Avatar Re Release

[Shannon Benna]

Date: November 2010?

Location: Universal Citywalk IMAX

 

Company: Chuck Comisky/Avatar (Viz FX Guru, 3D God, Dubious Honoree Bestowing J Cameron w/ 1st Job in Hollywood, In short - "The Man")

Being as lucky and as cool as I am, I had the opportunity to go to see the rerelease of Avatar with the one and only Chuck Comisky! What an amazing experience! For one who isn't sublimely delighted to have a person imparting interocular separation measurements at you while viewing a 3 hr IMAX 3D feature, maybe this wouldn't have qualified as one of your best life moments...maybe...but for me it was heaven! 

Beyond the brilliance of subtle stereo convergence that made the number one film of all time, Avatar (with - at our estimate of a ticket costing $15, and the average ticket buyer going twice, around 85 million people, last release cycle, who have seen it) not only a Stereo (3D) movie, but has made it the longest running trt of any stereo depth film, and is also one of the very few that manages to create an immersive world that is not distracting or uncomfortable for the attendee. 

After spending this much time working with multiple image/immersive media, I fully appreciate the difficulty in creating enjoyable, truly immersive stereo 3D. There are dozens of factors that can influence the outcome, and spoil the effect. If achieved, however, true stereoscopic 3 dimensional media is incalculably closer to an encounter or experience than just watching a program. Good 3D not only simulates the sense of depth, proportion & distance in space, but gives objects the appearance of volume and mass. In English, a good 3D movie moment leaves no doubt in your mind that you are there, and it's real. Of course I love to describe the purpose of 3D as giving the audience a diorama to walk around in, almost like any location is a stage theater. But 3D brings back the natural wonder which inspires us as children to explore our environment to start. It reinvigorates our sense of discovery and eager curiosity which drives our explorative instinct, catalyzing our prospective growth as a species (and as individuals). It hones our powers of observation and stimulates our creative nature as we rediscover shape and form within our world, adapting them and assimilating them into our symbolic language. Without stereoscopic depth, a picture is just an impression of some stuff in a place, but with 3D, that same picture becomes a captured moment, an event, filled with weight and presence. A box may topple into your world, nearly landing on tour foot as you sit by and watch someone move, instead of the moving scene having a pile of boxes that falls over. 

Besides being able to explore the realm of the film at will, & go inside the walls one is shown; but a well depth-scored film should seamlessly bleed into the space the real audience occupies/enters from (in my opinion).

I understand that most people identify 3D as the element which creates the illusion of an object coming out of the movie screen in an attempt to "hit" you as it whizzes by. And when applied in a way that services the story, the "poke-u-in-the-eye" 3D can be fun and perfectly appropriate, but truly inspired Stereo 3D can even use the effect of pushing things out into the audience, and a viewer only instinctively reacts and doesn't necessarily notice the effect consciously. Honestly if a viewer is consciously aware of the 3D, chances are the depth is too extreme and after a few minutes of that kind of work, the eye muscles become distressed and eventually strained, causing nausea, headaches and vertigo. I'm extremely sensitive to the effects of bad Stereo 3D, mostly because I'm extremely sensitive anyway, and while being a great cipher by which to judge if your movie, can be a pain in my ass when working on a project in progress! 

The effect of 3D over time and the added work it causes the eye and brain to do is something Chuck and Jim were very conscious of. No matter how good the move, no matter how beautiful the shots, or how masterful the stereo depth, unless the depth cues are subtly juxtaposed the viewer will will reach a point of fatigue before finishing the film, and will likely only remember the pain, classifying the piece as horrible! I was truly impressed at the amount of depth present in Avatar, and the complete comfort with which I watched it. Especially as this time I saw it in IMAX. The production and post of Avatar took over 4 years and employed over xxx employees working in stereo and visual effects! Yes, the best live action (actually hybrid live action/animation - which the industry is now calling "augmented reality") is really hard, really really time consuming, and really really really expensive! So heads up all you bandwaggoneers, wether network, studio or indie, just because you decide to go 3D, doesn't mean you can make Avatar. Especially not unless you are willing to spend the cash. You will never make it on a shoestring for sure! And unfortunately for 3DTV, Stereo 3D doesn't care how small your viewership is the first couple of years, wether blamed on the lack of 3D sets sold, the expense of the change, the closeness in proximity to the changeover the HD hindering the Stereo display household saturation, or the lack of subscribers. If you want 3D to stay, if you want the masses to acclaim your shows in 3D the same as they did the flat versions, you will have to shell out enough to produce Stereo that won't make them run screaming, or throw up.