8th January 2008.
 Cinema is reaching new depths. No, I don’t mean the stupidity of such fare as ALIENS VS. PREDATOR – REQUIEM, marking the first time I haven’t found H R. Giger’s classic creature scary in the least. I’m talking about the revolution that’s happening on our screens thanks to the likes of Real D, Dolby Labs, NuVision and the most recognizable brand name of all event presentation, IMAX. I recently had lunch with Michael Lewis, the Chairman and CEO of Real D, the market leader in 3D cinema, because I wanted to get my head around what’s being touted as the biggest cinematic advance since the advent of sound and colour.
Until I met with Lewis I thought all the up-coming 3D movies – SCAR 3D, the one we tried to show last FrightFest, U2 3D, FLY ME TO THE MOON, JOURNEY 3D and CORALINE – signalled just the latest attempt to lure audiences away from home DVD. Cynics would say finally putting mobile phone signal blockers in place and actually have ushers shut noisy patrons up would be a good step too! The film industry took on television in the Fifties and videotape in the Eighties the same way with films such as HOUSE OF WAX and JAWS 3D that flung everything and the kitchen sink out into the auditorium causing viewers to duck and cower.
But that’s not the case with the current revival of the stereoscopic glasses format. It’s why such Hollywood luminaries as Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, Peter Jackson, Tim Burton and James Cameron are all currently involved in creating 3D tent pole pictures. In fact Lewis sees Christmas 2009, the date when Cameron’s $200 million science-fiction epic AVATAR, starring Sigourney Weaver, gets released, as crucial as THE JAZZ SINGER was back in 1927.
“It’s going to change everything”, says Lewis. “There will be all the movies before AVATAR, and then all the new movies after it. Cameron is not using 3D as a gimmick, shoving spaceships in your face. What he’s doing is directing within the 3D space. He’s referred to 3D as turbo-charging the viewing experience and his producing partner Jon Landau says making the screen disappear is their aim. Cameron is pushing the needle from a filmmaking standpoint. He’s been working on AVATAR for ten years doing 3D documentaries to test out all the abilities of the process meaning it will be unlike any production you or I will ever have seen before. New 3D is all about pure cinema. Everyone was terrified of Cinemascope in the Fifties – how were they going to fill that enormous frame? But true artistry came out of that format. The same is happening with 3D because it’s experiential rather than interactive. A whole new immersive cinematic language is about to be invented and it’s going to take the Camerons and Spielbergs of this world to show how it’s done”
The latest advances in 3D technology, Lewis’ Real D especially, has come about because the tools are offshoots of NASA and other defence companies’ design methods. “We’ve just married great science with digital technology to engineer the most sophisticated and exciting way to see a movie on the planet. Period”. Forget splitting headaches like in the old days of red and green plastic lenses blurring the black-and-white scares of CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON. Lewis continues, “Real D means you can tilt your head and move around. It doesn’t matter where you sit the 3D image is perfect. We use software – called ghostbusters - to correct double imaging for complete clarity. Eye fatigue is not a factor either because we shutter the image at 144 frames per second, not the 24 film average, making for more comfortable viewing. Today’s 3D is so amazing every film using it becomes a must-see event”.
Okay, the summer blockbusters will have to compete with Spielberg and Jackson’s THE ADVENTURES OF TINTIN trilogy, Burton’s ALICE IN WONDERLAND and CGI cartoons such as MONSTERS VS. ALIENS. What about the other 20% of movies that don’t feature spectacle, sensation or special effects? Lewis argues, “Energies will soon filter down into romantic comedies and dramas. No question every film will have to embrace the technology sooner or later because it draws you into even the most mundane of actions like walking or having a conversation. Post AVATAR, if your competitor has a movie in 3D in whatever genre and you don’t, you have a massive problem”.
5000 cinemas globally will be equipped with the Real D system by 2009. Other 3D vendors and IMAX will swell that figure enormously because it’s not only movies that are going to benefit. Lewis explains, “The next platform is live feeds of sports matches and other pop concert events for the ultimate up close and personal feel. You will be on the field next to your favourite player, or beside the superstar as they sing their hits. Older movies than STAR WARS will get converted too. I saw an early test of the famous scene from SINGIN’ IN THE RAIN and it’s like you are in the street dancing with Gene Kelly. The possibilities are endless”.
Nor will the wearing of glasses be an encumbrance for much longer. Auto Stereo is the future. That’s what experiencing 3D without glasses is called. “We use it already in some of our engineering applications”, says Lewis, “But it’s not ready for prime time just yet. It’s still five years away from consumer application. Normal 3D splits the image into right and left eye perspectives. Auto Stereo means splitting the image into nine different angles but how you film that for display has got to be worked out properly. It looks so cool though. We’ll be on that STAR TREK Holodeck very soon, that’s where this technology is going!”
Until next time…
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