3D Or Not 3D? That Is The Question!

Am I safe in assuming that pretty much everyone that's reading this saw Avatar? Of course I am.

Let's take a moment and look back on that movie. I personally enjoyed it a lot, others I know did not. I can't say I blame them: the story was one that's been done several times before, the acting for the most part was adequate but not great (the exception being Sigourney Weaver, who is awesome in everything she's ever done), and a lot of the social commentary was pretty ham-fisted. So why did I like it so much?

The visuals, obviously.

Not only did both James Cameron and WETA's art department work overtime on creating a visual feast of a world, but the film being shot and shown in 3D was definitely one of the smarter decisions they made. The action scenes had more OOMPH, the world was much more fascinating to look at, and for a few hours I was able to let my brain slip into giddy wonder as the bright flashy things jumped out at me.

Now, 3D isn't exactly new to the cinematic world, but largely thanks to the success of movies like Avatar, it's starting to seem like every studio now wants their piece of the extra-dimensional pie. More and more film trailers are coming out that feature the giant "IN IMAX 3D" as their primary selling point, and to boot, the next wave of HDTVs coming to the market are all touting their 3D projection capabilities.

My problem with it all is that it's yet another gimmick. And it's not even a new gimmick.

Avatar worked for a reason, and that reason is because from the start, it was intended to be shown in 3D. In keeping this in mind, the animators were able to use the 3D effect as a way to put the right emphasis on the right things on the screen, which made for a more immersive experience. This is NOT how every other filmmaker is opting to use the technology.

9/10 of the 3D films you see are ones that added in the effect once production had already been completed. Why? To try to capture the same crowd that saw Avatar of course. The problem is that what these studios don't realize is that tweaking the visuals so that the occaisional scary object jumps out at you from the screen starts to lose its thrill after a couple of minutes. People aren't stupid, and after a while they'll become very aware of the fact that the original intention of this movie was not to see it in 3D. This is largely why Alice In Wonderland's IMAX draw has been miniscule. Beowulf didn't do so hot either.

The problem I have with all of this is that like any other graphical breakthrough in cinema (I'm looking at YOU CG), filmmakers begin to use it as a crutch. Don't believe me? Take a look at how many mediocre animated kids movies use 3D as a selling point. Why bother investing in creating a story or world that will resonate with audiences of all ages when you can just make everything jump off the screen and impress the kiddies?

Also, if anyone is buying into the hype over the new TVs with 3D capabilities, please stop and take a minute to think about this. I can personally give you a list of 3 reasons to not rush out and start changing all your gear:

1) It's new technology. NEVER buy new technology when it first comes out. There will be bugs, there will be compatibility issues, and there will be changes made. The various models that have already been shown all use different means of creating their 3D projection, and there needs to be time for the superior method to come forward.

2) Very few (good) things will support it yet. Believe me, I'm looking forward to the day that the God Of War series has its brutal carnage seemingly taking place in my living room, but the fact of the matter is that it's still so early into the technology's lifecylce that most film studios and game developers won't be able to take full advantage of it. If anything, what they do with it will be things designed purely to wow you on the 3D factor, not on the actual quality of the product.

3) The TVs will be way too expensive. Just like HDTVs were when they first came out. This is unavoidable.

In closing, I do want to point out that I really do hope I'm eventually proven wrong on all of this. I hope that Clash Of The Titans impresses me enough with its 3D Kraken that I feel like this tech is here to stay. I want the next big game to leap off the screen and draw me into its experience. I hope that 3D doesn't go the way of the Wii and become something that's cool at first but gets gradually tiresome after every time it's used.

But it's still too early to tell.

Hello World

Testing. Testing.

Welcome all to my new blog. This is basically going to be my place to rant about the main interests in my life: metal music and video games. Hope you all take something away from my ramblings.