The Virtual Steamroller: How CGI Paved the Way for 3D‟s Comeback A thesis presented to the faculty of the College of Fine Arts of Ohio University In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree Master of Arts Cody Barber March 2012 © 2012 Cody Barber. All Rights Reserved. 2 The thesis titled The Virtual Steamroller: How CGI Paved the Way for 3D‟s Comeback by CODY BARBER has been approved for the School of Film and the College of Fine Arts by ___________________________________ Louis-Georges Schwartz Assistant Professor of Film ___________________________________ Charles A. McWeeny Dean, College of Fine Arts 3 ABSTRACT BARBER, CODY, M.A., March 2012, Film Studies The Virtual Steamroller: How CGI Paved the Way for 3D‟s Comeback Director of Thesis: Louis-Georges Schwartz This thesis argues for technological development in CGI as a partial explanation for the resurgence of 3D films in mainstream Hollywood cinema after the year 2000. It defines and differentiates between “immersive” and “gimmick” 3D, describes formal aspects of CGI-heavy 2D films from the past two decades, and argues how they created an expectation/desire for 3D cinema. Approved:_______________________________________________________ Louis-Georges Schwartz Assistant Professor of Film 4 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS For her steadfast encouragement, patience, and editing assistance, not to mention love, I thank my wife, Samantha. Additionally, this thesis would not have been possible without the support and care of Professor Louis-Georges Schwartz, to whom I am deeply indebted. My sincerest gratitude also goes to Professors Ofer Eliaz and Michael Gillespie who, like Professor Schwartz, took the time out of their very busy schedules to offer their aid and input toward this thesis. My fellow School of Film Master of Arts candidates deserve a mention as well, as their company and comforting words have helped keep me sane for the last two years. Finally, I must thank my family and friends, as their smiles and belief in me have driven me toward this point in my education, career, and life. I love you all. 5 TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Abstract……………………………………………………………………………………3 Acknowledgements………………………………………………………………………..4 Introduction………………………………………………………………………………..6 Chapter 1: Paving the Way: The Drive Toward Immersive Entertainment……….....…11 Chapter 2: Almost 3D: CGI Effects in 2D Films…………………………………….....23 Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………….59 References………………………………………………………………………………..62 6 INTRODUCTION A screening of the latest Hollywood blockbuster at the local cineplex begins with a few trailers for upcoming features. Many of these previews close with the phrase “in 3D!” which garners some whoops and whispers of “that‟ll be awesome” from some of the fellow audience members, groans and sniggers from others, and content indifference from the rest. Conversations with coworkers, friends, and family involve cheer, disdain, and debate regarding recent 3D movies. Do they make the viewer feel like they are actually there, do they look flat and rushed from poor post-conversion, or do they just offer a painful headache? Does the 3D effect justify the inflated ticket price, or should the audience veer toward the 2D showing? All of these issues and situations reflect the present era of 3D films, but it did not begin this way. The novelty of the stereoscopic effects of 3D films began practically with the inception of cinema. Documents dated as far back as 1891 reveal that film‟s innovators experimented with the idea in the early days of motion pictures. A letter written by film pioneer William Dickson states, “It is Mr. Edison‟s intention to give a stereoscopic effect to the pictures taken in connection with the Kinetograph,” indicating, at least, an early desire for 3D cinema, if not a possible original intention for it as standard practice in filmmaking.1 Three-dimensional movies have disappeared and resurfaced many times in cinema‟s history, but they have always been present in one form or another. Historian of 1 Zone, Ray. Stereoscopic Cinema & the Origins of 3-D Film, 1838-1952. Lexington: University of Kentucky, 2007: 1. Print. 7 3D, Ray Zone, points out every period of 3D awakening in film‟s chronology and names them as eras, beginning with the early years, the novelty era.2 An obsession with the novelty of 3D characterizes this period in its history, which continued until around 1952. Zone states, “During this period of technological progress for the stereoscopic motion picture, there was an aesthetic tug-of-war between the technical and the narrative demands of the medium.”3 At that time, it appeared to be up in the air whether 3D films would remain a festival attraction like film‟s early days, or if they would receive recognition as a way to enhance cinema and storytelling. By the end of this era, millions of people had been exposed to 3D, its technology was better understood, and its capabilities as an artform had been exhibited at the 1951 Festival of Britain.4 The next era, from 1952 to 1985, was marked not only by two periods of vastly increased 3D film production and consumption (between 1952 and 1955, as well as in the early 1980s), but also largely by what Zone points out as a dominant technological development of 3D production in the 1950s: convergence, in which the cameras converged on subject matter at any distance and placed it within Academy 1.33:1 ratio. This lasted for only a few years, as “when the exhibitors and studios elected to pursue Cinemascope with its […] wider screen, the classical Hollywood frame was broken, along with the 3-D film.”5 The short run of gimmicky 3D films in the early 1980s, although utilizing a widescreen format, fizzled out as well, but not before spawning the 2 Ibid. 1. 3 Ibid. 2. 4 Ibid. 2. 5 Ibid. 2. 8 first wide release of a 3D film, Friday the 13th Part III,6 in 1982, in more than 1,000 theaters.7 In 1986, the “Immersive Era,” as Zone calls it, began with the innovation of IMAX films and theatres. With its seven-story-high image projected on the giant screen accompanied by six-channel sound, the large-format stereoscopic film eliminates the awareness of the edge of the frame […] The viewer‟s peripheral vision is completely immersed in the stereoscopic image, and there is no awareness of the edge of the motion picture frame.8 According to Zone, the virtual reality craze of the 80s and 90s fits into this era as well, but remains not as influential as IMAX in cinema as it “never established [itself] as a widespread platform for motion picture narratives,” at the theater or in the home environment.9 This era, as well as the next, continues to the present day. Finally, our current era of “Digital 3-D Cinema” began with the wide release of the fully digital 3D film, Chicken Little,10 in 2005. Zone‟s work on 3D focuses primarily on the historical and technological in his Stereoscopic Cinema and the Origins of 3-D Film.11 The text, which, as explained in its subtitle, only follows 3D‟s origins in 1838 up to the end of the “novelty period” in 1952, discusses mainly principles of 3D filmmaking, anecdotes about individual films, and the development of specific technologies. It unfortunately does not dig further into the 6 Dir. Steve Miner. Paramount Pictures, 1982. 7 Zone, Ray. Stereoscopic Cinema & the Origins of 3-D Film, 1838-1952. Lexington: University of Kentucky, 2007: 3. Print. 8 Ibid. 3. 9 Ibid. 3. 10 Chicken Little. Dir. Mark Dindal. Walt Disney Pictures, 2005. 11 Zone, Ray. Stereoscopic Cinema & the Origins of 3-D Film, 1838-1952. Lexington: University of Kentucky, 2007. Print. 9 “immersive” era. His other well-known book on 3D, entitled 3-D Filmmakers, shares some insight on the background philosophy of 3D filmmaking from established 3D directors, including James Cameron.12 While touching slightly more on the concept of “immersion,” it still largely leaves it out of the equation. Other works on 3D‟s history and development, such as Lipton‟s Foundations of the Stereoscopic Cinema and Hayes‟ 3-D Movies, follow suit with Zone‟s historical work, focusing chiefly on mechanical inventions and the science of stereoptics, as well as chronological and economic overviews of released 3D films.13, 14 Heffernan‟s Ghouls, Gimmicks, and Gold offers an fascinating and somewhat unique angle on 3D by way of genre.15 While also reiterating some points made in Hayes‟ text about the economics of 3D, Heffernan points out the “lowbrow” connotations of “gimmicky” 3D in mid-to-late-century horror and exploitation films. Interestingly, the science fiction and horror genres continue to produce a vast amount of today‟s 3D cinema. While the horror films appear to be largely rehashes of the 80s 3D slashers, the sci-fi iterations tend to lend themselves toward creating the “immersive” experience. The defining text of “immersive” ultimately falls to an essay by Lauren Rabinovitz, entitled “More than the Movies,” in which the writer provides an overview of immersive entertainment as attractions from the early days of 12 Zone, Ray. 3-D Filmmakers: Conversations with Creators of Stereoscopic Motion Pictures. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow, 2005. Print. 13 Lipton, Lenny. Foundations of the Stereoscopic Cinema: a Study in Depth. New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1982. Print. 14 Hayes, R. M. 3-D Movies: a History and Filmography of Stereoscopic Cinema. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 1989. Print. 15 Heffernan, Kevin. Ghouls, Gimmicks, and Gold: Horror Films and the American Movie Business, 1953- 1968. Durham: Duke UP, 2004. Print. 10 film through motion simulation rides and IMAX.16 Much of the converging trajectories of technology, techniques, formal filmic elements, and popular culture, with regards to modes of entertainment such as 3D, seem to form an overlying movement toward this “immersive” entertainment.