3D movies: Worth the hype?
People, animals, and mystical creatures jump at you. Images whirl around your head. Sharp, hard or just plain dangerous objects barrel straight toward your face. Your heart is racing as you hold tight to your seat. What is this strange but exciting experience? A 3-D movie.
According to Jeffrey Katzenberg, film producer and CEO of DreamWorks Animation studios, 3-D could be the third big transition in movies; the first being the movement from silent to talking films, and secondly the moving from black and white to color. Likewise, in an interview with CNN, David Cohen, a writer for trade magazine Variety, suggested that in the future, all movies will be made in 3-D.
The upcoming release of director James Cameron’s new movie “Avatar” has the industry buzzing on this same issue. According to CNN, many Hollywood directors such as Ridley Scott and John Favreau tout the film as an influential “game changer” in the world of cinema. Supposedly, the new stereoscopic (3-D) cameras Cameron is using have lenses that recreate the motion of the human eye.
This new technology increases the cost of making movies; thus, the costs are passed onto the consumer. In this troubled economy, should moviegoers fork over the extra $1-$3 for a few extra special effects?
The answer is an undeniable “yes.”
With new, more advanced technology, 3-D movies are more realistic and exciting than ever, if produced effectively. Some 3-D movies have these special effects in just the right places, such as in “Up,” where the 3-D effects make people feel like they are being pulled into the adventure.
However, some movies, such as “The Adventures of Shark Boy and Lava Girl,” have effects added in places where they do not make much sense. In fact, the effects in this movie were just downright distracting. It is pointless for the only use of the special effects to be characters popping out and saying something insignificant, giving the audience little to no information. This movie featured action and adventures and could have made better use of 3-D effects.
However, 3-D movies that feature compelling effects provide a new spin on the movie viewing experience. Regardless of the viewer’s age, it is still fun to put on a pair a glasses, sit back, and be engulfed in another world, even if only for a little while.
Taking into consideration the economy and entertainment, 3-D movies still live up to the thrill and excitement they promise. If the effects are placed correctly, these movies greatly surpass their 2-D counterparts. So, yes, high action, effectively produced 3-D movies are worth scraping up two extra dollars.
Maybe someday soon, every movie will give people that thrill of magical creatures jumping out, images whirling around their heads, and dangerous objects barreling at their faces. The world is changing, and so are movies, and it seems this already magical experience is about to get even better.