of the computers already running around the world. And if you only use your PC for basic schoolwork, chances are it isn’t part of the 1-percent that’s fast enough and had the requisite video cards to run a state-of-the-art 3-D virtual reality headset currently used by serious PC gamers. And to take advantage of future online high resolution 3-D movie content, chances are, your existing Wi-Fi or internet connection might be too slow.

South-East Asia Still In Love With IMAX 3-D?

2015-08-23T06:19:00.001-07:00

Despite being already on the wan in the United States, is South-East Asia still very much in love with IMAX 3-D?

By: Ringo Bones

To the rest of us, the general “apathy” of 3-D movies in the United States might be reminiscent of that 7-Year Bitch song Sore Subject that goes “I only need one eye to see, the other one confuses me” given that since after James Cameron’s Avatar, interest in IMAX 3-D in the United States seems already in the wan. And even David Letterman’s enthusiasm of IMAX 3-D only seem to make him part of the few who still give a damn about IMAX 3-D in the United States. Strangely, it’s a whole different story here in South-East Asia.

Back in 2012, it seems quite comprehensible to us IMAX 3-D fans in the surrounding countries that in Mainland China about 3 IMAX 3-D theaters are opened every week and the trend is still going strong three years later. Back in 2013, Greg Foster of IMAX struck a deal to build more than 20 new IMAX theaters in Indonesia. Even IMAX China had filed for a Hong Kong IPO for its booming IMAX theater market as recently as back in May 29.2015. And remember a while back that the first X-Rated IMAX 3-D movie was a South-East Asian production and earned one of the most lucrative openings here rivaling that of big-budget Hollywood counterparts? If only we can convince firms who planned to air 3-D cable TV channels in the United States to air them instead here in South-East Asia.

3D Virtual Reality: The Future of Sports Broadcasting?

2014-08-29T05:59:00.000-07:00

Recently tried on the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Scotland – is the 3D virtual reality video broadcast of the games the future of 3D broadcasting?

By: Ringo Bones

The average American may have become jaded – even bored with anything pertaining to 3D after its boom in 2010, but for the rest of the world, 3D enthusiasts are still clamoring for the latest improvements and innovations on whatever makes 3D a more enjoyable experience. Given that the trial 3D virtual reality broadcast of the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games seems to have rekindled everyone’s interest in anything 3D related in Britain and her former colonies, is 3D virtual reality the future of sports broadcasting?

The latest 3D virtual reality broadcast of the 2014 Commonwealth Games is a technological tour-de-force in itself because it is the first ever sporting event that was broadcasted worldwide in 3D virtual reality format. But it would not have been possible without the Kickstarter crowdfunded start-up company called Oculus Rift who has improved those wrap-around virtual reality goggles that make them no longer headache-inducing unlike their VR Goggle predecessors of the late 1980s of the early 1990s. Thanks to recent advances in wrap around 3D virtual reality goggles, 3D virtual reality viewing is no longer the nystagmus inducing chore that it used to be.

To the eagle-eyed viewers who had noticed, the video quality of the 2014 Commonwealth Games in 3D virtual reality format is slightly compressed - at the moment – in order for it to allow to be transmitted in our current internet infrastructure. Faster computer processor and internet transmission speeds in the future would only mean better picture quality – make that better 3D picture quality of future 3D virtual reality broadcasts via the internet. Only time will tell if all sporting events broadcasts and movies will be judged by their “you are there” 3D image quality - as in 3D Virtual Reality.

F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby: Now in 3D?

2013-05-10T03:42:00.000-07:00

Known as one of the greatest literary works of the 20^th Century, will F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby adapt well in cinema form and in 3-D?

By: Ringo Bones

For as long as I can remember, it has become a mantra oft uttered by all critics that the book is better than the movie. But with the ever dwindling attention spans that seem to be now imbued into the millennial generation’s DNA, will the latest 3-D movie adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby finally buck this trend?

In a recent interview of Salman Rushdie by Fareed Zakaria, Rushdie says that the recent movie adaptation of his latest book titled Midnight’s Children which is about the independence of India back in 1947 has greater emotional impact than his book thanks to the well executed cinematography. If this trend continues, will the art of cinema be finally be as good – or better than – the great works of literature it often renders in cinema form?

Well, the latest big budget 3D movie adaptation of The Great Gatsby really has a lot riding on it. The decision to include Bollywood megastar Amitabh Bachchan as one of the casts is a smart one given that India will be celebrating the centennial of their movie industry this year seems to be that Hollywood is finally acknowledging the importance of India as a new potential movie market and for creative collaboration. Not to mention that the 3-D cinematography aspect of the movie is a really good – and entertaining - educational tool to introduce the millennial generation to the wonders of 1920s Art Deco architecture of the Jazz Age.

Even though the movie primarily revolves around the pathos and plot of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s literary opus, after seeing the 3-D trailer of The Great Gatsby, I already suspect something that this movie is also aimed at Art Deco architecture buffs given that the sets has period correct authenticity that didn’t wind up looking like a year 2020 era Art Deco museum in a set of Blade Runner. And as a bonus to for the ladies, the movie also stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Tobey Maguire.

Ultra High Resolution Monocular Video: The Future of 3-D?

2013-02-18T06:55:00.001-08:00

With ultra high resolution monocular panoramic video attracting “casual” videophiles near the end of 2012, is high-res video for the one-eyed viewer the future of 3-D?

By: Ringo Bones

Around the winter of 2012 and in the 2013 CES show in Las Vegas, various video schemes offering better resolution than the current standard 1080p HDTV seems to be getting more interest and kudos from the public at large – as if the concept of 3-D at home and even glass-free 3-D video seems to be yesterdays news. But is the public at large simply fallen out of love with 3-D video?

At the moment, there are two versions of ultra-high resolution video vying for consumer acceptance. There’s the 4K UHDTV with a 2160p or 3840 X 2160 / 8.3 megapixel resolution – 4 times that of current 1080p HDTV. At the moment, “native” 4K UHTV videos are few and far between but add-on video resolution enhancement boxes already exist (but still a bit pricey) to convert existing 1080p video from Blu-Ray DVD to 4K resolution. And at around the tail end of 2012, dedicated 4K resolution capable video and still digital cameras entered the market for those well-heeled video DIYers who want to create their own truly native 4K resolution videos and still pictures. Though the wide panoramic displays at the 2013 CES show that feature native 4K images are what mostly attracting new converts away from true binocular 3-D video.

On the other hand 8K UHDTV is still a largely experimental “vaporware” from NHK Tokyo that offers 4320p or 7680 X 4320 or 33,2 megapixel resolution offers 16 times the resolution of current 1080p HDTV. Native 8K UHDTV videos and 8K UHDTV capable video displays had been wowing viewers during the 2013 CES show in Las Vegas too and seem set to compete and supersede any lower resolution rivals. But NHK says that their system will gain full bloom once very large (100-inch or larger) graphine-based flexible and transparent video displays becomes standard and affordable enough in the home. And NHK’s 8K UHDTV comes with a 22.2 (22 channels worth of left, center, right, wrap-around surround sound with 2 channels for the subs) surround sound as standard.

Strangely, NHK’s 8K UHDTV has the same resolution as that of a dedicated 350-mm IMAX film and one of the reason the powers that be at NHK is also keeping their options open for a dedicated 3-D and even a glassless / goggle free 3-D video system for the home by 2020 or later. Sadly, many in the consumer electronics industry and consumers in particular had become jaded about 3-D in the home concept saying that it had been the most over-marketed product in the consumer audio-video market during the last two years. And some had even abandoned their quest of a much consumer friendly 3-D. Though our current austere fiscal post-subprime environment might not be so 3-D video friendly at the moment, the promise of an ultra-high resolution / ultra-high definition glassless / goggles free 3-D technology in the home with an IMAX like 8K UHDTV resolution that comes with a 22.2 channel surround sound / wrap-around sound could be the beginnings of a truly immersive Star Trek style holo-deck like virtual reality entertainment center for the home is just too tempting for the consumer electronic manufacturing giants to ignore.

Queen Elizabeth II First 3-D Christmas Message: A Royal Keeping Up With the Jones’s?

2012-12-28T09:08:00.001-08:00

It may be a “mere” icing on the cake of HRH Queen Elizabeth II’s Diamond Jubilee PR blitz, but is the queen’s 2012 Christmas message a sign of the traditional House of Windsor adapting to modernity?

By: Ringo Bones

Of all the annual Christmas messages being broadcasted on TV since her reign, the 2012 Christmas Message broadcast by HRH Queen Elizabeth II will be more special compared to her previous ones, not only because this year is the queen’s Diamond Jubilee, but also it will be the first time it will be seen on 3-D. Is this a sure sign that previously conservatively traditional institutions like the Royal House of Windsor is keeping up with the times?

It seems that a number of previously “conservative” traditional institutions have jumped on to the contemporary tech bandwagon. Even the Vatican had joined in as Pope Benedict XVI just started his own Twitter account a few weeks ago and attracted a million followers within the first 24 hours of opening. So why wouldn’t the British Royal Family be free in “Keeping Up with The Jones’s” like the rest of us?

Well, at least the Queen’s 3-D Christmas Message for 2012 is more than just an empty hi-tech whiz-bang extravaganza. She did manage to hail the triumphant show of skill of both Olympic and Paralympic athletes during the 2012 London Olympic and Paralympic games, and the army of volunteers that made the games and her Diamond Jubilee a success. Given that the world’s TV and movie audience at large seems to be distracted away from 3-D and instead being currently seduced by 8K ultra high definition TV, the British Royal Family sticking with tried and true 3-D TV broadcasts that needs 3-D glasses / goggles to be viewed correctly is somewhat good news for the future of an imaging system that caters to us enthusiasts who still give a damn about true-blue binocular vision. Well, at least the 2012 London Olympics was broadcasted in 3-D.

The Ronald Reagan 3D Hologram: Latest Political Campaign Gimmick?

2012-09-11T05:21:00.001-07:00

Slated to be unveiled in the 2012 Tampa Republican Party National Convention before it was “upstaged” by Hurricane Isaac, is the Ronald Reagan 3D hologram nothing more than the latest political campaign gimmick?

By: Ringo Bones

Rumor has it that the Ronald Reagan 3D hologram wasn’t used in the 2012 Tampa Republican Party National Convention because the GOP top brass are afraid it might “upstage” a “one-dimensional” Mitt Romney or there was also a rumor that the GOP top brass never got time to obtain insurance for the “high tech” equipment to be used to run the Ronald Reagan 3D hologram during the Republican Convention in Tampa. Some US Republican Party insiders even say that the more “moderate” members of the GOP top brass are afraid that the Ronald Reagan hologram could be used for partisan purposes. But anyway, does the Ronald Reagan 3D hologram truly represent the latest in the somewhat arrested development of 3D holography technology – or nothing more than mere “political campaign gimmickry”?

To older folks closely following development trends in 3D video technology, some of them might be mistaken that the Ronald Reagan 3D hologram could be the cutting edge in the still young science 3D holography because back in May 24, 1991, NASA first tried out its newly developed 3D laser scanning technology on Ronald Reagan – who was then happily retiring in his Santa Barbara, California home, making him the first ever US President to get a 3D holographic portrait. Whether the 3D data obtained by NASA back in 1991 was used on the 2012 3D hologram of Ronald Reagan the GOP top brass didn’t say. But an article in the New Scientist magazine says that the technology behind the 3D hologram of Ronald Reagan to be used in Tampa was the very same one used on the posthumous Tupac 3D hologram featured in the Coachella show.

Both the Tupac and Reagan 3D holograms used a technique called Pepper’s Ghost projection technology – a holographic imaging technique which was already around since the 1800s. Both CGI and live footage mix were used by the 3D holography technicians at Digital Domain – James Cameron’s visual effects company – to create the Tupac posthumous concert 3D hologram and the posthumous “live action” 3D hologram of Ronald Reagan. Pepper’s Ghost technology works by partially reflecting light off a piece of glass from a hidden room. This kind of 3D projection technique only works well in convention halls or exhibition spaces that are not too brightly lit by ambient sunlight; although 3D holograms of some current controversial politicians are probably going to be frequently used as a crutch to steer the public away from their one-dimensional nature.

The London 2012 Olympics: First 3-D Olympics?

2012-07-31T05:52:00.000-07:00

Though high-definition 3-D TV sporting events broadcasts is already a technical – and commercial – reality as far back as 2009, will the London 2012 Olympics be the first summer Olympiad to be broadcasted in high-definition 3-D?

By: Ringo Bones

3-D enthusiasts – especially high-definition or HD 3-D enthusiasts – seem barely able to contain their excitement when NBC and Panasonic announced back in July 20, 2012 that they’ll be offering the “infrastructure” to broadcast the London 2012 Olympics in high-definition 3-D. Though HD 3-D broadcasts of top billed sporting events are already a technical – and commercial – reality as far back as 2009, if you can afford to buy one of those top-dollar HD 3-D ready large flat-screen TVs that are more at home in a dedicated home theater set-up than in your typically modest living room, the popularity of broadcasting live events – like top billed sporting events – seems to coincide with the visually stunning success of James Cameron’s 3-D sci-fi epic called Avatar back in 2009. Big league sporting events broadcasters - like ESPN – have billed their HD 3-D broadcasts as “just like being there in the middle of the action” in terms of video quality. But does the reality live up to the hype?

Well, the BBC has a dedicated HD 3-D Olympic channel given that the 2012 summer Olympiad is taking place on their home turf. And so does NBC and ESPN and 22 other that I currently seen so far. On what I’ve seen so far – thanks to our local electronics goods store who used the BBC’s HD 3-D Olympic broadcasts to test out their new batch of large-format HD 3-D ready flat screen TVs. The BBC 3-D broadcasts of the London 2012 opening ceremonies had a nice depth portrayal in them and really make you feel as if you are in the middle of the ceremony – even for a somewhat jaded 3-D movie enthusiast like me. Though, the level of “you-are-there” is only up to a point, given that it is still the main HD 3-D camera’s perspective. Another caveat worth mentioning is the continual swapping to 2-D cameras and the 2-D footage which spoils it a bit.

Given what I’ve seen so far, it seems there is a visually discernable – albeit incrementally - progress in HD 3-D image quality. The HD 3-D London 2012 Olympic broadcasts could be a benchmark of the technical progress made of HD 3-D broadcasts since they became a regular part of atypical up-market satellite dish package back in 2009. The so-called “diorama effect” is now minimal – like swapping from 150 US dollar Mainland Chinese made binoculars to 6,000 US dollar binoculars with Carl Zeiss equipped optics.

Can We Make A 3-D Movie From A 2-D Movie?

2012-01-23T06:34:00.000-08:00

It’s not quite easy and it can cost a bit of money and yet an upstart post-production company managed to gain press attention for doing the seemingly impossible back in July, 2011 – will making 3-D movies from 2-D movies be the wave of the future?

By: Ringo Bones

Whether you love them or not, 3-D movies released by big-wig Hollywood movie studios are still a rarity despite of the runaway success of James Cameron’s epic 3-D science fiction extravaganza called Avatar back in 2009. And yet a rather upstart post-production company based in Los Angeles with branches in London and India managed to do the seemingly impossible of converting 2-D movies originally shot with a 2-D camera into a full-fledged 3-D movie. And even managed to gain mainstream press attention as far back as July, 2011.

A post-production company called Prime Focus managed to gain fame after it has successfully done the “impossible” of turning a 2-D movie originally shot with 2-D cameras into a bona-fide 3-D movie as good as one shot with dedicated 3-D movie cameras. But for all intents and purposes, the proprietary process – which has been kept a closely-guarded secret by Prime Focus – of converting 2-D movies into 3-D is no easy feat. It takes on average hundreds of CGI technicians eight months to convert a feature length 2-D movie – which average length of 90-minutes to 2-hours – into a full-fledged 3-D cinematographic masterpiece.

According to Matthew Bristowe of Prime Focus, their proprietary method of converting 2-D to 3-D had first been successfully tried on James Cameron’s 1998 epic remake of Titanic. On converting Titanic to 3-D, “negative reframing” was done to prevent visual artifacts that cause eyestrain to viewers when converting 2-D movies originally shot with 2-D cameras into 3-D. If it becomes commonplace, Prime Focus’ proprietary post-production techniques of converting 2-D movies to 3-D could increase the number of the still limited catalogue of 3-D movies already out on the market today.

Is the World Ready for an X-Rated 3-D Movie?

2011-05-30T02:21:00.000-07:00

Even though such “erotica” used to happen only in real-life, but is the world now ready for an X-Rated 3-D movie?

By: Ringo Bones

The world-at-large may be asking why make such an “erotic” art-form given that real-life sex is way much better in comparison to its “reel” 3-D counterpart. Fortunately – or unfortunately, depending your point-of-view – it haven’t deterred a group of film makers from making the first ever 3-D pornography. Believe it or not, 3-D porn already exists as far as NASA’s Manned Lunar Exploration program, as in 1969’s The Stewardesses which became the highest-grossing 3-D movie of all time – porn or otherwise - before James Cameron’s Avatar despite of being shown only in the more libertine regions of the Free World during the height of the Cold War.

Fast forward to the 21st Century, the 3-D porn move that an overwhelming majority of the world’s movie going public has mistaken as the first ever X-Rated 3-D movie that was shown in Taiwan and Hong Kong during the start of April 2011 got so much buzzwords from the established press and “new media” – i.e. Facebook and Twitter – that even the famous American comedian Conan O’Brien had joked about it in his talk-show. Titled “3-D Sex and Zen: Extreme Ecstasy”, the plot is based on a classic Chinese erotic novel. Directed by Christopher Sun, the 3-D erotica movie uses the same 3-D cinematographic techniques used in James Cameron’s Avatar.
During a promotional interview of the movie, director Christopher Sun said: “Somehow when you’re doing a 3-D movie, you always want to make an impressive image because the viewers… are going to buy tickets with double or even triple the ticket price to get into a world that you’ve never seen before. Its not just erotica, they want some wow factor!”

The producers of 3-D Sex and Zen are also hoping that the Chinese erotic period drama will prove a titillating hit with the 3-D glasses wearing audiences and help develop a lucrative niche film market. That’s quite a big if given the rather “conservative” film board censors in the rest of Asia will allow an X-Rated 3-D movie to be shown in the 3-D IMAX theaters in their major shopping malls. At least Conan O’Brien is already promoting the first ever 3-D Chinese erotic period drama in America and as of late, it was nicely received in the 2011 Cannes Film Festival as the first ever Chinese erotic period drama shot in 3-D cinematographic techniques.

2010: Year of 3-D?

2011-01-29T04:32:00.000-08:00

Though a few years before 3ality’s digital systems’ proprietary 3-D system had manage to make 3-D movies and other 3-D related visual extravaganza popular again, can 2010 be called Year of 3-D?

By: Ringo Bones

Even though Hollywood movie moguls may beg to differ due to 3-D movies’ failure to raise box-office earnings for much of 2010, for those of us closely following 3-D related press releases, it is still valid to conclude that 2010 is the “Year of 3-D”. Back in March 9, 2010, Jeffrey Katzenberg of DreamWorks Animation had collaborated with Samsung to use their New York exhibition at the time as a launching pad for their 3-D animated DVDs. Sony also rode the people’s “wave of interest” on anything 3-D at the time due to the runaway success of James Cameron’s Avatar.

Then came last year’s 2010 IFA exhibit which IFA director Jens Heitheker says that will be dominated by everything 3-D. IFA did became a major high-profile platform to promote anything 3-D – make that digital 3-D. From 3-D still and video cameras aimed at consumers. After being fascinated by the myriad of 3-D still and video cameras in the 2010 IFA exhibition, one can be forgiven for not knowing that D.I.Y. 3-D photography – albeit the analog / film-based sort – was already invented 180 years ago and was a rage during the Victorian era, as opposed as a newfangled consumer item in the 2010 IFA. Like Panasonic’s HDC-STD750 3-D capable hand-held stills / video camera which is primarily a 2-D camera with an attachable 3-D lens to make it into a 3-D capable one – though its 1,200 US dollar MSRP makes it only a hand-held 3-D stills / video camera for the well-healed masses.

Then came last year’s 3-D network TV broadcast by ESPN, Virgin Media and Sky which launched their first 3-D TV broadcasts aimed at those already having 3-D capable domestic flat-screen TVs. Unfortunately, 2010 failed to become the year of domestic 3-D TV because high prices and a lack of quality 3-D broadcast content have made domestic 3-D TVs almost stillborn. Add to that the slower-than-average penetration of 3-D capable wide flat-screen TVs in the home because buyers tend to buy new TVs only when their old one gives up the ghost. Those HD-capable wide flat-screen TVs bought 4 to 5 years ago are still going strong. Even my Sony CRT-based 14-incher from 1989 is still alive and kicking, which my current girlfriend jokes that my “Room / Porn TV” is a few years older than her.

So does 2010 pass muster as the “Year of 3-D”? Well, given that most home entertainment technologies launched during an American recession – i.e. Pacific Microsonics’ HDCD and Sony’s Super Bit Mapping system both used to make Redbook CDs sound better (like analog) later became a brisk money-maker and still with us despite being introduced during the Bush Senior era recession. And despite high prevailing unemployment around the world, the steadily rising gains on Wall Street will eventually trickle down to the masses in boost our buying power (we hope) so that we can indulge our curiosity of everything 3-D – in 2011.

Imax for the Home?

2010-09-27T07:30:00.000-07:00

Supposedly the best 3-D motion picture format available, will a Blu-Ray based 3-D Imax movie format for domestic use result in a nystagmus-free 3-D movie viewing for the home?

By: Ringo Bones

Claimed as the best 3-D motion picture format yet to provide long-term nystagmus-free viewing – and the results speak for itself - Imax have delighted its share of curious viewers lucky enough to see 15-to-20-minute visual extravaganzas of virtually life-like moving pictures. Even existing Imax theatres’ umbrella-like screens have been used to provide better ”stereopsis” for the latest 3-D movies. Given the current Blu-Ray disc's versatility when it comes to high capacity data storage, will a true Imax move – like multi-channel home theatre - ever become a domestic reality?

Born out of the advances in computer graphics, liquid-crystal technology and extra-wide-format films of the late 1980s, a Canadian company had developed a new technique that makes objects pop out of the screen with unprecedented clarity and brilliance and causes no eyestrain. The new technology called Imax Solido, was created by Imax Systems, the Toronto-based company that makes movies to be shown on screens the size of six-story buildings.

The first Solido film, a largely computer-generated extravaganza called Echoes of the Sun that was co-produced by the Japanese firm Fujitsu, was first shown at the Fujitsu Pavilion at Expo’90, an international fair in Osaka. Showgoers queued up for a chance to park in front of a huge wrap-around screen, strap on a pair of battery-powered goggles and enter a startingly realistic 3-D world.

The goggles are the key to the Solido system. Taking place of the funny cardboard-frame glasses used to watch old-style 3-D movies, the eyewear creates a stereoscopic effect by using lenses filled with liquid-crystal diodes, the same material that forms the numerals on the face of a digital wristwatch. When jolted by an electric current, an LCD lens can instantly switch from being essentially transparent to being totally opaque – like an efficient electronic shutter.

Controlled by an infrared signal broadcasted from the projection booth, the goggles’ left and right lenses open and close 24 times a second, in synchronization with a pair of Imax projectors showing first the left-eye view and then the right-eye view of the scene. The 3-D effect unusually crisp because the projectors are extremely stable, the separation of right-and-left-eye views is precise. And the movie frames are ten times as large as those of a typical 35-mm film.

But it is the wide, umbrella-shaped screen that provides the real breakthrough in Solido. When the brain combines the left-and right-eye images in a conventional 3-D movie, it creates a process known as stereopsis - an artificial three-dimensional space that seems to jut out from the screen. As an object in that space approaches the viewer, it becomes larger and larger. If it gets big enough to reach the outer edges of the picture, however, it will appear to snap back to the plane of the screen, sending conflicting depth cues to the brain and destroying the 3-D illusion.

The advantage of the wraparound Solido theatre is that the edges of the screen are beyond the audience’s field of view. “The screen seems to disappear in the peripheral vision”, says Imax producer Roman Kroitor. “The picture stays right there; you can reach out and touch it”.

Given the current advances in artefact-free digital data compression of visual data, existing DVD Blu-Ray discs can be used to store the large throughput of data required to achieve true Imax viewing in a domestic setting. Our existing Blu-Ray ready home theatre systems will probably need just a minimal upgrade to make it capable of showing true-blue Imax motion pictures at feature film lengths, and hopefully a nystagmus – a rapid involuntary oscillation of the eyeballs as from dizziness – free viewing of 3-D feature films for 2-hours or more.

3-D TV Broadcasts: Desperately Seeking Content?

2010-07-31T07:25:00.000-07:00

With 3-D capable high-definition widescreen TVs for domestic use already out on the market since June 2010, will quality content shows shot in 3-D ever be available for broadcast in network TV anytime soon?

By: Ringo Bones

LG, Samsung and Sony had already put out on the market their incarnation of the 3-D capable high-definition widescreen TV for domestic use ever since notable 3-D movies – like James Cameron’s Avatar and Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland had recently become blockbuster successes. But what about 3-D TV broadcasts on network TV? Sadly, none is yet available – but Sky networks recently promised to provide their very first 3-D TV broadcasts by October 2010. Given that the intended demographic for shows shot in 3-D for network TV broadcasts are already weaned on free – but of questionable legality – content on Pirate Bay during the first decade of the 21st Century, will network broadcasted 3-D TV shows ever be economically viable from the TV networks’ perspective?

Early adapters fortunate enough to afford those first-generation of 3-D capable high-definition widescreen TV are already sold on the idea of 3-D movies in the home despite of the minor inconvenience of those cinema-style 3-D viewing goggles. With titles now widely available via 3-D capable Blu-Ray DVDs like Avatar and Alice in Wonderland, positive word-of-mouth reviews on 3-D ready hi-def widescreen TVs had become the only excuse for buying one. But will the same people who brought 3-D Blu-Ray DVDs embrace the “potentially” free shows broadcasted on 3-D TV networks?

Given that most of us had been weaned on Napsterization and Pirate Bay style utter disregard to copyright laws when it comes to getting on-demand TV shows for free during the first decade of the 21st Century, TV network executives are probably reluctant to invest into a new “gimmick” of questionable economic viability. Most of us will probably resort to the advertisement-free 3-D shows if it ever becomes available on Internet sites despite of the copyright violations involved. Not to mention the expense of 3-D viewing goggles – which the cheapest ones sell at 10 to 15 US dollars per pair – might be to expensive for some weaned on free stuff from Napster and Pirate Bay.

On the bright side, it could potentially increase the demand for studio stylists and make-up artists given the inherent “vanity” of Hollywood stars who not only wants to look good on high-definition TV broadcasts but also good on 3-D high-definition TV broadcasts. Fashion consultants and make-up artists currently unemployed might find themselves working for big stars - and the odd news presenter and talk-show host - who desperately wants to look good in front of a 3-D capable HDTV in a few months time.

Can Persons with Compromised Vision Still Watch 3-D Movies?

2010-07-07T18:53:00.000-07:00

The current resurgence of 3-D movies may be a thrill-a-minute ride to us with “normal” 20/20 vision, but can those with compromised vision still enjoy them?

By: Ringo Bones

The on-going and supposedly still economically-viable-from-the-media-providers’-perspective resurgence of 3-D movies and related on-line visual content may seem like a thrill-a-minute fairground ride for us folks with “normal” 20/20 vision. But are the concerns of those who wear prescription glasses or those with only one eye being set aside on the wayside in our current 3-D boom?

For sometime now, it is recommended that for people who wear prescription glasses, the 3-D viewing goggles can be placed or worn over their specs. It may be an uncomfortable and unwieldy way to watch 3-D at your local cinema – especially since most features last two hours or a bit longer. At present, it seems to be the only practical solution to speck wearers, unless your optometrist can fabricate a pair of 3-D viewing goggles with optical properties matching your prescription eyeglasses.

Another not-so-often-discussed conundrum encountered in 3-D movie viewing is for persons with only one working eye. Though given that those viewers with only one eye defeats the necessity of watching 3-D movies since they physiologically lack the ability of binocular depth perception. It might be safe to assume in the near future that over 90% of movies might be shot in 3-D so suggestions for those viewers with one working eye can be helpful. Unfortunately persons with one eye still have to wear those “unwieldy” 3-D viewing glasses because if they don’t they’ll see a double-image mess since image intended for both left and right eyes are there in the screen unfiltered by the 3-D goggles. Even if they wear the 3-D viewing goggles, they still can’t see the depth and layering as intended by the cinematographer – which is somewhat unfortunate.

StreetDance: First Hip-Hop Themed 3-D Movie Ever?

2010-05-19T05:08:00.000-07:00

Touted by the BBC as the first European film that’s entirely shot in 3-D, will StreetDance have the potential to join the roster of financially successful 3-D movies of 2010?

By: Ringo Bones

Film critics seem to have reached a consensus when they are now starting to blame James Cameron’s Avatar on the now de rigueur practice that big-budget movie releases should have a 3-D version in order to qualify as being a big-budget movie. When the BBC coverage on StreetDance back in May 11, 2010 – which it called the first ever European film to be entirely shot in 3-D - for its slated release in May 21. It seems that the Beeb is yet again trying their damnedest to convince the whole world that the African culture behind hip-hop is not just an exclusively American inner-city cultural phenomenon. As if the Brits – with the help of the Beeb - have ever manage to tout their very own version of Grandmaster Flash or Afrika Bambaataa. Anyway, the movie is primarily based on the nitty-gritty reality behind the hardships faced by your typical dance crew participants of Britain’s Got Talent.

Even though I haven’t seen the movie yet and the following synopsis is based on the various trailers that had been aired so far making my accounts a non-spoiler. Much of the bulk of StreetDance revolves around a very talented but financially impoverished street dance crew training for the UK championships who find themselves being forced to work with ballet dancers in return for rehearsal space. With no common ground given the well-established Kultur Kampf between such differing artforms and passions riding high. The two groups of dancers soon realize that they need to find a way of working together to be able to compete at the championships.

While the supposedly first European dance-based film to be shot in 3-D when it came to light back in March 2010. Namely, the collaboration between Pina Bausch and Wim Wenders on Bausch’s avant-garde ballet choreography – unfortunately failed to register in the consciousness of 3-D movie enthusiasts that it could end up going straight to 3-D capable Blu-Ray DVD. While StreetDance 3-D has a more popular subject matter – namely rap and hip-hop-themed dance contest of Britain’s Got Talent – that it is very likely be shown in packed 3-D capable movie houses in May 21 as opposed to a cozy home theatre set-up. Just be hopeful that your local movie house’s sound system can handle the energetic soundtrack that is more at home in your nearest discotheque.

Will 3-D Cinematography Renew Ballet Appreciation in the 21st Century?

2010-04-30T06:49:00.000-07:00

As ballet no longer registers in the consciousness of most moviegoers, will a Pina Bausch biography shot in 3-D renew public interest in ballet?

By: Ringo Bones

As one of the most beautiful fineries of Western Civilization, it is somewhat unfair that ballet had been hastily consigned to the dung-heap of contemporary Western pop culture. Despite of a brief renaissance in the 1980s – remember famed premier danseur Mikhail Baryshnikov appearing in the movie White Nights? My first-hand memories of how young women perceived the art of ballet during the 1980s was its uselessness against fending off attacking muggers and rapists. Making them more interested (or does prioritize seem more apt?) in types of martial arts that guarantee “attacker neutralization” and concealed small-arms proficiency. While the hi-fi revival of the 1990s got me going to live ballet shows for the live orchestral accompaniment, it does seem that Western interest in ballet has been slowly on the wan.

Will the biographical film of famed ballet choreographer Pina Bausch shot in 3-D by famed director Wim Wenders ever renew the public’s waning interest of the beautiful art of ballet? After all famed German modern dance choreographer Philippine “Pina” Bausch did became a leading influence of the development of the Tanztheater (Dance Theatre) style of dance and spread Classical Ballet awareness of audiophiles during the Golden Age of Stereo. But first, here’s a brief history of ballet.

Ballet comes from the Italian word ballare, meaning to dance. The word ballet is used in two ways. In one sense it means a form of theatrical presentation in which a story or mood is depicted by means of dancing – usually accompanied by music – in a production with scenery and costumes. In the second sense, ballet means a complex, highly refined technique of dancing in which the Western World calls Classical Ballet. This technique gives the dancer great physical strength and control. A style characterized by dignity, simplicity and elegance.

The history of ballet, as we know in the form today, begins in the 16th Century when the Italian Catherine de Médicis married the heir to the throne of France in 1533. In her new homeland, she was said to have introduced gelato (Italian ice cream), lettuce, artichokes and the art of ballet. At first, only men took dancing seriously; women did not appear on the stage. But in 1681, Le Triomphe de l’amour a ballet by Jean Baptiste de Lully featured the first ever professional female dancer – Mademoiselle Lafontaine. So great was her success that others soon followed. Like their male colleagues, they were trained at the Académie. Their schooling was not nearly so rigorous as it is today, but it was based on the same fundamental techniques that are now taught throughout the world.

Given that I have a few young Ukrainian ladies currently enrolled in my vacuum tube electronics class – i.e. a class mostly about electric guitar amplifier construction and maintenance – I have now first hand close up experience on the beauty of Classical Ballet. Their renditions of the five positions, the pirouette and the soubresaut are the best that I’ve seen so far live and in close up. Even though I’ve no idea what a perfectly executed pirouette and soubresaut looks like live without being limited by the 24-frame per second delivery of the medium of film.

According to my ballerina pals, the frame-rate limitations of film does put a damper on the grace and beauty of ballet in comparison to seeing one performed live. But they – like me – are also curious on how much of the dimension and beauty the upcoming 3-D film biography of Pina Bausch and her ballet choreography is captured by famed director Wim Wenders. I mean the proper location and arrangement of the dance performers that can be captured via good 3-D cinematography is an integral part of good ballet choreography, right? By the way, Wim Wenders first became famous to us who have yet to turn 40 from his work in the U2 music video “Stay (Far Away…So Close!)”.

Will Wim Wenders’ 3-D cinematography of Pina Bausch’s film biography ever renew the waning interest of Classical Ballet? Well, if you ask me, I have even doubts that this particular 3-D biography of Pina Bausch will ever be shown in the 3-D cinema of our local mall. Or if it did manage to become as popular as James Cameron’s Avatar, I’ll be very surprise. And if it does become as popular, will Avatar the Musical be not so very far behind?

Why Alice in Wonderland Should Be Done In 3-D?

2010-03-30T07:05:00.000-07:00

Though the rework of this Lewis Carroll classic seem like a merger between Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking glass, but is there a need for it to be done in 3-D?

By: Ringo Bones

Though the 21st Century incarnation of 3-D cinematography is here to stay because it manages to sell itself effortlessly, Über-director Tim Burton might had his own reasons for why should Alice in Wonderland be done in 3-D cinematography. But shouldn’t we be first try to explore what compelled the Oxford mathematician named Charles Dodgson a.k.a. Lewis Carroll to write the two adventures of Alice in the first place and why should it be done under 3-D cinematography?

When Lewis Carroll wrote Alice Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass around the early 1860s, the stereoscope – an instrument that became an extremely popular parlor toy during the Victorian era and 3-D cinematography’s great grandfather – started to gain inroads into English households. Stereoscopes require two separate photographs of a scene – known as a “stereo pair” – taken from slightly different angles. These photographs are placed in a small viewer, which permits one to be seen by the right eye and the other by the left. The brain accepts the disparity between the pictures as normal and blends them into a three-dimensional or 3-D view.

Though the stuffiness of “polite” Victorian era society is well known – just ask Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels, and Friedrich Nietzsche among others – the 2010 remake of Alice in Wonderland didn’t forgot to point it out. It was also at this point in time when many mathematicians – like Lewis Carroll / Charles Dodgson – now see themselves as formulators of possibilities, rather than as “mere” discoverers of truth. Which lead to his development of symbolic logic – an attempt to reduce all human reasoning into a mathematical notation.

Lewis Carroll was the pen name of the serious Oxford mathematics lecturer named Charles Lutwidge Dodgson – author of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass and famed for being the finest photographer of children in Victorian England. Most (?) readers today know that the story was invented for a little girl named Alice Liddell, and that it was told to her out loud one summer’s day before it was written down on paper. While the 2010 remake circles around a 19-year old young lady named Alice Kingsley who was doing her best to go to the hoops and conventions of the “polite” society of Victorian England. What everyone now accepts as to what Alice looks like first came from the illustrations done by Sir John Tenniel, when Lewis Carroll’s Alice Adventures in Wonderland was first published in 1865.

Though Charles Dodgson signed his real name to only his “serious” mathematical works, mathematicians for decades have been intrigued by the rich skein of symbolic logic that is woven into fantasies like Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass. It is very likely that Charles Dodgson – a.k.a. Lewis Carroll – influenced Albert Einstein in using familiar situations of his “thought experiments” to explain the unfamiliar ideas of higher mathematics. Thus making Dodgson’s less serious fantasy literature as a “thought experiment” set in prose form. Even contemporary science fiction like Star Trek has inspired Professor Miguel Alcubierre to formulate his now famous Alcubierre Equation.

Lewis Carroll’s famous Alice often gets entangled in many a verbal jungle in the wonderland on the other side of the looking glass, but much of that tangled verbiage can be hacked away via the sharp blade of symbolic logic. The mathematical symbolism of symbolic logic might seem incomprehensible to the layperson, but it ahs a clear and precise meaning to the logician which plain words just won’t do. In the rigmarole of logical jungles much thicker than that encountered by Alice, symbolic logic has been used successfully to blaze a trail to the heart of the meaning of vague or complex arguments in law and metaphysics.

To those in the know, symbolic logic is the most introspective of the Victorian era supermaths. It is a notation for stating and manipulating all sorts of propositions so as to bring both sequiturs and non-sequiturs into mercilessly sharp relief. Through symbolic logic, mathematicians have undertaken a Sisyphean task in which to classify and analyze the thoughts involved in every branch of mathematics. With the aim of identifying the axioms and procedures at the base of each and of reducing all possible proofs to the barest skeletons.

Symbolic logic has produced one of the most curious and influential theorems in all modern mathematics. This is Gödel’s Proof – an extremely abstract line of reasoning which shows that no useful branch of mathematics can be constructed on a consistent set of axioms without raising questions unanswerable within the framework of the axioms themselves.

Now that we know how the fantastic mind of Charles Dodgson / Lewis Carroll works at work and at play, it is now safe to assume that the “inherent weirdness” of the 2010 remake of Alice in Wonderland is as predictable as several impossible things happening right before breakfast. The conflict between the Red Queen and the White Queen may appear to some to be influenced by the conflict between Queen Elizabeth I and Mary Queen of Scots. But I just can’t help myself thinking that Helena Bonham Carter’s portrayal of the Red Queen poke’s fun at the North Korean dear leader Kim Jong Il.

Alice in Wonderland – especially the 3-D version – is nothing less than a contemporary cinematographic extravaganza, director Tim Burton should be praised for having an eye for detail for the little things. That Martin Scorsese like eye for detain in the scene where the White Queen (Anne Hathaway) and Alice (Mia Wasikowska) are in the Quite Queen’s somewhat over-lit kitchen / apothecary. Where Alice’s tiny and delicately blonde arm hairs got iridescently emphasized by the overly lit atmosphere of the White Queen’s kitchen / apothecary. Not to mention Mia Wasikowska’s brilliant make-up team that allowed her delicate blonde lashes to shine through. Probably reminding everyone that there is a G-Rated way to tell if the carpet matches the drapes – or is it making us movie geeks with Y-chromosomes nostalgic about our middle-school era Swedish exchange student crushes.

Revolutionary Idealism Sells: But Who’s Buying?

2010-03-19T04:25:00.000-07:00

Used to be freely and spontaneously expressed by pioneering filmmakers for whom it has profound meaning, but has revolutionary idealism recently became nothing more that Madison Avenue’s Latest marketing ploy?

By: Ringo Bones

Maybe its just I got just a little fed up back in the 1990s about those clueless-about-Marxist-Leninist-socialism souls who thought those cute Che Guevara T-shirts were very snazzy just because they were promoted by Rage Against the Machine. But is this phenomenon returning in a much more insidious form, especially of the recent blockbuster success of the anti-imperialism and revolutionary idealism sentiment of James Cameron’s Avatar being used to peddle 3-D capable wide-screen TVs for the home?

Maybe the big four TV makers, namely LG, Panasonic, Samsung and Sony, simply resorted to the next logical step in marketing when they decided to use the runaway 3-D success of Avatar. Let’s just hope that these “new generation” of 3-D capable wide-screen TVs to be launched by June 2010 are budget friendly enough for those who want to bring the Avatar experience into a domestic setting. But I also have reservations when it comes to a medium’s predictability – whether film or other mass media outlet – utilized as a moneymaking scheme by major entertainment corporations.

When George Lucas toned down the jingoism of Star Wars via the now famous line: “ A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away” in order to tailor it to a post Vietnam War weary America, it did insure financial success for his masterful trilogy - Cold War-era cynicism notwithstanding. But mediums can be unpredictable too despite of how much an artist’s creativity attempts to manipulate it. When Exene Cervenka and Lydia Lunch lambasted the Internet in their satire titled Rude Hieroglyphics back in 1995 as a waste of both time and money. Little did they know that the Internet is probably the only media outlet where Rude Hieroglyphics and the rest of their music exists without being molested by US government censorship.

Some say bestowing the Oscar Best Director to Kathryn Bigelow for the sheer brilliance of The Hurt Locker is probably the best way to mark the 2010 International Women’s Day because no woman has ever received the accolade since. And a growing number even suggested that there should be a 3-D remake of Sergei M. Eisenstein’s Potemkin, though this remains to be seen. But to me bestowing the Best Director accolade to Kathryn Bigelow is probably this year’s most interesting way to mark International Women’s Day by breaking the “Glass Ceiling” that’s been haunting this accolade for far too long. I just hope that LG, Panasonic, Samsung, and Sony doesn’t forget to preach about revolutionary idealism when they sell those 3-D capable wide-screen TVs. Or subject us lowly consumers into another BETAMAX versus VHS battle when it comes to domestic 3-D capable widescreen displays.

A 3-D Movie Remake of Potemkin

2010-03-02T02:45:00.000-08:00

Given that James Cameron managed to achieve both commercial and critical success of his Avatar, will a remake of Eisenstein’s Potemkin manage to achieve the same results?

By: Ringo Bones

With the recent failure of the Copenhagen Climate Conference held last December 2009, it seems that the prevailing policies governing on how the finite resources of our planet now mirror that of the prevailing social conditions that led into the looming shipboard mutiny in Odessa. Given that the White Anglo-Saxon Christian elite seems to have the final say on how our planet’s finite resource extraction should be appropriated, will a planet-wide Potemkin-like mutiny be not so farfetched?

To the uninitiated – especially those who are the White-bred children of avid Tea Party 21st Century version advocates – Potemkin is a silent movie classic directed by the great Sergei Mikhailovich Eisenstein back in 1925. The movie is an account of a shipyard mutiny in Odessa. Potemkin wasn’t only one of the great “montage” films of Soviet-era Russia but also is considered as one of the masterpieces of the silent screen.

During the Golden Age of the Russian silent film era of 1924 to 1930, leading directors of the time – such as Vesevolod I. Pudovkin, Dziga Vertov, Lev Kurleshov, Alexander Dovzhenko and of course Sergei M. Eisenstein – started a movement in cinematography that would forever change it. Revolutionary idealism – freely and spontaneously expressed by artists for whom it had profound meaning – produced such outstanding works as Potemkin (1925), Mother (1925), The End of St. Petersburg (1927), Ten Days That shook the World (1928) and Earth (1930).

Despite of Cold War era censorship – remember the Red Menace tirade of Senator McCarthy of commies hiding in Hollywood? A fortunate few Americans still manage to see these films because Sergei M. Eisenstein has a reverence for the Hollywood film industry. Eisenstein visited Hollywood in 1930 and under the sponsorship of Upton Sinclair, later went on to Mexico to shoot a panoramic study of Mexican history and culture.

In the here and now, it seems that real life is almost imitating art. With the recent runaway success of James Cameron’s Avatar, the anti-imperialism theme of the movie seems to have been forcibly dragged kicking and screaming to become the fashionable ideology of the moment due to the recent failure of the Copenhagen Climate Conference. Add to that the way multinational corporations managed to swindle indigenous communities from their sustainably utilized natural resources while polluting their environment over the years that it is now save to assume that planet Earth is now set up to become one big Battleship Potemkin. Where you don’t even need those 3-D glasses to get engaged for the fight of you’re very own survival.

Given that the politics behind James Cameron’s Avatar mimic that of the revolutionary idealism of Sergei Eisenstein and his compatriots to create silent film classics, a remake of Potemkin – especially an up to date 3-D version – would probably be accepted by today’s moviegoers with open arms. More urgently so, especially when global warming skepticism and a renewed White Anglo-Saxon Protestant apologetic embrace of neo-NAZI ideology in order to counter Islamic extremism has become intellectually fashionable at the moment. And it should be in 3-D format given that Sergei Eisenstein – after seeing his first ever 3-D movie in the late 1920s – said that the future of cinematography was the 3-D motion picture. And given his newly earned clout in the Hollywood film industry due to the Oscar-worthiness of Avatar, maybe James Cameron should direct it.

Can Optical Refinements Be Used To Improve 3-D Movie Cinematography?

2010-02-11T02:10:00.000-08:00

First used by the ancient Greeks to make the architectural layout of the Parthenon appear “visually perfect”, can optical refinements be used to minimize the exaggerated depth disparity in 3-D movies?

By: Ringo Bones

Ever since the first school-kid began to obsess about the correctness of the aspect ratio of their first perfectly crafted school project diorama, cinematographers also noticed that they too need an artistically refined way to present their newly discovered craft in order to achieve some form of legitimacy. Thus the filmmakers’ attempt at presenting the world as a stage as if they are shooting an actual stage play – which believe it or not – is still a proven formula of cinematography till this day. But with the advent of supposedly pixel perfect 3-D movie cameras, will cinematographers need to upgrade their art in order to make 3-D movies that look “natural” to our eyes?

Since their invention, 3-D movie cameras are based on the way our two eyes look in the same direction at once. And also the way they are laid out at roughly two and a half inches apart from center to center and therefore are not aimed in exactly the same line. While different technologies are used throughout the years to coordinate and harmonize those two distinct left and right field pictures – and we are getting better at it. A problem still exists – often referred to as the diorama effect – where an exaggerated depth disparity in the 3-D camera’s visual field plagues 3-D movie cinematographers for some time now in their quest for a natural looking 3-D movie. But can optical refinements be used to solve this somewhat intransigent cinematographical dilemma?

When referring to reliable historical documentation, optical refinements were first introduced by the ancient Greek architects of the Parthenon supposedly to “loosen up the mathematical strictness” of the “shapely thinking” of the ancient Greeks. Though it was probably done more to counteract our eyes’ inherent propensity for optical illusions. For without the introduction of optical refinements in the form of slight curves to the whole structure that is hardly visible to the unaided eye. The architects of the Parthenon could have created a building that looks “crooked” – i.e. a visual impression of the building’s visual field sagging towards the center - even though the long horizontal lines and perfectly perpendicular vertical intersections are plumb-bob perfect straight.

Optical illusions are commonly defined as physiologically perceived visual images that don’t correspond to objective reality. Does the diorama-effect or exaggerated depth disparity between objects or subjects in a 3-D movie’s visual field nothing more than an optical illusion? Toeing-in the two lenses would probably rectify this problem. Or digital video software that automatically compensates for the aspect ratio of the scene being shot could be a solution.

Avatar: First Oscar Worthy 3-D Movie?

2010-01-14T02:35:00.000-08:00

The inherent technical difficulties in the production and distribution of 3-D movies notwithstanding, will James Cameron’s Avatar be the first ever Oscar-worthy 3-D movie?

By: Ringo Bones

Ever since the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences got started back in 1927 with 2,075 members. This cultural organization composed of producers, actors, technicians and others associated with the film industry had never considered 3-D movies to be Oscar-worthy enough to receive one of their prestigious annually dispensed awards. But will it be eventually changed when the first ever Oscar-worthy 3-D movie called Avatar could win this year’s Oscars?

As a whole, 3-D movies are not known historically to be big box office draws or Academy Award-worthy. When one looks into the 1950s – were most movie buffs believe to be the Golden Age of 3-D movies – its very hard to miss that 3-D cinema usually means B-Movie science fiction and creature feature horror flicks. Even the 3-D version of Jaws – probably the highest grossing 3-D movie before Avatar came along – fall into this category.

Sometimes I wonder if James Cameron’s high statistical probability of box office success was down to his flirtations with Marxist-Leninist socialism. I mean the salient feature of his 1998 remake of Titanic was about class struggle, right? If it worked for Sergei Mikhailovich Eisenstein’s Potemkin – you know, that 1925 silent film classic about a shipboard mutiny in Odessa – surely, something like it would be a success in today’s capitalism weary post credit crunch world.

Thus came Avatar, a 400 million-dollar anti-imperialism Marxist-Leninist socialism leaning science fiction epic that has been touted as this year’s main Oscar Best Picture contender. Not only because of the technically brilliant use of contemporary state-of-the-art visual effects, but also a story line reminiscent of Sergei Eisenstein’s vision of revolutionary idealism set in the backdrop of everyone’s contemporary weariness of capitalism by the masses disenfranchised by the empty promises of the Protestant Work Ethic.

Though the movie Avatar leans more in reminding us on the environmentalist leaning ideals of Friedrich Engels, the salient feature of the movie has always been the critique on where our current “Imperialistic Organized Christianity” is heading. The 2003 invasion of Iraq is just a foreshadowing of the up and coming excesses of the good old days of the Inquisition. The movie – as a morality tale for the supposed present day arbiters of morality – may not be perfect. Nonetheless, it might just prove on what the Nobel Laureate Doris Lessing used to day about science fiction – that they are more social, rather than science, driven stories.

3-D Movies: Future Prolix?

2010-01-02T04:23:00.000-08:00

Given that our current cinematic knowledge is now over a century old, will 3-D ever become a cinematic standard due to the recently renewed interest?

By: Ringo Bones

Did academia’s early foray into experimental psychology – especially on how the visual aspect of our mind works - was probably more influential to the art and science of movie making than once previously thought? A hundred years ago, a young psychologist named Max Wertheimer took a train bound for the Rhineland for a summer holiday back in 1910. Unexpectedly, he was suddenly struck with an inspiration that led him to get off the train at Frankfurt. While there, he went to a local toy-shop and bought a stroboscope, which later made him borrow a little space at the University of Frankfurt for his experiments – which lasted for six years. By the way, a toy stroboscope is a device that shows a series of still pictures in rapid succession, thus giving the illusion of movement to the observer.

The decision for Wertheimer to buy that toy stroboscope came about due to his speculations about the phenomena that had puzzled psychologists for some time back then. That humans thought they saw motion when two similar objects appeared in quick succession. The most obvious example, of course, is the appearance of motion given by a succession of discrete photographs that make up motion picture frames, which we see as “moving pictures”. A similar effect can be achieved by placing two lights side by side in a dark room, switching them on and off alternately. To the observer, one light seems to dance to and fro. To Max Wertheimer these phenomena, and the effects produced by the toy stroboscope, were convincing proof that sensation alone could not account for our perception of motion; Wertheimer was sure that something more than the five senses was involved in perception.

For the next 30 years, Max Wertheimer and two colleagues, Wolfgang Köhler and Kurt Koffka, became the principal spokesmen for what became known as the Gestalt School of Psychology. Gestalt – which mean “shape” or “form” – has come in psychological terminology to mean “whole”. The “gestalt experiments” – i.e. those experiments done by Wertheimer and colleagues as they are now known – were designed to prove that perception is a more extraordinary phenomenon than the combination of the separate elements of sensation. Wertheimer and team argued, rather, that perception operates, so to speak, in reverse by concluding that we tend to perceive a whole configuration first and then the separate elements. The “Gestalt School” believed that immediate, meaningful perception is arrived at by our mental ability to create relationships.

If the preceding topic is deemed too pedantic and too clinical for your average film school graduate, be reminded that the “gestalt school” probably influenced the pioneers of “movie making” the now familiar aspects of cinematography and film scene editing. Not to mention pointing to the proper direction on how film / motion picture medium can be used to tell a meaningful story, while still retaining a broad scope of cinematic artistic license. Thanks to the insights gained by the founders of the Gestalt School of Psychology when it comes to our own visual perception.

This is why if our current renewed interest in 3-D movies ever becomes economically viable enough to become an industry standard – rather than a mere gimmicky fad during the previous decades of the 20th Century. The new generation of cinematographers interested in 3-D movie making should reexamine the Gestalt School for inspiration. This 100-year-old or so “old school” thinking will probably inspire a generation of young cinematographers to create a 3-D movie that’s even better than James Cameron’s 400 million dollar anti-imperialist epic called Avatar.