3-D: The future of film lies this way

http://www.thestar.com/article/202531

 

Apr 14, 2007 04:30 AM

Bruce DeMara
Entertainment Reporter

 

Coming soon to a theatre near you, 3-D – the technology behind the laughable 1950s gimmick with the goofy red-blue glasses – is poised to change the face of filmmaking.

 

With world-class directors like Peter Jackson, Robert Zemeckis, Stephen Spielberg, George Lucas and James Cameron clamouring to get on board, and studio moguls like DreamWorks chief executive Jeffrey Katzenberg extolling the virtues of the vastly improved technology, 3-D may become the vehicle that keeps movie houses humming in the years ahead.

 

Adina Lebo, spokesperson for the Canadian Motion Picture Theatres Association, goes so far as to call 3-D a major part of a "renaissance" in filmmaking at a time when box offices are competing for the consumer dollar with home entertainment, video games and other leisure pursuits.

 

"It is a very competitive market and everybody is looking for ways to compete for the public's entertainment dollar and their time," Lebo said.

 

"It's a renaissance. (A 3-D film) is more compelling, more intense...and immersive. It puts you in the 3-D world of the film, wherever that is."

 

The evidence for an emerging new age in 3-D filmmaking is stacking up:

 

Cameron has publicly stated he intends to make all of his future films in 3-D. His latest live-action project, Avatar, set for release in 2009 by Twentieth Century Fox, reportedly has a budget approaching a titanic $200 million.

 

Zemeckis' animated film version of Beowulf is set for release in November, while in 2008 New Line will release Journey 3-D, a live action film about a trip to the centre of the Earth.

 

Lucas has announced plans to release 3-D versions of his Star Wars films. Jackson and Spielberg are both planning films in 3-D.

 

IMAX Corporation, which has developed its own version of 3-D, has reported major success – with the release of documentaries and films like Space Station and a 3-D version of Polar Express – and as a result has dramatically improved its bottom line in the past few years.

 

Theatres are increasing their capability to screen 3-D features, as evidenced by Chicken Little, which debuted on 84 screens in 2005, a 3-D version of Tim Burton's Nightmare Before Christmas that opened last October on 187 screens and last month's release of Disney's Meet The Robinsons, which premiered on 581 screens.

 

Companies like RealD in Los Angeles have created vastly improved 3-D projection systems. Competitors worldwide, including Dolby Laboratories, are following their lead in developing the technology.

 

At a time when theatres across North America and the world are converting from 35-mm projection systems to digital, new 3-D systems are affordable and easily adaptable to the new digital technology.

 

And while animation has, up to this point, been relatively easy to convert to a 3-D format, industry insiders forecast that live-action 3-D films are around the corner.

 

"I personally believe that the future of 3-D ... is taking live-action Hollywood films and converting key pieces of them to 3-D," said Greg Foster, president of filmed entertainment for IMAX, pointing to last year's release of Superman Returns –where four action segments comprising 20 minutes of the film were converted to 3-D – as a major breakthrough.

 

While remaining coy, Foster promised the corporation will announcing future IMAX 3-D releases in the near future.

 

Pat Marshall, spokesperson for Cineplex Entertainment – Canada's largest theatre chain – said the positive audience reaction to the small number of its theatres that have 3-D capability shows the technology is "an important part of the future for us."

 

"The fact that so many filmmakers, especially of the calibre of James Cameron ... say they want to make their films in 3-D bodes very well for the technology," Marshall said, noting the chain has converted four theatres to RealD technology so far.

 

William White and William Reeve, the two principals behind 3-D Camera Company, are among the wave of entrepreneurs cashing in on the dash toward new 3-D technology.

 

With offices in Toronto and Berlin, Reeve and White have developed the world's smallest lightweight mobile super 35-mm film-based camera system that they hope will soon replace the much heavier and bulkier cameras used in IMAX-type 3-D filmmaking.

 

White said the arrival of the new 3-D technology is just the latest stage in the evolution of film that began with black and white silent films, progressed to talkies and then to colour film and – in the latest stage – from two dimensions to three.

 

The demand for 3-D technology will continue to grow as theatres seek to boost their audiences. To date, the relatively small number of 3-D films on offer have outsold 2-D films by two-to-one in terms of revenue, White said.

 

Reeve – who in 2000 designed the first 3-D demonstration project for director Cameron – said he believes studios in the future will no longer advertise a film as being produced in 3-D, but that it will simply become "the standard."

 

Reeve said 3-D was first developed in the 1950s with the proliferation of television in people's homes that led to a drop in theatre attendance.

 

The second wave in 3-D came about 17 years ago with pioneers like IMAX developing the giant-screen presentation with Surround Sound that came closer than ever to replicating what people could actually see with their own eyes. The new 3-D technology will make that experience even more realistic, Reeve said.

 

"The first question people ask is, `Do you still have to wear those funky red-and-green glasses?' No. You still have to wear glasses but they're colourless with a very slight neutral tint," Reeve said.

 

"Some day, people will have their own eyewear that they'll take to the theatre."

 

While the blending of 3-D and live-action films will soon become a matter of course, Foster sounded a note of caution.

 

"I think 3-D is here to stay, as long as it remains un-gimmicky," he said.

 

"We've learned ... you cannot take a Hollywood film, convert it into 3-D and automatically turn it into a big-event blockbuster. It's not about 3-D, it's about the movie," Foster said.

 

Foster said his company "carefully handpicks" each product it converts to 3-D, adding, wryly, "I wouldn't want to do My Dinner With Andre in 3-D.

 

"It isn't a movie that lends itself to 3-D."

 

Marshall and Lebo say 3-D technology has applications beyond film.

 

As movie chains continue to expand their business by incorporating "alternative programming" in their theatre spaces – such as live sports and concerts – testing has already begun on converting them into the 3-D format.

 

Marshall said an NBA game brought to a test audience in 3-D was enthusiastically received and Lebo said the ShoWest convention in Las Vegas for industry leaders featured a U2 concert in 3-D.

 

That creates a huge potential to bring Broadway shows, opera and dance into the movie theatre space, they say. The sky really is the limit.

 

As Lebo said, "Could you imagine 3-D performing arts from around the world coming to a movie theatre on your choice? It's quite interesting times."

 

Shades of Smell-O-Vision

 

Sure, we may be on the cusp of a 3-D revolution, but the next-next stage in the moviegoing experience may be just around the bend.

 

Some interactive 4-D theatres have popped up in places like Washington's Newseum museum and the Las Vegas Hilton. The theatres allow audiences to feel sensations while they watch the film – which, as it turns out, is hardly a new idea.

 

Back in the 1950s, huckster/director William Castle employed such infamous moviegoing gimmicks as "Percepto" – which sent a buzz through select seats in theatres during screeners of 1959's The Tingler – while 1960's Scent of Mystery arrived with "Smell-O-Vision," which issued forth 30 different scents triggered by the soundtrack.

 

4-D offers more advanced gimmickery, which combines a 3-D film with such effects as leg ticklers built into chairs, wind machines and the release of water mists to enhance the experience. So far, 4-D appears to be in use mostly with theme parks and exhibits, and not with any narrative filmmaking.

 

All we need, it seems, is another William Castle to blaze the trail.

 

Derek Tse