A Brief History of 3D
Source:
Film.Guardian.co.uk,
sensio.tv
Since its invention in 1838, stereoscopy has been used as a technique to create the illusion of a third dimension. There is a lot of debate about the first 3D film but “L’arrivée du train” filmed in 1903 by the Lumière brothers, the inventors of cinema, is often referred to as the first stereoscopic movie ever made.
When it was released, audiences panicked because they thought the train was about to crash right into them! Since then, about 250 films and TV programs have been produced in 3D. Although the technology for creating 3D films has been around for a long time, the technology for viewing these films, as essential as it may be, is a totally different story.
This explains why 3D cinema has gone through five significant eras and why its story is still being written. Film in 3D is as old as cinema itself, although the technical difficulties it poses have always prevented its triumph.
As far back as the 1890s, the British film pioneer William Friese-Greene was working on a process, but the earliest known commercial 3D film was The Power of Love in 1922, which used the notoriously unreliable dual-strip projection and introduced the dastardly red and green anaglyph glasses.
The 1950s ushered in a prolific spate of film-making as the studios, besieged by the advent of television, threw themselves into the new format in a bid to bring back audiences.
For a while it worked, as Vincent Price starred in House of Wax and other schlocky genre pieces, while MGM released Kiss Me Kate in 3D, John Wayne starred in Hondo and Richard Carlson and Julia Adams headlined Creature from the Black Lagoon, the 1954 title that is arguably the most famous 3D release of them all.
As widescreen 2D cinema became more popular, 3D died out, returning in the 1970s and 1980s with Jaws 3-D and a rash of genre finery such as Amityville 3-D, Comin' At Ya!, Friday the 13th Part III and Adventures in the Forbidden Zone.
In recent years, film-makers have combined 3D with the giant-screen Imax format in a series of documentary releases, and since then Hollywood has enjoyed moderate success converting 2D hits into 3D using polarised glasses. Notable titles from this most recent wave include The Polar Express, Chicken Little, Beowulf and The Nightmare Before Christmas.
1900 to 1946: Experimentation - Producers, fans and inventors of all stripes lay the groundwork for 3D cinema. A few films are shot with small budgets in order to try to uncover the secrets of stereoscopic production.
1950 to 1960: The first golden age - During this decade, 3D sees its first boom. With the commercial success of “Bwana Devil”, released by United Artists in 1952, 3D cinema captures the attention of the major studios.
They turn out more than sixty films, including Hitchcock’s “Dial M for Murder” and “Hondo”, starring John Wayne. Although these films were shot with state-of-the art technology, 3D fell out of use because of the poor viewing conditions in most theatres and due to the complex equipment required to exhibit 3D movies (silver screens, polarized glasses, double synchronized projectors, special lenses…).
1973 to 1985: The Renaissance - All but forgotten by the general public, 3D cinema resurfaces and several studios, large and small, try to resurrect it. They succeed in creating interest thanks to such films as “Jaws 3D”, “Comin at Ya!” and “Friday the 13th – Part 3”.
However, in spite of its new-found success, the little cardboard glasses still didn’t cut it, and 3D disappeared once again.
1986 to 2000: The revolution - With the invention of the Imax 3D format, which audiences discover for the first time while watching “Transitions” at Expo ‘86 in Vancouver, and the emergence of new screening technology, 3D cinema finally comes into its own.
Although 3D is used only in specialized productions due to the prohibitive shooting costs, it takes its rightful place, never to relinquish it again.
2001 to today: The second golden age - The advent of computer animation technology, digital cameras and 3D home theatre contribute to the democratization of stereoscopic production and screening. The demand for 3D continues to grow and the technology is now entering its second golden age.
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The Golden Age of 3D
From the world's first 3D feature film, The Power of Love, to Andy Warhol's Frankenstein 3D, AMZ looks at vintage 3D films from the 20's to the 70's. As you explore this article, you will see that the years 1953 and 1954 were no doubt the dominate years for 3D movies.
This is not a complete list of every single 3D film from the Golden Age, but most of the prominent films are included in this AMZ feature.
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The Power of Love 1922 Anaglyphic
Excerpt:
imdb.com
World's first 3-D feature film. Not Bwana Devil, which is usually given that honor. The only film released in the two-camera, two-projector Fairhall-Elder stereoscopic (3-D) process developed by Harry K. Fairhall and Robert F. Elder.
The premiere was 27 September 1922 at the Ambassador Hotel Theater in Los Angeles. This film is presumed lost.
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MARS 1922 Teleview
Excerpt:
3dmovingpictures.com
M.A.R.S. is the world's second 3D feature film. In the theater, two normal projectors were linked with sync motors, so they ran in absolute sync. 25 year-old Laurens Hammond of Detroit had an electric motor turn an AC generator so his system was isolated from the poor quality city power.
The projectors were driven by this regulated AC, via their own sync motors. The left film was in the left projector and right film in the right. Attached to each and every seat in the theater were the viewing devices. One sat down and grasped the viewer and pulled up. This viewing device is the jewel in the crown. The viewer had a window permitting both of your eyes to see through the shutter to the screen. This was pretty good stuff for 1922.
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Movies of the Future 1922 Anaglyphic
Excerpt:
stereoscopy.com
An interactive plasticon, entitled “Movies of the Future,” opened at the Rivoli Theater in New York. The film provided the viewer with an optional ending. The happy ending was viewed using the green filter, while the tragic ending could be seen using the red filter.
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Plastigrams 1924 Anaglyphic
Excerpt:
americanheritage.com
Educational Pictures released a group of shorts, including one called Plastigrams, in which red and green images were printed on opposite sides of the film, eliminating the need for special projection equipment. The method was coinvented by Frederic Eugene Ives, who was responsible for a number of important innovations in photolithography, color printing, and color photography. In 1924 a soundtrack was added, using the Phonofilm process of the inventor Lee de Forest.
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Audioscopiks 1935
Excerpt:
3dmovingpictures.com
MGM’s Frederick C. Quimby acquired some gag/demo footage shot by Jacob F. Leventhal and John A. Norling. Quimby handed the footage over to Pete Smith to shape into one of his well-known comedic shorts. The result was the 8+ minute AUDIOSCOPIKS, which opened nationally, January 8, 1936. It was apparently a smash and was Oscar nominated for Best Short Subject.
We don’t know if MGM ordered more footage to be shot, or Leventhal and Norling already had it, but sometime in 1937, it was decided to make a sequel. THE NEW AUDIOSCOPIKS opened January 15, 1938. Leventhal’s previous 3D venture was for the PLASTIGRAMS/STEREOSCOPIKS shorts 1924-25.
Leventhal most likely met up with John Norling (also from NYC) at the J. R. Bray Studios where Dave Fleischer was doing the OUT OF THE INKWELL series which apparently involved both of the boys at some point. Norling had directed two shorts for Bray, in 1922 and 1923. Sometime by 1935 they shot 3D gag footage, not unlike the STEREOSCOPIKS shorts. It was reported the filming took place in a small “studio” on 55th Street, NYC.
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In Tune With Tomorrow 1939 Polarized
Excerpt:
imdb.com
Originally produced for an exhibit at the 1939 World's Fair and later reissued as part of the 3-D craze of 1953. Not much is known about the making of this short other than it was done with John Norling's 3-D camera rig, but it is speculated that stop-motion animator Charlie Bowers may have had a hand in the production (Bowers also produced a similar, Technicolor short for the 1939 World's Fair about oil). The color 3-D version of this film was re-released in 1953 by RKO to cash in on the 3-D craze of the early 50's.
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Third Dimension Murder 1941 Anaglyphic
Excerpt:
imdb.com
A 3-D short subject in which the narrator goes to a creepy old house in search of his missing aunt. There he encounters the Frankenstein monster, a witch, a wooden Indian who comes to life, and assorted other monsters and frightening characters, all of whom manage to throw something toward the camera.
IMDB Member Comments:
"Third Dimensional Murder" is one of the very early 3-D films, made well before the 3-D fad of the 1950s. It's worth a look ... IF you can manage to see it in 3-D, but you'll need the appropriate viewing apparatus ... which has a much shorter 3-D parallax than the standard 3-D eyeglasses of 1950s drive-in fame.
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Bwana Devil 1952 Polarized
Excerpt:
wikipedia.org
It was 1951 and theatre attendance had down-spiralled from 90 million in 1948 to 46 million a few years later. TV was the culprit and Hollywood was looking for a way to lure audiences back. Cinerama had premiered September 30, 1952 at the Broadway Theatre in New York and was packing them in but its bulky and expensive three camera system was impractical if not impossible to duplicate in all but the largest theatres.
One time screen writer Milton Gunzburg and brother Julian thought they had a solution with their Natural Vision 3-D film process. They shopped it around Hollywood with little or no interest. 20th Century Fox was focusing on the introduction of CinemaScope, and had no interest in another new process. Both Columbia and Paramount passed it up. Only John Arnold, who headed the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer camera department, was impressed enough to convince MGM to take an option on it but they quickly let the option lapse.
Natural Vision appeared to be dead and the Gunzburgs were back to square one until a meeting with Oboler changed the history of films.
It was written, directed, and produced by Arch Oboler, and is considered the first color, American 3-D feature. It started the 3-D boom in the US film making industry from 1952 to 1954.
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