Anyone You Want
IF A film festival had held a special event on 3-D any year before this one, it would have gotten nothing but the novelty vote—and most of the time, not even that. In the 1950s, 3-D was a gimmick. In the 1980s, it was a way to try to convince someone—anyone—to go to the crappy third installment of your horror franchise. The third-wave of 3-D is a whole different story. Not only did the most successful movie in history (yeah, yeah, not adjusted for inflation, whatever) make a huge chunk of its money from 3-D showings, but Avatar has changed the way audiences think about the technology. No longer are 3-D filmmakers desperately looking for way to get a spear (or a pickax, in the case of last year’s My Bloody Valentine remake) hurled at the screen. The 3-D aspect isn’t pure spectacle anymore, now it’s storytelling, too. Finally, the third dimension is part of the true architecture of film.
That breakthrough has led to a new wave of serious films, like the upcoming Harry Potter film, Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland and The Clash of the Titans remake, being converted to 3-D. Ridley Scott wants his Robin Hood film to get the 3-D treatment, and the next Spider-Man movie will be shot the same way. Though 3-D has also gotten better from a viewing standpoint, it can be much better still, and this Cinequest event will demonstrate several of the latest advances and reveal how the technology’s potential for changing filmmaking has still barely been tapped.
3-D CINEMA will be presented at Camera 12 on Saturday (Feb. 27), 1:30–3pm. Admission is $10. (www.cinequest.org)
