tippy2k2 said:
There are only a handful of movies that get 3D right; that's why I hate 3D movies.
Avatar uses it the way it should be used (to add depth to your shots): I should NEVER notice that your movie is in 3D. If I have noticed the 3D, you have utterly failed as a film maker.
And therein lies the catch with me. If you do 3D right I should never notice it. But if I'm never noticing it, then what the hell is it really adding?
The reality is that I've never seen a movie or game that was improved by 3D. It's never been used, to my knowledge, to make any sort of artistic statement, add to the meaning of a scene or any other kind of artistic use you can think of. It's always simply been there, but not really for any reason other than increasing the ticket price.
There's also the fact that it's not actual 3D, it's merely trying to simulate it, and often does a poor job of it, which is why you can watch movies where the depth of some scenes pops and others where you don't notice it because it was literally done so badly that nothing actually looks three dimensional. Even worse is that a not-insignificant portion of the population can't even see this simulated 3D properly, or literally suffer migraines if they try to put up with it.
But you know what the most damning thing of all is? It's unnecessary. Completely and utterly unnecessary. Our eyes are really good at judging depth in two dimensional images, especially when we can see things like shadows, assume the average height of a person, and see other depth cues like objects getting smaller or larger as they move farther away or closer to the camera. Yeah, there are situations where you can trick the eyes with a two dimensional image, but for the most part they don't have a big impact on film making, or even better, are actually useful for setting up some really cool shots that would be difficult to impossible without being able to play with our perspective.
So yeah, you know what, I hate 3D. It's useless and it costs me more money. I've actively avoided 3D movies and games for the last 2-3 years because of it. Because let's face it, when there's only one movie anyone ever mentions as having done 3D well (Avatar) and the only reason that's the case is because it didn't completely botch the sense of depth and perspective or make everyone who saw it sick, just how useful is it really? How much does it actually add? Because I can't think of an answer to that that doesn't end with it not being useful and adding nothing.
3D can talk to me when we have holodecks. Until then, I'll stick with 2D images thanks.