MC’s new cinemas as they were building them. The Savoy 3D is far better.
3D, at least at the Majestic Theatre in Colombo, kinda sucks. Just watched Iron Man 3 – a very good rebuild on the franchise – but it was made actively worse by being in 3D. First off, I think it got 3D post-production, which is lame. The only real effect is blurring one character in talking scenes, giving a weak depth of field. In exchange, you get an extremely dark screen with completely washed out colors. The images is so bad that things like sets and scenery disappear, you can just barely follow the plot. It’s such a rip.
3D, like touchscreens, took off when people copied the technological part of an innovation rather than the artistic. In this case, James Cameron blew the lid open with Avatar, the first major film in 3D, and everybody else followed by just adding it as another feature, like Dolby Sound. But it’s not just a feature. Done wrong it’s a bug. Some movies are made with 3D in mind – Judge Dredd was good for example – but others are just gimmicky and lame (ooh, looking down the end of a gun). Worst of all, 2D movies that are ‘made’ 3D in post production actually get worse. 3D – on certain screens, most in Sri Lanka at least – appears much darker than normal projection, but they project at the same brightness. If the image isn’t corrected it’s like watching through sunglasses. Basically, if a movie doesn’t need 3D it shouldn’t have 3D at all.
This is not to say that 3D doesn’t work at all. I thought so, but then I’ve seen movies like Dredd which think about it and actually make it cool. But 3D done wrong actually ruins films. It has to stop. I think Iron Man is still showing the 3D at Liberty Lite. Going to check that out and see if I can actually form some memories this time.
I avoid going to 3D screenings after watching a couple of “3D movies” at Majestic in the past. Yes, you are correct, the picture is so damn dark, at one stage I opted to remove my 3D glasses in order to be able to see a bit better (even with sometimes blurry picture).
i think it has something to do with 3D glasses quality too , in majestic my eyes hurts a lot..but in singapore it was not like that
Technically in 3D only about 25% of projected light reach your eye. So some places project with high brightness and or more reflective screens.
I think MC also uses active 3D glasses that are heavier and not as good as Polaroids.
MC 3D also seems to have some sort of frame rate issue. You can notice flicker in high speed action sequences.
Right now the entire 3D movie industry sucks, not just majestic cinema. I’d have liked them better if the screen was brighter and if they just stop throwing stuff at my face.
Well at the moment the biggest issue is most directors overuse it. Things will get better once they learn to use 3D with restrain. Remember the days when SL bands discovered Octapad. 3D industry is in that zone now.