Use of 3D glasses in cinemas - Research Paper Example

Cinema, as we have them in modernity today, has had its share of evolution ever since film was invented. If they were once merely dark theatres with images projected on the screen, they have now become a luxurious avenue to provide utmost entertainment.Although many of these trends have arrived in the more recent years, the use of three-dimensional (3D) glasses in cinemas had been present in the 1950s. Also, such trend is only a recurring gimmick to attract movie goers, not necessarily giving viewers the “perfect” movie experience.

Binocular Vision and 3D History Stereoscopy, or 3D imaging, began with Charles Wheatstone’s discovery of binocular vision or stereopsis, defined as “the ability to use the combined points of view from the two eyes or cameras to reconstruct three-dimensional solid objects and to perceive depth,” (Mataric 114) which is the backbone principle of stereoscopic cinemas.A brief history of stereoscopic cinema as presented by Ronfard is adapted in this paper. In the 1950s, movie theater audience was significantly reduced in the emergence of the television (TV), and stereoscopic cinema became an approach to bring them back.

Thus, this caused the emergence of a flock of commercial stereoscopic films during the decade, but eventually died down because of the discomfort it gives the audience. 3D movies could not surpass the value of two-dimensional (2D), because the visual quality and cinematographic content of the former, brought about by lack of mastery in stereoscopic filming techniques therefore giving viewers a headache. The 1980s was again bombarded with stereoscopic films, but was not successful as well, not until technology needed to produce quality stereoscopic films, both for shooting and viewing, arrived.

Animated movies in 3D then came with lower visual strain to viewers, paving a way for new experiments on the field. Thus, this period became 3D’s rebirth, giving us what we now have today (12-14). 3D Glasses There are two most commonly used types of 3D glasses: anaglyph and polarized. Anaglyph process uses colors to encode depth, thus it can be presented with a single color print and red and blue-filtered glasses (Kennel 157). These glasses would filter out red on one lens, and blue on the other lens, creating the 3D effect similar to that in binocular vision.

Anaglyphic encoding is the cheapest of all 3D systems, the most largely distributed and available, and efficient in black-and-white 3D used in depth placement and correction (Mendiburu 56). Modern types of 3D glasses are polarized glasses, nowadays used in films as well as in theme parks and rides. When using these types of glasses, “two images are projected through different polarization filters onto a surface that reflects the light toward viewers, keeping the polarization of the incoming light (mostly) unmodified” (Mrak, Grgic, and Kunt 394).

Polarized glasses have been adjusted according to linear or circular polarization, where the latter is preferred in order to see the same image quality despite head position changes of the viewers. An advantage of this type of glasses is its ability to block the bright glare of horizontally polarized light by transmitting it to the surface and permits vertically polarized light, which are weaker, to pass (Raymer 254). 3D Films as Gimmick Audiences are important because they are the reason a film is made, and audience size and reaction often convey the success or failure of a media product (Rayner, Wall and Kruger).

In viewing media as a source of entertainment, it has given us a number of innovations that would change our media experience, particularly with the invention of film and the genius of television. In this point, 3D film viewing is presented as merely a gimmick, and not as a necessity in order to create an extraordinary movie experience that surpasses 2D. As mentioned