Re: [photo-3d] House of Wax in Richmond

[Gabriel Jacob <3-d@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Thanks Boris for that report out of Richmond! I remember the long block-
length line at the midnight showing of Dial M for Murder in 98 at the Byrd
theatre for the NSA convention. It was interesting to note that there were
a lot of young (non NSA member) people in that crowd also.

>I am still thinking about the how and why of 3d motion pictures.  Although
>I am totally convinced that 3d has a very good functional and aesthetic
>contribution to make to still photography, each time I have seen an older
>full length 3d movie, I have come away thinking that it would have been
>just about as good shown flat.  I.e. why bother with the 3d in the first
>place?

That's interesting. I always come away feeling the 3-D having a significant
impact on older movies and being the only reason I ever would watch
them! For example, two years ago at a 3-D two week long movie festival,  I
saw a vintage ~50 year old 3-D promotional clip of new upcoming cars. I
enjoyed watching it very much but couldn't help thinking that I would never
watch if it wasn't in 3-D!

I guess I'll watch anything if it's in 3-D AND reasonably projected. Before
anyone says the novelty of 3-D movies soons wears off , I have seen a
lot of 3-D movies, and never tire watching them. Of course the same
thing can't be said for the general public and I can sadly see Boris's
point about 2-D movies being just as effective for many people.

>Of the movies I've seen, only with the modern IMAX "Into the Deep" did I
>feel that the 3d added a compelling functionality.  This is because the 3d
>helped to clarify a relatively alien and unfamiliar environment, and
>because the film was so immersive (pardon the pun), with fish images
>filling the entire spatial volume in the field of vision; from arms-length
>to infinity.

Into the Deep was very immersive for sure and 3-D did add a compelling
functionality but then if we use this argument, the same thing can be
said for color and stereosound. If 3-D should have a compelling functionality,
color and stereosound should too.

I've heard it many times being stated that Dial M for Murder would have
been just as effective in 2-D and Hitchcock not taking advantage of the
medium. That is just as well and maybe without he realizing it, I think
it's one of the better 3-D movies! The reason I say that is because the
3-D shouldn't be the main attraction. I remember when color TV
programming was introduced, the colors were garish and overstated,
just so, to take full advantage of color. After a few short years the colors
were muted, thankfully! The same thing can be said for 3-D. I think it's
usually people just starting out that  want to make maximum use of 3-D
depth using those maximum depth calculations. They're forgetting that
this is a distorted view of 3-D, much like using the whole color pallete
just because it's there.

P.S. Of course more experienced people working in the industry have
to take orders from higher up and have to empasize the 3-D just
to get them in!

Gabriel