Abstract
By combing through the short history of theatrically released stereoscopic cinema and a series of literature contributions from other scholars across decades, I illustrate the aesthetic transformations that have shaped 3D from the previous booms to its current digital incarnation. I focus on the relationship between spectacle and narrative, and also consider the concept of ‘realism’ and discuss its complex connotations within different historical contexts and their impact on the relationship of spectacle and narrative. Based on such discussion, I develop a description of digital 3D cinema’s unique regime of ‘stereoscopic hyperrealism,’ considering stereoscopy alongside digital technologies and processes such as CGI, VFX and HFR. This overview sets up a historical and aesthetic framework for my subsequent discussion of contemporary 3D cinematic narrative and aesthetics.
…the very nature of an art form is as ‘significant’ as a plotline or its formal treatment.
And if the distinctive characteristics of a given art form fail to embody some of these deep-seated urges—that species of art is doomed to extinction.
Only those species survive, whose constitution and attributes resonate with these deeply rooted, intrinsic, organic tendencies and needs of the spectator and artist alike. (Eisenstein 1947, p. 21)
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsNotes
- 1.
‘Dimensional Effects’ was the term commonly used by Hollywood 3D filmmakers for filming ‘protrusion effect’ shots during the first 3D boom in the early 1950s.
- 2.
M. Ross mainly draws on Laura U. Marks’ concept of the ‘haptic cinema screen’ and develops it into her notion of the ‘3D field screen,’ in order to illustrate 3D cinema’s hyper-haptic visuality, based on Marks’ delineation of ‘haptic visuality’ on the flat screen:
The haptic cinema screen, as defined by Marks , is distinct from the traditional screen in that it demands a different type of engagement. It constructs a fractured visual statement by refusing to position clear signs and relations between objects on its surface, which in turn draws attention to the images’ textured and tactile quality. The screen speaks out to the audience and invites participation by vexing and disturbing our understanding of its content, in this way drawing us closer to its surface. (M. Ross 2015, pp. 22–23)
- 3.
VQMD3D Project: Report 3 and Report 5 on 3D Video Quality Analysis issued by MSU Graphic and Media Lab on August 28, 2013 and April 11, 2014, respectively. Web. Accessed 1 August 2015. http://compression.ru/video/vqmt3d/report3/, http://compression.ru/video/vqmt3d/report5/.
- 4.
However, M. Ross places her analysis of ‘Stereoscopic realism’ and ‘Immersion’ in the same chapter under the title ‘New Realisms’ in 3D Cinema: Optical Illusions and Tactile Experiences (Palgrave Macmillan, 2015).
- 5.
There was a purposeful paring back of the HFR in The Hobbit II by Peter Jackson in response to the widespread criticism of the first episode. See Peter Jackson Video blog. (2013, December 5). The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, Production Diary #13 on YouTube.
- 6.
See D. Rooney . (2016, October 14). Ang Lee pushes cinematic boundaries in this drama starring newcomer Joe Alwyn as an Iraq war hero caught up in a head-spinning whirl of pre-packaged patriotism. The Hollywood Reporter Website. Retrieved from http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/review/billy-lynns-long-halftime-walk-938601. Accessed on November 5, 2017.
- 7.
See J. Stolworthy. (2016, November 2). James Cameron wants you to watch Avatar 2, 3, 4, and 5 in 3D – minus the glasses. The Independent Website. Retrieved from http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/news/james-cameron-avatar-sequels-release-date-in-3d-glasses-a7392971. Accessed on 5 November 2017. During a speech to the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers, J. Cameron stated, ‘I’m going to push. Not only for better tools, workflow, high dynamic range (HDR) and high frame rates (HFR) – the things we are working toward… I’m still very bullish on 3D, but we need brighter projection, and ultimately I think it can happen – with no glasses. We’ll get there’ (as cited in Stolworthy 2016, para. 4).
References
Barnes, B. (2011, December 25). A year of disappointment at the movie box office. New York Times Online. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/26/business/media/a-year-of-disappointment-for-hollywood.html
Belton, J. (2012). Digital 3D cinema: Digital cinema’s missing novelty phase. Film History, 24(2), 187–195. https://digitalturn.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/24-2-belton.pdf.
Bordwell, D. (1986). Classical Hollywood cinema: Narrational principles and procedures. In P. Rosen (Ed.), Narrative, apparatus, ideology (pp. 17–34). New York: Columbia University Press.
Buscombe, E. (1985). Sound and color. In B. Nichols (Ed.), Movies and methods (Vol. II, pp. 83–92). Berkeley: University of California Press.
Daley, G. (2012, December). 3D camera supervisor of ‘The Hobbit’ talks high frame rates. 3D Focus Website.
Eisenstein, S. (2013). On stereocinema (1947). In D. Adler, J. Marchessault, & S. Obradovic (Eds.), 3D cinema and beyond (pp. 20–59). Toronto: Public Books.
Elsaesser, T. (2013, Winter). The ‘return’ of 3-D: On some of the logics and genealogies of the image in the twenty-first century. Critical Inquiry, 39(2), 217–246.
Gunning, T. (1986). The cinema of attraction(s): Early film, its spectator and the avant-garde. Wide Angle, 8(3–4), 63–70.
Higgins, S. (2012). 3D in depth: Coraline, Hugo, and a sustainable aesthetic. Film History, 24(2), 196–209. https://muse.jhu.edu/article/479268.
Jackson, P. (2013, December 5). The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, production diary #13 [YouTube]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tv1imkOqHZ8&list=PLxEb7OJne0_cKWPIF8srU4D-SReVF-ybn
Jockenhövel, J. (2011). What is it if it’s not real? It’s genre – Early color film and digital 3D. Cinemascope: Independent Film Journal, 7, 15, (14 pages). http://www.cinemascope.it/Issue%2015/PDF/jockenhovel.pdf
King, G. (2002). New Hollywood cinema: An introduction. London: I.B. Tauris.
Knorr, S., Ide, K., Kunter, M., & Sikora, T. (2012). The avoidance of visual discomfort and basic rules for producing ‘good 3D’ pictures. SMPTE Motion Imaging Journal, 121(7), 72–79. https://doi.org/10.5594/j18236XY.
Laforet, V. (2012, December 19). The Hobbit: An unexpected masterclass in why HFR fails, and a reaffirmation of what makes cinema magical [Web log post]. Retrieved from http://blog.vincentlaforet.com/2012/12/19/the-hobbit-an-unexpected-masterclass-in-why-hfr-fails-and-a-reaffirmation-of-what-makes-cinema-magical/
Leotta, A. (2016). Peter Jackson. New York: Bloomsbury Academic.
McClean, S. T. (2007). Digital storytelling: The narrative power of digital effects in film. Cambridge, MA/London: The MIT Press.
O’Brien, C. (2005). Cinema’s conversion to sound: Technology and film style in France and the U.S. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
Paul, W. (1993). The aesthetic of emergence. Film History: An International Journal, 5(3), 321–355 Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/3815145.
Pierson, M. (2002). Special effects: Still in search of wonder. New York: Columbia University Press.
Purse, L. (2013). Digital imaging in popular cinema. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
Rooney, D. (2016, October 14). Ang Lee pushes cinematic boundaries in this dramastarring newcomer Joe Alwyn as an Iraq War hero caught up in a head-spinning whirl of prepackaged patriotism (The Hollywood Reporter Website). Retrieved from http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/review/billy-lynns-long-halftime-walk-938601
Ross, M. (2012, Winter). The 3-D aesthetic: Avatar and hyperhaptic visuality. Screen, 53(4), 381–397.
Ross, M. (2013, August 19). Miriam Ross research provocation: Post-production conversions, the ugly, the bad and the good. http://www.stereoscopicmedia.org.
Ross, M. (2015). 3D cinema: Optical illusions and tactile experiences. Hampshire/New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
Ross, S. (2012). Invitation to the voyage: The flight sequence in contemporary 3D cinema. Film History, 24(2), 210–220. https://doi.org/10.1353/fih.2012.0010.
Sandifer, P. (2011, Spring). Out of the screen and into the theater: 3-D film as demo. Cinema Journal, 50(3), 62–78. https://doi.org/10.1353/cj.2011.0034.
Schilowitz, T. (2012, December). ‘Be open minded’ says Schilowitz from RED about HFR 3D. 3D Focus Website.
Stolworthy, J. (2016, November 2). James Cameron wants you to watch Avatar 2, 3, 4, and 5 in 3D – minus the glasses. The Independent Website. Retrieved from http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/news/james-cameron-avatar-sequels-release-date-in-3d-glasses-a7392971
Sylwan, S., MacDonald, D., & Walter, J. (2009). Stereoscopic CG camera rigs and associated metadata for cinematic production. SPIE DIGITAL LIBRARY SPIE-IS&T/, 7237, 72370C–3. https://doi.org/10.1117/12.823457.
Turnock, J. (2013, Spring-Fall). Removing the pane of glass: The Hobbit, 3D high frame rate filmmaking, and the rhetoric of digital convergence. Film Criticism, 37(3), 30–59.
Voronov, A., Vatolin, D., Sumin, D., Napadovsky, V., & Borisov, A. (2013, March). Methodology of stereoscopic motion picture quality assessment. Stereoscopic Displays and Applications XXIV, 8648. https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2008485.
Webb, B. (2015, May 20). Revealed: the 3D sex odyssey set to scandalise Cannes. The Telegraph Website. Retrieved from http://www.telegraph.co.uk/film/love/gaspar-noe-3d-sex-cast-cannes/
Zettl, H. (2012). Why 3D may work occasionally: Case reopened. Visual Communication Quarterly, 19(3), 148–159.
Zhang, L., Vázquez, C., & Knorr, S. (2011). 3D-TV content creation: Automatic 2D-to-3D video conversion. IEEE Transactions on Broadcasting, 57(2), 372–383. https://doi.org/10.1109/TBC.2011.2122930.
Zone, R. (2007). Stereoscopic cinema and the origins of 3-D film, 1838–1952. Lexington: The University Press of Kentucky.
Zone, R. (2012). 3-D revolution: The history of modern stereoscopic cinema. Lexington: The University Press of Kentucky.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2018 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Liu, Y. (2018). From ‘Dimensional Effects’ to Digital 3D Cinema. In: 3D Cinematic Aesthetics and Storytelling. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-72742-4_2
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-72742-4_2
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-72741-7
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-72742-4
eBook Packages: Literature, Cultural and Media StudiesLiterature, Cultural and Media Studies (R0)