3-D may be in for a rebirth, with the release of a number of movies in the new "digital 3-D" format. Don't rush out and buy the specs, though - only one cinema in Ireland is equipped to screen them. Denis Cliffordreports.
A celebrated cinematic myth holds that the audience at an 1896 film screening in France ran in terror at the sight of a train apparently moving towards them off the screen. Less well known is the fact that Louis Lumière remade his pioneering film (L'Arrivée d'un Train en Gare de La Ciotat) four decades later. The 1936 version was part of a series of experiments with "stereoscopic" - 3-D - cameras carried out by Lumière in his later years.
The Frenchman's interest in 3-D technology came, perhaps, from a desire to recreate the then-astonishing "realism" of the 1896 film. Whether its first audience really fled or not, the film presented a realistic depiction of the world that no visual artform had attained up to that point. Over the past century or so, many directors have turned to 3-D to achieve similar ends. The technique has experienced several boom periods, stimulated by technological innovations that promised ever greater degrees of visual truth.
Another 3-D revival is under way, with a number of upcoming films employing stereoscopic techniques. Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas 3-D is re-released today and the 3-D fantasy film Beowulf will hit screens next month. Meanwhile, James Titanic Cameron is working on two 3-D projects, while 2008 will see the release of a concert flick (U2 3-D) and a Jules Verne adaptation (Journey 3-D).
The stimulus for this flurry of activity has been the development of "digital 3-D" technology. Still employing polarised glasses (now slightly more robust), the technique involves a digital projector rapidly projecting images onto the screen, alternating between those aimed at the left and the right eye. The glasses ensure that each eye sees only part of the onscreen picture. When viewed together, a composite image is formed in the cinemagoer's brain.
The pictures obtainable with digital 3-D surpass those of older analogue techniques in terms of clarity, vividness and fluidity. Another key advancement means that viewers can move their heads without 3-D effects being lost momentarily.
Despite these innovations, the impact of 3-D in Ireland will be limited by a scarcity of cinemas equipped to deal with the new technology. The only Irish cinema that shows 3-D films is the Dundrum multiplex in south Dublin, where 10 of the 12 screens are 3-D compatible.
"The only cinemas that can show these new 3-D films are the ones equipped with digital projectors," explains Dundrum projection manager George Field. "The films can't work on analogue systems; they can only be played with digital equipment. Dundrum is also the only cinema in the country with a real 'silver screen', the appropriate screen for using 3-D."
Silver screens were used widely in the early days of cinema, but are now only used for projecting polarised 3-D films. Silver is highly reflective and is the only material capable of separating two polarised light signals.
Field is unsure whether the latest 3-D revival will last: "Essentially, the original 3-D was little more than a novelty. That's why it died out so quickly. Now it's gone digital; it's got much better quality and much better clarity. Again, it might not last all that long, but we're willing to give it a bash and see how it goes."
But is there more to 3-D than shock factors and gimmicky glasses? The Nightmare Before Christmas 3-D is a case in point. 3-D techniques give the movie an amazing depth of field and draw viewers into the action. Characters frequently turn their backs to the screen, giving the impression that we are looking over their shoulders and seeing their world. However, the moments when the film speaks through 3-D
effects are few: for the most part, the movie uses traditional animation techniques to tell its story. As with many similar works, there is a feeling that the 3-D effects are not intrinsic to the film.
Big-name directors, however, insist that 3-D can create cinematic worlds unattainable through the use of traditional animation and live action. Earlier this year, for example, Steven Spielberg and Peter Jackson signed up to bring Hergé's Tintin comic books to 3-D cinema screens. Spielberg has stated that 3-D performance-capture technology will give the films the reality of live action while honouring the look of Hergé's charming drawings.
Gráinne Humphreys of the Dublin Film Festival has mixed feelings about 3-D's potential for artistry or entertainment. "I think 3-D can enhance a film when it's done properly. In the 1950s, 3-D brought a level of spectacle and effect that you couldn't get on your television."
Now she wonders if 3-D is significantly richer than what's already out there.
"There were effects in the 3-D film Meet the Robinsons that were quite stunning. But animation has come on so far - when you think of the wonderful animation in Ratotouille - that you're fairly close to getting nearly a 3-D effect without the glasses.
"It's going to be a real stretch for people like James Cameron to do something which the traditional forms of cinema haven't been able to do. He's Mr Technology, a gimmicky guy, but I wouldn't put it past him to bring back 3-D in a big sense. Maybe after someone like Cameron, we'll all be surprised and annoyed unless someone makes their films in 3-D."
Cameron's mainstream clout may well also ensure that 3-D techniques are used outside their traditional settings. To date, 3-D has been employed predominantly in genre films, particularly horror (Friday the 13th Part III, Amityville 3-D, the 1953 House of Wax) and sci-fi (Creature from the Black Lagoon), but also westerns (Comin' at Ya!) and thrillers (Alfred Hitchcock's Dial M for Murder). Genre directors are seemingly attracted to the technique's fusion of the on-screen and audience worlds.
3-D is in many ways the filmic equivalent of a stage actor rushing out and grabbing audience members. This is, perhaps, one reason why mainstream directors have largely avoided the technique.
New 3-D techniques continue to emerge. Bespectacled geeks are currently attempting to create 3-D images which can be viewed without the use of glasses. Experiments employ convex screens or eye-tracking systems to ensure two distinct images reach the viewer's eyes, thus creating stereoscopic effects. Spielberg has also patented a glasses-free 3-D system that uses computers to project split film-frames onto plasma screens.
The potential reach of 3-D films that do not require glasses is immense. Such a scenario would also have major implications for the viewing of movies through DVD and televison formats. As projection is an essential component of 3-D, the experience of watching future films at home could be infinitely less rich than viewing them on the silver screen.
Still, even with glasses, 3-D is unquestionably on the rise. A conference on 3-D recently took place during South Korea's Pusan Film Festival, highlighting the attention the technology is receiving within the industry. Moreover, with several 3-D films in the pipeline, the late noughties are shaping up as a major era in the history of stereoscopic cinema - and this time it may not be a passing fad.
