Why 3D Movies Suck!

Hello again! I know no ones listening but here we go anyways! So last I spoke about life and death which I admit might have been somewhat heavy for a first blog... However, it was late at night and it was what I had on my mind at that time so sue me! But today I'm going to give you all some pointers on why 3D movies don't work.

You all know the feeling: You pay a lot of money to see the new Harry Potter movie in 3D and all seems to be going according to plan. You walk into the cinema with great expectations and everyone sits down before the light goes out. But then the movie starts! And what a movie! Half of it seems to be out of focus the other half does not really have any 3D effect at all and on top of that your eyes hurts! Well maybe that's just me but I don't think so!

So why is it our trip to the cinema was ruined? And why did we have to pay double for something that's inferior to 2D? One word: Money!

Actually it's not even really 3D's fault. It can be okay and (forgive the expression) add a new dimension to the movie. That is, if it's actually shot in 3D to begin with! And that's one of the big problems: after conversion! After Avatar the studios where so impressed by its success that they wanted a quick way to get a piece of the action and after conversion was born. In the beginning it was probably mostly used to get some of the titles out in 3D even though they hadn't previously been planned as 3D titles. Fair enough. You see something has big potential and you don't what your movies to fall flat because they didn't fit the demand. But after that the after conversion should have been dropped. It was far worse that actual 3D and nobody really liked it. Then why hasn't it been dropped? Well, would you rather use money on expensive camera equipment and training for the ones using it or would you let them shoot in 2D and then convert it after? Especially people don't really have a choice or don't really care that much.

Which brings me to the next point: We don't have choice! I live in Copenhagen, Denmark and here we have one really good screen! There's other smaller screens but wouldn't you rather see Captain America on a big screen in a nice cinema? Well here at least that's only an option if you want to see it in 3D, which I don't! So now I have to choose: Small screen 2D or big screen 3D? Since I'm a big movie nerd I unfortunately rather want the big screen!

But even movies shot in 3D from the get go has it's flaws. See if you can spot them next time you go see a 3D movie! One of them has something to do with depth of field. In real life the eye automatically focuses on what you "aim" them at but when you go watch a 3D movie you don't have that luxury (which in it self is not that bad since you don't really have that luxury in 2D movies either). However, when something "pops out" of the screen your natural instinct is to look at that object but most 3D movies (especially after conversion) tends to stay focused on the background or the heroes face. So when you look all you see is some out of focus blob... Not cool! This directly affects the 3D effect and ruins it! Compare it to animated movies where everything is often in focus you'll see that it works much better! And before you say it: I know the new 3D is not supposed to always come at you but in my opinion even the supposed "depth" is still not that great!

So in conclusion: 3D movies sucks! They more expensive, they hurt your eyes because your eyes try to focus on something that's not in focus, the 3D effect hardly ever really works on after converted movies and you are forced to see them if you want a big screen (at least in Copenhagen)! Oh and I hate the glasses! So 3D please stop ruining the movies! I love movies but this eagerness to exploit the few successes are really screwing with our previously so cool format! At least some movies like The Dark Knight Rises are still made in good old fashioned 2D! Thanks Nolan!

P.S. I don't hate progress I just hate people taking advantage of it! Especially if the format is not yet ready!