I was watching a 3D Blu-ray last night (Fascination Coral Reef 3D) and noticed a few traps with 3D. My hearing is failing, so I switched on the subtitles before viewing, but I needn't have bothered, because the commentary was measured and clear.
This BD, like many 3D movies I have seen, emphasised the depth. The subtitles were positioned about the distance of the screen so that when say a coral reef jutted out, there appeared to be a sort of slot tube in the reef so that I could still see the subtitles. Where should the subtitles be distanced? There seems no simple answer.
If the distance between foreground and subtitles was great, however, and particularly if the reef was jutting out before the subtitles appeared, I was unable to focus on the subtitles and not the reef. I saw the reef as a solid object while there were two sets of subtitles, which were naturally difficult to read. It would have been easier if the subtitles only appeared for one eye. My wife didn't seem to have this trouble, so maybe it was only me.
The third issue I had was that the 3D was exaggerated. With a 2D image, it is difficult to judge the size of an object. We can't be sure if it is a small object up close or a large object more distant, unless there is a familiar object of known size next to it. With 3D, however, when the distance is only about a metre or so, we can judge the size fairly accurately. They were showing a turtle that they said could be up to 3 metres in length, but this one only seemed to be only about half a metre, if that. It looked tiny. The same thing applied with a supposedly "large" grouper.
Is it too much to hope that one day it will be normal for 3D presentation to be natural and not enhanced? I fear not, given the trend to over the top high impact in movies and advertisements.
This BD, like many 3D movies I have seen, emphasised the depth. The subtitles were positioned about the distance of the screen so that when say a coral reef jutted out, there appeared to be a sort of slot tube in the reef so that I could still see the subtitles. Where should the subtitles be distanced? There seems no simple answer.
If the distance between foreground and subtitles was great, however, and particularly if the reef was jutting out before the subtitles appeared, I was unable to focus on the subtitles and not the reef. I saw the reef as a solid object while there were two sets of subtitles, which were naturally difficult to read. It would have been easier if the subtitles only appeared for one eye. My wife didn't seem to have this trouble, so maybe it was only me.
The third issue I had was that the 3D was exaggerated. With a 2D image, it is difficult to judge the size of an object. We can't be sure if it is a small object up close or a large object more distant, unless there is a familiar object of known size next to it. With 3D, however, when the distance is only about a metre or so, we can judge the size fairly accurately. They were showing a turtle that they said could be up to 3 metres in length, but this one only seemed to be only about half a metre, if that. It looked tiny. The same thing applied with a supposedly "large" grouper.
Is it too much to hope that one day it will be normal for 3D presentation to be natural and not enhanced? I fear not, given the trend to over the top high impact in movies and advertisements.