Saturday, June 9, 2018

Short Cuts: Incredible 3-D!






Redartz:  Films, Television, Comic Books. There are many differences between those forms of entertainment; there are also similarities. One thing they all have in common: they have felt the influence of 3-D!  Whether viewed (through a special pair of glasses, of course) as a clever innovation or just a quirky gimmick, 3-D effects have added a layer of fun to movies and comics for decades. 

 


My first experience with the wonders of 3-Dimension viewing was on local tv. One weekend our local station had a promotion with a local fast food purveyor: they were giving away 3-D glasses with a purchase, usable to watch a special 3-D broadcast of "Creature From the Black Lagoon". I convinced my parents to get burgers there one night, got my glasses, and watched the film eagerly. To my dismay, however, the effect didn't work too well on a small screen, and double images were common. 

 


A few years later I bought a very cool comic at a Chicago Comic Con; the first 3-D comic published, featuring Mighty Mouse. Now that was cool, and very effective. If you don't mind red and green images, that is. 












In recent years, I've seen films such as "Ant-Man" and "Coraline" in 3-D, and they were incredible. Much more convincing with the polarized lenses. And yes, in some cases worth a couple extra dollars for the admission (Ant Man and the Thomas Train in 3-D was worth the price by itself). 

What has been your impression of 3-D entertainment? Think outside the box and add a new dimension to our discussion today... 





Oh, here's a scan of the first page of the Mighty Mouse 3-D book; for anyone who has a pair of red/green glasses available...


11 comments:

Edo Bosnar said...

Never too impressed with 3-D: the older stuff, like the b&w movies and comics usually left me underwhelmed, and as a general rule, I avoid the 3-D versions of modern movies. However, there is one case in which even a jaded naysayer like me would recommend the 3-D version: Dr. Strange. All those scenes where they were running through different planes of reality and perception, with the perspective shifts, were really enhanced.

Charlie Horse 47 said...

I'm pretty much in Edo's camp. I've tried 3D (and I understand my TV has 3D capabilities) and I've had some really fun experiences with it but it's not a "must." (Notably the movie Bolt where the dog stops just short of running over a cliff.)

I think part of the issue is that in some situations I've found the cheapo glasses to be out of synch in some way and the picture is not perfectly crisp.

Next time I see you, Red, you have to share your Mighty Mouse for a glimpse. I have heard about that comic so, so many times!

Cheers.

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Martinex1 said...

I also don’t rush to see 3-D versions; I’m generally pretty happy with 2-D. But I will say that the 3-D features at Disney World like The Muppets adventure and the Donald Duck / Mickey film are better than anything I have ever seen elsewhere. The 3D is top notch. When my son was little he was interacting with the images.

I too first saw 3-D with “The Creature from the Black Lagoon” event. Son of Svengoolie (the creature feature host) was big at that time and we had to get the glasses from the 7-11.

And don’t forget 3-D Man. That Marvel Premiere debut of the character was originally supposed to be a special of some sort printed in 3-D but it never happened.

Humanbelly said...

It's been at least a couple of years (or more?) since I opted for the 3-D format at a theater. I have a HUGE problem with the fact that it darkens or dims the whole film-- making everything look just slightly under-lit. This was one of my few complaints about the first Avengers movie--- I kept thinking, "Could someone PLEASE adjust the brightness??" This was consistently a problem for me and my son, at different theaters & with different studios, so we gladly abandoned the convention.

In some of those old 50's/early 60's efforts, they go to such silly lengths to find reasons to force 3D-gotcha effects into the movie that it honestly weakens the film (Example-- the completely superfluous busker with the paddle-balls in HOUSE OF WAX. Sheesh!)

And. . .hey- I did not now IT CAME FROM OUTER SPACE was originally a 3D movie! I rather like that old sci-fi horror film anyhow, with its surprising don't-judge-an-alien-by-its-cover message. This explains the rather heavy reliance throughout of "Alien looming directly toward the camera" shots. There are more than a couple, IIRC.

HB

johnlindwall said...

Count me in with HumanBelly and the others -- 3D in movies leaves me cold. I like 3d in comics well enough as a novelty but in movies it pretty much sucks,

Redartz said...

Overall, I agree with you all here that the effect in films has been, shall we say, uneven. I did find it fun in Ant-Man. But HB- great point about the 'paddles' scene in House of Wax. Way too obvious. I saw it in 'regular' vision, unaware at the time that it was originally in 3-D. Even then that scene stuck out as a bit much.

Charlie- added above is a page from that Mighty Mouse comic. Hope you have a pair of glasses lying around somewhere!

Charlie Horse 47 said...

Red - I used to save those goggles b/c, well I'm cheap in that way. It would chaff me to always pay an extra $2 for each kid to see something like Bolt. Then I chucked 'em once the kids decided it wasn't so cool to go to movies with their parents, LOL. Well, we are finally past that stage but I have not been to a 3-D movie since.

Adam said...

In the 70's and 80's 3d was just a gimick-y thing. I remember Jaws 3d where characters were just throwing thinks toward the camera. Really bad.

The first modern 3d I thought was good was "Monsters vs. Aliens". Really impressed me. But then everything else fell behind that. I even thought the 3d in Avatar was lacking. Muddy and darker than regular viewing.

I agree with Martinex1, the Muppets at Disney 10-15 years ago was amazing stuff.

As to comics, I loved "Valiant Vision" for a long time. A neat experience, and the glasses kinda helped out other non-3d books, if the coloring was right (heavy reds, if I recall).

Good stuff.

Adam

Martinex1 said...

Did anybody else try drawing in 3D with red and green crayons? And then using the glasses? I think we pretended it worked a lot more than reality proved!

Anonymous said...

The two best 3-D experiences I've had at the movies:

-Jurassic Park in 3-D: the already-pretty-great dinosaur disaster movie really popped in 3-D. They did an excellent job with the conversion, and it reminded me of a 3-D Viewmaster reel brought to life.

- Tangled, of all movies: Disney's Rapunzel movie looked gorgeous in 3-D. The scene with the lanterns on the water was especially beautiful.

I don't usually see movies in 3-D. They're more expensive, and I sort of forget about the process as the movie goes on. I haven't seen a movie in 3-D in at least a year, and my life has not been diminished.

- Mike Loughlin

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