Aaron Miller, Ricochet: 3D Films Are Nothing More Than a Gimmick
In this letter, Hollywood film editor Walter Murch explains why 3D in films can only ever be a gimmick.
….So 3D films require us to focus at one distance and converge at another. And 600 million years of evolution has never presented this problem before. All living things with eyes have always focussed and converged at the same point. ….This is a deep problem, which no amount of technical tweaking can fix. Nothing will fix it short of producing true “holographic” images.
I’ve seen two films in the past year which employ the latest 3D technology, and was unimpressed. But I assumed the technology just hadn’t been mastered yet, because such acclaimed directors as Steven Spielberg and James Cameron had said they would film exclusively in 3D in the future. I trusted the professionals.
Apparently, the professionals are fools. Like all human beings, they are willful and sometimes let desires cloud their judgement.
Then there are people like me who have no depth perception which renders all 3D movies – stupid!
I am very successfully letting this fad pass me by. Like most of the rest. Evaluate something after a coupla years, don’t be the first on your block to toss your dollars down a hole. I don’t even go to theaters for movies – I let them come to me. Cheaper, and the quality of the audience around me is improved.
Movie makers fail to understand that the magic in movies that people come to see doesnt occur on screen, it occurs in the minds of the audience. The harder they work to keep the audience out of the process of making magic, the more the audiences will turn away.
I’ve never seen a movie in my life that where I’ve ever said:
“Boy I sure wish this was in 3D”.
I may have said that I wished a ‘Black and White’ movie was in color and I might even have said that I wished that a color movie was in Black and White but Ive never wished for 3D.
3D films present the audience with an unreal forced perspective. To make the 3D effect work, the camera has to move in ways that people do not. The result is a nauseating flow of movement that leaves the audience detached from whatever emotional impact the scene is meant to carry.
I think the bigger reason that 3D fails is for the same reason that garlic can fail in cooking. Ideally, garlic enhances the flavor of whatever its used with, it does not overpower the dish. When garlic is used incorrectly, that’s all you can taste. 3D completely overpowers whatever is going on in the scene. The result is that you lose connection with the characters. You are not drawn into the move with 3D, you are repelled.
If directors want to bring more people into theaters they need to make movies that people can connect with. To do that, they need to not do as much.
My case is best made with a movie called “The Artist”
A silent, black and white movie – Released this year. Dont miss it!
I have seen one 3D Imax movie and have looked at 3D screens at Costco. The IMAX required polarized glasses, which forced me to keep my head straight. I got tired of that pretty quickly, and left the theater.
The 3D sets at Costco made the actors look like animated 2D cardboard cutouts set several inches in front of a flat 2D background. The perspective forcing made the 3D look more 2D to me than regular 2D movies.
I’m very, very glad I got to see a demo before I wasted my cash.