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MillimeterLeitner's Cinematography Corner, No. 5
Nov 6, 2009 12:00 PM, By D.W. Leitner
EX3 x 2 = DIY 3D
Check out Leitner's Cinematography Corner in its new home
Basilica, from New Work: Newark in 3D.
Stereoscopy, or 3D imaging, has been around as long as photography, at least since1840, when the English inventor Sir Charles Wheatstone, who first explained binocular vision, fashioned his original stereoscope for displaying photos in stereo pairs. Stereoscopes were widely popular, even common, throughout the second half of the 19th century, as evidenced by their easy availability at flea markets today. I have two wooden models from that era on my bookshelf.
By comparison, theatrical 3D movies enjoyed only two brief spikes of popularity, first in the early 1950s (Creature from the Black Lagoon, Hitchcock's Dial M for Murder), then in the 1980s (Friday the 13th Part III, Jaws 3-D). Regarded as curiosities, they never achieved mainstream status, either with production crews, audiences, distributors, or exhibitors. Loading and equally exposing two strands of motion picture film was never a picnic, never mind the added interaxial and convergence lens issues unique to 3D. Dual-strip projection (in the '50s) and funny glasses that induced headaches failed to endear the format to anyone.
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But as virtually everyone attending movies today knows, 3D is experiencing a vigorous revival, propelled this time by digital technology. Compact HD cameras are easily mounted side-by-side at the human interocular distance of 55mm to 75mm (when appropriate to the image). For instance, you can strip down and slap together two Sony HDC-F950s as 3D innovator Vince Pace did for Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert Tour and James Cameron's forthcoming Avatar, or position a pair of Flip UltraHD cameras in your backyard, as you wish.
Since there's no film to load or process (twin rolls of film double the processing and transfer costs), it's now possible to view 3D results in real time—perfect for adjusting focus or reframing for a better stereo experience free of eye strain.
Digital technology will eventually erode 3D costs via the mass market. At NAB last April, you could hardly throw a stone in Central Hall without hitting a 3D camera system or 3D flatscreen display (plasma at Panasonic, LCD at Sony and JVC). As 3D-enabled flatscreens reach the market and their costs drop, demand for programming can only climb.
If filmed entertainment and consumer electronics are finally betting on the success of 3D, where does that leave independent filmmakers and artists?
Ironically, the answer won't be found in Lenny Lipton's long-in-the-tooth tome from 1982, "Foundations of the Stereoscopic Cinema." Lipton, of course, is the renowned author of the do-it-yourself (DIY) bible of 1970s and 1980s independent filmmakers, "Independent Film Making". (Also author of lyrics to "Puff the Magic Dragon," set down as an undergrad at Cornell, my alma mater.)
Lipton, himself a longtime indie filmmaker, went on to found the StereoGraphics Corporation, a pioneer in electronic 3D display and precursor to RealD (which bought StereoGraphics in 2005), whose stereoscopic projection technology is found in almost every commercial 3D theater in the U.S.
Continue the discussion on “Crosstalk” the Millimeter Forum.