With stories like A Christmas Carol and Alice in Wonderland being retold in 3D, movie-goers have the chance to enjoy classic tales done in a new and visually stunning format.
For more than a century, both the Charles Dickens holiday story and the Lewis Carroll novel have been adapted several times for film. The current advances in 3D filmmaking have sparked the latest movies, and some say viewers will get to experience the stories like never before.
"For A Christmas Carol, the 3D format captures the way Dickens described the time travel and ghost experiences Scrooge encounters in the story," offers Darren Bacon, an alumnus of The Art Institute of Seattle and concept artist for ImageMovers Digital, the film studio behind the latest Christmas Carol film released in November.
With more studios jumping on the 3D bandwagon, the list of 3D films is growing rapidly. Some experts see the resurgence of 3D films as a much needed boost for studios and perhaps the best last chance for traditional movie theaters. In addition to classic stories, the much anticipated and hyped 3D film Avatar from director James Cameron commanded millions in ticket sales following its release last month.
According to Al Caudullo, executive producer of high-definition and 3D media company Explore Media Group, 3D has the ability to draw audience members deeper into the story.
"When Jim Carrey's Ebenezer Scrooge character is in an IMAX flight, we are right there with him as part of the journey," Caudullo says of Christmas Carol.
3D can enhance a good story in a way 2D can't, Caudullo continues, but it can't fix a bad story. "You have to start out with a good solid story, good visuals, and good acting," he says. "3D will never replace any of these aspects of good filmmaking."
Making a 3D film isn't easy and with new advancements come new challenges.
"It is really exciting to see the end result, but working on them is a ton of work," says Josh Gridley, an animator for Sony Pictures Imageworks. "Every film has its different set of challenges, and they are being cranked through a lot faster and done for far cheaper. In general, you spend a lot of time at the computer and working a lot of weekends."
Gridley should know. The alumnus from The Art Institute of Phoenix worked on Alice in Wonderland, which is set to hit theaters in March, as well as the 2008 animated feature Bolt and the 2009 film G-Force.
As an animator, he choreographs the movements of the characters in each scene using computer controls. "3D animation is kind of like having a really awesome digital G.I. Joe character and you are creating the performance one frame at a time," Gridley explains.
Bacon's work on Christmas Carol came early in the process. As a concept artist, he drew some of the characters, graphics, environments, and other items in the film based on ideas presented by the film's director Robert Zemeckis.
"A year and a half ago, I started working on the film," Bacon says. "What I do is the very first step in the whole process because we design the characters and props according to the script."
In the case of Christmas Carol, a technique called performance capture was used to digitally record the movements and expressions of actors and then transpose them into computer-generated (CG) images. The approach allowed Carrey to play multiple characters without staying in the makeup chair - performance capture records the movements of the actors, not their visual appearance.
Caudullo calls 3D a "filmmaker's tool" in much the same way as color was used to transport viewers from Kansas in The Wizard of Oz and THX sound was used to recreate the chaos of the battle scenes swirling around in Star Wars.
Experts say 3D video and moviemaking is currently in a new transition. On his 3DGuy.tv website, Caudullo shows 3D movie trailers and talks about advancements in technology and production. He says the latest developments in 3D technology include single-lens 3D cameras and a high-definition television that displays 3D.
Even so, Caudullo says the full potential of 3D has yet to be realized.
"The improvements in 3D technology will rapidly accelerate in the near future," he says. "How effective the 3D tool can be is left to the filmmaker's imagination. One of the biggest pitfalls is to fall back on the gimmicks and gags of the ‘old' 3D. So far, that hasn't happened."