3D films

[ladyofastolat]

I've been thinking about 3D films again. A few weeks ago, I mentioned that I'd gone to see The Three Musketeers in 2D, and found the picture quality rather bad. Since I wanted to make a comparison, I ended up going to see it in 3D a week later. This was only my second 3D film, the first being Toy Story 3. I really wasn't all that impressed. I think

Comments

[jane_somebody]

(Pardon even-later-than-usual late comment) You have mentioned exactly why I hate 3D so much. I have lost the central vision in one eye, so have very little in the way of stereopsis anyway which makes 3D pretty pointless for me (especially as my newest spectacles, to cope with my -20 prescription, are lenticular lenses which blur out my peripheral vision too, which previously was the only thing allowing me to get any of the 3D experience.) But in fact it is worse than pointless, because the greyed-out patch in my central vision means that eye lets in less light overall, making what I see in general darker; this combined with the effect you mention of 3D films being darker than 2D makes them for me so dark as to be not worth seeing. It makes me angry that cinemas are limiting my viewing options by having relatively few 2D screenings available, so they are trying to force me into a far worse wiewing experience and charge me more for it. As it is, as parents of 2 young children, we only get to the cinema once or twice a year if that, so at least it isn't an issue that comes up very often.

[lil_shepherd]

This is important. They put in hearing coils for the deaf and hard of hearing and wheelchair spaces, but have no thought for the problems many people have with 3D screenings. The problems for visually impaired people have not gone unnoticed - Kermode has ranted on in the press and you could probably find at least one on-line.

It also gives some people headaches. Demand 2D, say I! As it happens, my local multiplexes aren't too bad, but my housemate went to a con screening of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 and the manager assumed off his own bat that they would all want 3D whereas none of them did.

Cinema managers, film distributors and the studios are all keen on 3D because they can charge more for it and because it makes it (almost) impossible to pirate the film in the cinema (though most pirate copies come out from the studio staff themselves.) However, takings are down at the cinemas both here in the US...