There’s a lot of 3D to take in at theaters these days.
Within just a few hours on Saturday night at a single Krikorian theater in Monrovia, California, I saw the first Final Four game in 3D, the big-screen world premiere of the We are the World 25 for Haiti music video in 3D, and “Clash of the Titans” in 3D and 2D.
I also sat next to a young adult couple who said they were attending their first 3D movie. The husband was immediately bowled over (I could tell by his verbal gasps and pointing at the screen to his wife) by the DLP digital projection system promo and then the way the words pop off the screen even on the rating page preceding the trailers.
It was my turn to be silently intrigued by the promo for the September 10 release of “Resident Evil: Afterlife.” Apparently the people behind specific 3D processes are now already prominent enough to be the first thing mentioned in a trailer: the words “Filmed with the James Cameron / Vincent Pace Fusion Camera System” push out on the screen in the same way that a major star or filmmaker would appear (See embedded trailer below).
As for “Clash of the Titans,” I watched the 2D version on a large format screen and then the 3D version on a standard screen with MasterImage glasses. Although much was written about the poor 3D conversion, I didn’t notice it being a problem. It looked about the same as most 3D mainstream films to me: so subtle that I could hardly tell it was in 3D — almost nothing ever came off the screen, just a little depth pushed back into the screen.
More bothersome was how monochromatic much of the movie was even in 2D. The climatic action scene is almost all shades of brown, making it look very dark, and therefore darkerstill with the 3D glasses.
But back to the primary reason I was there — to see Cinedigm’s live Final Four semi-final basketball games, which looked much better than last year’s NBA All-Star event. By far the best shots were from the camera facing down through the hoop from directly above the backboard, backboard camera catching a 3-pointer coming straight at the camera, the shots directly behind the heads of the crowd, and the close-ups of the band and mascots — the bulldog’s head and the trombone slide appeared to be in front of the score graphic heading into commercial breaks.
There is still some work to do: fast camera movement creates an uncomfortable blur — moreso than 2D — and graphics should not be superimposed over close-ups of moving people as they create a perceived break in the graphics that is visually disconcerting.
As for the We are the World music video (the standard short version), certain new shots of the singers worked pretty well — the standout shot was Janet Jackson digitally superimposed singing a duet with her late brother Michael. The separation depth between the two siblings was impactful. Other shots of hurricane-ravaged Haiti appeared to still be in 2D.
The block of commercials from the same three or four sponsors gets old when repeated at every commercial break, and though a couple of the commercials are in 3D, none is particularly dynamic, even those promoting 3D TVs.
Finally, the $19 admission price for the Final Four games and the $22 fee for Monday’s championship is just too steep. The only other person in my theater for the first game Saturday was one old, very heavy guy with a walker who slept through much of the broadcast. Even with the better marquee attraction of Duke, only about eight tickets were sold for the second game.
April 5 update: That number grew slightly when I went back to championship game on Monday but still less than 30 people in the entire theater.