500 word rationale

In my small scale research project, I will explore the history of 3D films and their relevance within the film industry at the time. A suitable title for my project could be "The rise and fall of 3D films" as I will be discussing the way that 3D films have gone through many waves of popularity, with one major peak being in 2009 with Avatar. James Cameron's first 3D blockbuster seemed as though it could be the beginning of a new era of 3D films, but instead these types of films have reduced in popularity and quantity ever since. For these reasons, I have chosen Avatar as my main focus film, as I feel that I could go into lots of detail with the technologies it introduced and the ways it changed production, distribution and exhibition of films. I will also look into other films such as Ghostbusters (2016) which was actually filmed in 2D and then converted into 3D in post production, which could be argued to be a quick way of generating more profit for the producers without having to film in 3D. 

When Avatar was released in late 2009, most other 3D films at the time were also filmed in 3D, which is arguably the 'proper' way of doing it. This is with the exception of 3D re-releases of the Toy Story trilogy. However, in 2016 the vast majority of live action 3D films like Ghostbusters are filmed in 2D, and easily converted to 3D at a later date. This demonstrates a trend of producers spending less time and money on 3D technology nowadays as it isn't valued as importantly as it was just 6 or 7 years ago. 








This trend of both producers and audiences paying less attention to 3D could be that the technology is heading back to being known as a gimmick. There have always been some sceptics of 3D, and some who have never enjoyed it, but many people did take to the idea of exploring a new world through an added dimension with the release of Avatar. However, since then many people have failed to see the need to spend extra money and put on 3D glasses for two hours. Despite the step up from colourful paper glasses, cinema goers still view 3D as nothing more than an expensive gimmick. In Mark Kermode's The Good, the Bad and the Multiplex, he asks "How can 3D be the future of cinema when it's been giving audiences a headache for over a hundred years?" Kermode writes about how clever the human mind is at determining the distance between objects when just on a 2D screen, so why is there a need for 3D films?


In my small scale research project, I will also look into the early days of 3D films, with the first ever feature length 3D film being The Power of Love in 1922.

3D television is dead: Samsung and LG cut back on 3D TV production

Just a few short years after 3D burst into our living rooms claiming to be the future of television, it is dead. The technology was barely mentioned at the CES technology show in January 2016, and now both LG and Samsung have cut back their use of 3D.

Samsung will not be including 3D in any of its 2016 televisions, while LG is only adding the feature to its most expensive models, cutting the number of TVs it sells with 3D capabilities from 40% in 2015 to 20% this year. The cutbacks come after Sky canned its 3D channel and consumer interest shifts to Ultra HD and virtual reality.

The lack of 3D technology in the latest TV's leads to less platforms for 3D movie viewing, and could further decrease the number of 3D films being made today.

Did Avatar mark the peak of 3D films?

With 3D film revenues falling, critics have been quick to point to 3D funerals of the past, but new technology and new investment could see another revival.

With Avatar's cinema release in 2009 came the promise of 3D technology that was here to stay.

Avatar and James Cameron brought with them the fourth wave of mainstream success for 3D, but since then, film revenues have fallen 1% each year for 3D films.

But Jim Chabin, president of the International 3D Society - a society to "advance the art and technologies of stereoscopic 3D content" - said in a 2012 statement: "Moviegoers continue to enjoy 3D movies."

He cited a report the society commissioned saying "most" US cinemagoers liked 3D compared to 2D. Some 71% of people surveyed who had seen a 3D movie preferred the experience. 

But, out of a total 1,011 people surveyed, only 373 said they'd rather see 3D over 2D if the 48% who had never chosen to see a 3D movie were included.

Are 3D films a thing of the past?

In 2012, 41 movies had 3D attached to them.

In 2013, that number went down to 35.

In 2014, just 28 movies were accessible with 3D glasses.

We can expect this trend to continue as movie studios are beginning to learn the sad truth that people are quickly losing interest in paying more money for blurrier movie-watching (and instant headaches).

Granted, for every Gravity and Avatar that comes out, we also get something like G.I. Joe: Retaliation, an obvious example of a bad movie trying to gouge more money from a waning audience.

The brutal truth is that most movies just don’t benefit from the 3D experience unless they’re either animated or built for 3D. In most cases, they’re converted into 3D after shooting, thus lowering the quality.

So it hasn’t taken long for consumers to catch on. 

In 2009, studios could easily get away with charging extra for 3D and watching the money come in, but it’s clearly not worth their time anymore 5 years later. After making plenty of money re-releasing old favorites like Star Wars and Finding Nemowith 3D technology, Hollywood is clearly experiencing diminishing returns.

Could Virtual Reality become part of the film experience?

Virtual reality may be the next frontier of filmmaking, thanks to 360-degree stereoscopic cameras and binaural audio used to achieve an immersive viewing experience. Unfortunately, most potential VR film buffs have limited opportunities to watch until later in the year and into 2016, when VR devices like Oculus Rift, HTC Vive and Project Morpheus become commercially available. 

When you can find publicly accessible films, though, you can witness filmmakers' first experiments with an entirely new style of filmmaking. These VR directors must simulate dynamic camera movement without inducing motion sickness, tell a predetermined story while accommodating viewers' varied gazes and make the experience interactive without completely gamifying the VR film experience.

New technologies like virtual reality add a new form of storytelling, could it ever make its way to feature films?