Coming to you in 3D

This weekend, I finally made the trip to the cinema to watch the much-hyped Avatar in 3D, which I thoroughly enjoyed. Having seen a couple of the latest generation 3D films as well as the classic ‘old style’ red & blue lens 3D in my childhood, it got me thinking about where 3D has come from and what the future is for it.

Way back in 1894 William Friese Greene discovered and filed a patent application for a new technology that would change the way we see motion picture. That technology was 3D, three-dimensional motion picture that provides the illusion of ‘depth’. However, although revolutionary, it had never been able to remain a constant fixture in our cinemas, getting killed off before once again returning like a classic horror movie bad guy, having comebacks throughout the 20th century as technology evolved.

But is our latest & current fascination of 3D just another stint or is it here to stay - a happy ending for 3D? I think a key part of it’s survival is for it to break out of the cinema & become more involved in our everyday lives. Let’s face it, back in the 60’s most people would have thought that a 3D tv would common place in every house by 1990, let alone by 2010 (not forgetting living our lives like the Jetsons, flying round on spaceships). The big players in technology have made 3D tv sets for domestic use & more studios are now shooting in both 3D and 2D as standard which would suggest that this may not just be another fad. Also without film studios capitalizing on the dvd market, it maybe difficult to sustain. It’s not just movies that will be hitting our tv’s in 3D, with BskyB launching a dedicated 3D channel this year, beaming a wide range of 3D tv straight into our homes from Swan Lake, to Premier League football. This of course will require a ‘3D ready’ tv for the end user reap the benefits, but it’s another strong indication that 3D will become standard in homes in the near future. It was trialled for the first time this weekend by Sky, in a handful of pubs across the UK, showing Arsenal v Man United with that extra dimension (However, even 4D would not have made that game the slightest bit enjoyable for me, being an Arsenal fan).

This doesn’t just stop at the movies and TV either. The gaming industry is at an all time high, if not bigger than the movie industry - so it looks increasingly likely 3D will be adding a whole new dimension to the way we play games. Can 3D become part of our working lives too? Will brands start manufacturing 3D monitors? As a web designer, will we have to take a new dimension into consideration when creating a website for a client?

I guess only time will tell if it will be a happy ending for 3D.