3-D film
In film, the term 3-D (or 3D) is used to describe any visual presentation system that attempts to maintain or recreate moving images of the third dimension, the illusion of depth as seen by the viewer.The technique usually involves filming two images simultaneously, with two cameras positioned side by side, generally facing each other and filming at a 90 degree angle via mirrors, in perfect synchronization and with identical technical characteristics. When viewed in such a way that each eye sees its photographed counterpart, the viewer's visual cortex will interpret the pair of images as a single three-dimensional image. Modern computer technology also allows for the production of 3D films without dual cameras.There are several methods of projecting natural, stereoscopic images. They can be categorized into mainly three categories.With glasses Anaglyphic ,Polarization,Alternate-frame sequencing (or shutter glasses)
Without glasses Autostereoscopic displays,With the aid of a viewing device Stereoscopic Viewing Devices or head mounted displays.Furthermore, alternative systems, such as Pulfrich effect and Chromadepth exist, but fall under the realm of "pseudo-stereoscopic" in that two, separate records are not recorded or projected.In the context of many computer games, 3D computer graphics refer to being composed of objects in a virtual 3-D world, not that they can be viewed in 3-D. For a stereoscopic 3-D games, as for everything else stereoscopic, two pictures (one for each eye), are needed.The stereoscopic era of motion pictures began in the late 1890s when British film pioneer William Friese-Greene filed a patent for a 3-D movie process. In his patent, two films were projected side by side on screen. The viewer looked through a stereoscope to converge the two images.
Early systems of stereoscopic filmmaking
The earliest confirmed 3-D film shown to a paying audience was The Power of Love, which premiered at the Ambassador Hotel Theater in Los Angeles on September 27, 1922. The camera rig was a product of the film's producer, Harry K. Fairall, and cinematographer Robert F. Elder. It was projected dual-strip in the red/green anaglyph format, making it both the earliest known film that utilized dual strip projection and the earliest known film in which anaglyph glasses were used. Whether Fairall used colored filters on the projection ports or whether he used tinted prints is unknown, but it is the first documented instance of dual-strip projection. After a preview for exhibitors and press in New York City, the film dropped out of sight, apparently not booked by exhibitors, and is now considered lost.Kelley, who was primarily a producer of color films, used his color system, Prizma, to print his anaglyph films.
Early in December 1922, William Van Doren Kelley cashed in on the growing interest in 3-D films started by Fairall's demonstration and shot footage with a camera system of his own design. Kelley then struck a deal with Samuel "Roxy" Rothafel to premiere the first in his series of "Plasticon" shorts entitled Movies of the Future at the Rivoli Theater in New York City . In early 1923, he shopped around a second Plasticon entitled Through the Trees - Washington D.C., shot by William T. Crespinel, which consisted of stereoscopic views of Washington, D.C., but found no buyers.Also in December 1922, Laurens Hammond (later inventor of the Hammond organ) and William F. Cassidy unveiled their Teleview system. Teleview was the earliest alternate-frame sequencing form of projection. Through the use of two interlocked projectors, alternating left/right frames were projected one after another in rapid succession.
Introduction of Polaroid
While attending Harvard University in 1926, Edwin H. Land conceived the idea of reducing glare by polarizing light. He took a leave of absence from Harvard to set up a lab and by 1929 had invented and patented a polarizing sheet. In 1932, he introduced Polaroid J Sheet as a commercial product. While his original intention was to create a filter for reducing glare from car headlights, Land did not underestimate the utility of his newly dubbed Polaroid filters in stereoscopic presentations.
In January 1936, Land gave the first demonstration of Polaroid filters in conjunction with 3-D photography at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel.The reaction was enthusiastic, and he followed it up with an installation at the New York Museum of Science. It is unknown what film was run for audiences with this installation.Using Polaroid filters meant an entirely new set-up, however. Two prints, each carrying either the right left eye,had to be synced up in projection using an external selsyn motor.
Furthermore, polarized light would not register on a matte white screen, and only a silver screen or screen made of other reflective material would correctly reflect the separate images.Later that year, the feature, Nozze Vagabonde appeared in Italy[citation needed], followed by the first color 3-D feature, Zum Greifen Nah which premiered in Germany the following year[citation needed]. It is unknown whether or not these films took advantage of the Polaroid filter system in projection, but the possibility is present.In 1939, John Norling shot In Tune With Tomorrow, the first Polaroid 3-D film shown for a paying audience in the US. This short premiered at the 1939 New York World's Fair and was created specifically for the Chrysler Motor Pavilion. In it, a full 1939 Chrysler Plymouth is magically put together, set to music. Originally in black and white, the film was so popular that it was re-shot in color for the following year at the fair, under the title New Dimensions.
The "golden era"
What aficionados consider the "golden era" of 3-D began in 1952 with the release of the first color stereoscopic feature, Bwana Devil, produced, written and directed by Arch Oboler. The film was shot in Natural Vision, a process that was co-created and controlled by M. L. Gunzberg. Gunzberg, who built the rig with his brother, Julian, and two other associates, shopped it without success to various studios before Oboler used it for this feature, which went into production with the title, The Lions of Gulu.The film stars Robert Stack, Barbara Britton and Nigel Bruce.As with practically all of the features made during this boom, Bwana Devil was projected dual-strip, with Polaroid filters. During the 1950s, the familiar disposable anaglyph glasses made of cardboard were mainly used for comic books, two shorts by exploitation specialist Dan Sonney, and three shorts produced by Lippert Productions.even the Lippert shorts were available in the dual-strip format alternatively.
Because the features utilized two projectors, a capacity limit of film being loaded onto each projector (about 6,000 feet, or an hour's worth of film) meant that an intermission was necessary for every movie. Quite often, intermission points were written into the script of the film at a major plot point.During Christmas of 1952, producer Sol Lesser quickly premiered the dual-strip showcase called Stereo Techniques in Chicago. Lesser acquired the rights to five dual-strip shorts. Two of them, Now is the Time (to Put On Your Glasses) and Around is Around, were directed by Norman McLaren in 1951 for the National Film Board of Canada. The other three films were produced in Britain for Festival of Britain in 1951 by Raymond Spottiswoode. These were A Solid Explanation, Royal River, and The Black Swan.James Mage was also an early pioneer in the 3-D craze.
Revival in single strip format
Stereoscopic films largely remained dormant for the first part of the 1960s, with those that were released usually being anaglyph exploitation films. One film of notoriety was the Beaver Champion/Warner Bros. production, The Mask (1961). The film was shot in 2-D, but to enhance the bizarre qualities of the dream-world that is induced when the main character puts on a cursed tribal mask, the film went to anaglyph 3-D. These scenes were printed by Technicolor on their first run in red/green anaglyph.Although 3-D films appeared sparsely during the early 1960s, the true second wave of 3-D cinema was set into motion with the same producer who started the craze of the 1950s. Using a new technology called Space-Vision 3D, stereoscopic films were printed with two images, one above the other, in a single academy ratio frame, on a single strip, and needed only one projector fitted with a special lens.
This so-called "over and under" technique eliminated the need for dual projector set-ups, and produced widescreen, but darker, less vivid, polarized 3-D images. Unlike earlier dual system, it could stay in perfect sync, unless improperly spliced in repair.Arch Oboler once again had the vision for the system that no one else would touch, and put it to use on his film entitled The Bubble, which starred Michael Cole, Deborah Walley, and Johnny Desmond. As with Bwana Devil, the critics panned The Bubble, but audiences flocked to see it, and it became financially sound enough to promote the use of the system to other studios, particularly independents, who did not have the money for expensive dual-strip prints of their productions.In 1970, Stereovision, A new entity, founded by director/inventor, Allan Silliphant, and optical designer Chris Condon, developed a different 35mm single-strip format.
3-D formats
In 2003, James Cameron's Ghosts of the Abyss was released as the first full-length 3-D IMAX feature filmed with the Reality Camera System. This camera system used the latest HDTV video cameras, not film, and was built for Cameron to his specifications. The same camera system was used to film Spy Kids 3D: Game Over (2003), Aliens of the Deep IMAX (2005), and The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl in 3-D (2005).In November 2004, Polar Express was released as IMAX's first full-length, animated 3-D feature. It was released in over 3,550 theaters in 2D, and only 62 IMAX locations. The return from those few 3-D theaters was about 25% of the total. The 3-D version earned about 14 times as much per screen as the 2D version. This has prompted a greatly intensified interest in 3-D and 3-D presentation of animated films.Using the over-under process pioneered by SpaceVision, Hollywood's film-makers hit a craze comparable.
In November 2005, Walt Disney Studio Entertainment released Chicken Little in the new digital 3-D format known as REAL D, utilizing one digital projector alternating clockwise and counterclockwise polarized images at 144 frames per second. Glasses are worn that diffuse each circular polarization for one of the eyes so that a 3-D effect is achieved. The use of circular polarization improves on the older technique of linear polarization in that there is no ghosting or leakage and the viewers can tilt their head without affecting the 3-D effects.Following the successful financial gross of the film, further animated films in 3-D have been introduced, including The Polar Express, Monster House, Meet the Robinsons, Beowulf, U2 3D, and the re-release with REAL D treatment ofThe Nightmare Before Christmas. Future REAL D releases will include Monsters vs. Aliens, Horrorween (2009), The Stewardesses (remake)(2009).
New developments
Through the entire history of 3D presentations, techniques to convert existing 2D images for 3D presentation have existed. Few have been effective or survived. The combination of digital and digitized source material with relatively cost effective digital post processing has spawned a new wave of conversion products. In June 2006, IMAX and Warner Brothers released Superman Returns including 20 minutes of 3-D images converted from the 2-D original digital footage. George Lucas has announced that he may re-release his Star Wars films in 3-D based on a conversion process from the company In-Three.James Cameron (Titanic) intends to shoot his new films Avatar and Battle Angel in digital 3-D. Filming will use HDTV cameras and the Fusion Camera System.Animated films Open Season, and The Ant Bully, were released in IMAX 3D in 2006.
Monster House and The Nightmare Before Christmas were released in REAL D Cinema digital 3D in 2006.In late 2005 Steven Spielberg told the press he was involved in patenting a 3-D cinema system that does not need glasses, and which is based on plasma screens. A computer splits each film-frame, and then projects the two split images onto the screen at differing angles, to be picked up by tiny angled ridges on the screen. (Spielberg is co-producer of the film Monster House but the potential process was not used for the current release of Monster House.January 30, 2007 SPIE Stereoscopic Displays and Applications Conference - Jason Goodman a CEO of New York City based stereoscopic production company 21st Century 3D announced two new additions to their lineup of three dimensional digital camera systems. Their standard system is currently the worlds smallest and lightest, HI-DEF, stereoscopic 3D camera system.