3-D Movies and stuff

[P3D <DavidH8083@xxxxxxx>]

Kiss Me Kate:
> "Kiss Me, Kate" in 3D on VHS tape/ I've seen this movie many times
>,but never in 3D, and I,d really like to
> This film has just been shown on TV in the UK and the information in the
>papers mentioned that it was originaly shot in 3D but but like Greg .J.
>Wagman says  that it was never actualy released that way .
------
Oh, it definitely played in 3-D in original release, though not in many
cities, since by then theater owners were turning their backs on the
stereoscopic films as being too much trouble.  (as we all know, a 3-D film
only needs to be out sync by half a frame and you're in trouble). Any not
only was the film in stereo, but so was the soundtrack-on another separate
reel. Yes for the theater running Kiss Me Kate in 3-D with stereo sound they
not only had to sync two projector heads, but also a third head equipped with
a four-track magnetic reader.  Last time the film played here in NYC Turner
classics even shipped up the four track mag reel, though sadly we did not
have a third head for the stereo sound, but it was interesting to see the
sound reel with mag tracks spaced across the width of the 35mm film.
-------------
It's always dangerous to assign a "first" in film history (I've had to eat my
hat a number of times and I am supposedly a professional writer in the
field), but while Star Wars did make use of motion control camera systems on
a scale never before attempted (even barely dreamed about), it's hard to call
it a "first" as "motion-control" shots have appeared thoughout the history of
film -- even back to silent film days. Though in terms of modern technology
Star Wars owes it's most immediate roots back to the camera systems developed
by Douglas Trumbull for 2001 and before that to the experimental films of
John Whitney.

By the way, Larry Cuba who was responsible for creating the computer graphics
used in Star Wars (the Death Star technical readouts that are projected in
the conference room scene at the end), is also an active stereographer and
member of the Stereo Club of So. Ca., or was, the last time I was there.

     The Pixar short KnickKnack, was indeed rendered stereoscopically and has
played that way at a number of computer graphics gatherings.  At one in New
York, I watched the set-up in the booth.  And like Kiss Me KAte, it is
separate left and right reels, plus a third reel with stereo sound, all of
which have to run in sync.
      For awhile Disney's Jeffrey Katzenberg (well, late of Disney) was
really hot on making 3-D films, having seen the Pixar 3-D demos and the
Disney park films, but wider heads prevailed pointing out that the
breathtaking care that is necessary in the booth for it all to come together.
Sadly, such care and expertise is not very common.  Too many theater managers
are more concerned with selling popcorn and care little about the actual
quality of what happens in the theater. Of course, there are exceptions, but
sadly they ARE exceptions.

David Hutchison, STARLOG
DavidH8083@xxxxxxx


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End of PHOTO-3D Digest 1438
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