October 8, 2007 4:00 AM PDT
Dolby stakes its claim in 3D movie tech
Last modified: February 13, 2008 9:50 AM PST
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Each technology has its advantages and drawbacks. Dolby 3D's glasses are difficult to manufacture and therefore expensive--$50 right now, though the company expects prices will drop. They must therefore be returned after use and washed in an automated washer. Real D's 5-cent, disposable glasses can be branded with promotional graphics from the movie.
Dolby 3D has an advantage with movie screens. Real D requires theaters to install the special silver screens, which JPMorgan estimates cost $5,500 apiece. Silver screens offer higher reflectivity and work with 2D movies as well, but there's concern that despite advances they suffer from a bright central "hot spot." Dolby 3D uses conventional white screens, which means theaters can move 3D movies to smaller screens as a movie runs its course at a theater.
Real D seems to have the edge for maximum screen size, though--an important consideration given that both cut down the amount of light to less than a sixth of what a conventional 2D movie projects. Dolby is cagey about how large a screen Dolby 3D can use, though executives say it's been used to show movies on 38-foot screens. Real D, though was at 47 feet during debut and this year should reach beyond 60 feet early next year, said Real D president and co-founder Joshua Greer.
Another factor is how well separated the left-eye and right-eye views are, so that light from one doesn't leak into the other. Real D has "ghostbusting" technology to electronically counteract this problem, and it's working to move it from a digital processing step to a real-time add-on. Dolby, though, boasts that its technology requires no ghostbusting at all.
Neither rival is standing still. "Both are to some degree in their infancy," Parry said. "They'll change radically in the next couple years."
3D movie-making: a new nut to crack
Making 3D movies in the first place is another challenge, with production costs somewhere between 10 percent to 20 percent higher, according to various industry estimates. There, too, technology is changing fast, though.
3D filming has been hampered by technical challenges. For live-action movies, two cameras must be closely coordinated, with risks increasing as cameras move or lenses zoom. Computer-generated animations are easier because they're typically already designed in 3D and therefore require only more computer hours to render the second viewpoint.
Pace is one company trying to address the live-action difficulties, and its 3D cameras have won over Doug Schwartz, creator of the Baywatch TV series and now the chairman of Stereo Vision Entertainment, which aims to bring smaller-budget 3D movies to the screen.
"The (3D) camera used to be size of a VW bug. But you can do anything now--handheld, Steadicam, underwater, dollies, zoom, cranes," he said. Also important: technology from Quantel lets directors review the shot immediately, in 3D, on the set.
Tools are still missing from 3D production, though, said Pierre Raymond, president and founder of Hybride Technologies, a visual effects company that's working Journey 3-D, a new take on the Jules Verne's Journey to the Center of the Earth. For example, a standard "rig erase" operation, using computers to digitally erase gear such as wires to suspend actors in the air, is much more complicated than in 2D.
"If do in it 3D, you will erase something on the right eye, and you will not see it. You erase it on the left eye, and you will not see it. When you put stereo glasses on, bang, you see the patch," he said.
Three-dimensional movies are still a novelty, and movies are trying to milk it for all it's worth. "Every time you bring a new technology to market, you will pass the gimmicky stage," Raymond said.
Take Schwartz's work, which is Stereo Vision's first project. Planned for Halloween 2008, Aubrey Blaze Piranhas 3-D features video-game creators who are trapped in Brazilian caves and must reckon with mutant flying carnivorous fish.
"Water is one of best environments for 3D, because things float--they're in the middle of the screen and coming right out at you," Schwartz said. Stereo Vision also is working to exploit the 3D possibilities of restaurant waitresses in South Beach, Miami with a comedy called Hooters 3DD.
But there are limits, even with movies that embrace 3D's shock value. "You don't want to be jarring to the audience," Schwartz said. For example, MTV-style fast cuts from one scene to another are a no-no because audience members must refocus.
Most, including Real 3D's Lewis, expect a more easygoing era to arrive, with 3D used to involve people more deeply in the narrative. "Ideally we want to make you feel like you're part of the movie and less like there are things flying out at you."
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Produce the same junk but in 3D and charge people $3.50 more! What a great idea! Let's repackage the junk we've been force-feeding the public and charge them more for the privilege of being abused! Wow. Genius. Morons.
How about stop paying those self-important actors 20 million per picture for a few weeks work and pass the savings onto the public? There's a concept. Fiscal responsibility. Drop ticket prices by $3.50 for 2d movies and keep the same rate as now for 3d movies. I bet there would be a lot more people going to movies and buying more concessions but don't get me started on $6 for a soda!
and the licensing of inferior technology. Dolby Labs is truly the
Microsoft of the media technology world.
Why spend $15 or $20 to see a novelty movie that wouldn't make a B movie rating?
the full movie in 3D was driving factor for me go out and watch
"Beowulf" otherwise I would have just usually waited for it to come
out in DVD and rent it. The big TV's and good home theater sounds
is their main competition. Full movie 3D is their advantage right
now and I am willing to shell out that money for a different
experience. At least until 3D becomes a norm for home movies
then Im back on my coach, PJ's and microwave popcorn.