The art of cinema has seen many advances over the years. Two of these advances are probably cinema's greatest achievements since its inception. These are the transition from silent films to talkies, and the addition of color to films.
Dreamworks Animation is ready to take the next step in an effort to bring about a revolution of its own — a 3-dimensional one.
Last week, Jeffrey Katzenberg (the K in Dreamworks Animation SKG) came to Boston to share this revolution with the media as well as plain old moviegoers. In addition to discussing this cinematic breakthrough, he brought along three scenes from the upcoming Dreamworks Animation film "Monsters Vs. Aliens," the film that will introduce the public to this new technology and that is a prelude to what the studio is calling the "Year of 3D."
Katzenberg claims this type of 3D is like nothing we've ever seen before. He jokingly donned a pair of old-school red and blue cardboard 3D glasses to make the point that this new technology — known as TRU3D — is not, in his words, "my father's 3D."
Much like its predecessors "Shrek," "Madagascar" and "Kung Fu Panda," "Monsters Vs. Aliens" is an imaginative tale, with unusual yet lovable characters. In the film, an alien attack is threatening the United States. With nuclear weapons not an option and military power accomplishing nothing, the government calls on a top secret compound that has been capturing and imprisoning monsters for years. Now, it's up to these lovable monsters to defeat the alien that threatens their country.
The animated characters are played by an all-star cast of A-List actors. The monsters consist of Dr. Cockroach Ph.D. (Appropriately voiced by Dr. House himself, Hugh Laurie), a gelatinous and always hungry blue blob named B.O.B. (Seth Rogen), a 350-foot tall bug with an incomprehensible and deafening roar named Insectosaurus, a mysterious half-ape, half-fish named The Missing Link (Will Arnett), and the new addition to the motley crew, Susan (Reese Witherspoon), a woman who was hit by a meteor of outer space gunk on her wedding day and grew to a height of 49 feet 11 inches (just one of the many shout-outs to classic, campy sci-fi/horror films).
The man who captures these monsters and is responsible for what becomes of them is General W.R. Monger (Kiefer Sutherland). And the most appropriate casting choice of all has political satirist Stephen Colbert voicing — who else but the president.
After explaining the film's main points, Katzenberg stepped back to show a few scenes and let this "new revolution" speak for itself.
Less than a minute into the first clip, I was already blown away. The picture was so sharp and clear, and the 3D effect was more impressive than anything I had seen before. When things exploded, you almost felt the rush of debris hurtling toward you.
The most appealing aspect of this new 3D, as Katzenberg reinforced, is that it isn't there just for the sake of being 3D; it's there to enhance the viewing experience.
Just as the addition of sound and color into films brought a new viewing experience to the masses, Katzenberg hopes 3D will be the new frontier in entertainment. Not just in animation, but, as Katzenberg predicts, soon most movies will be available in 3D for only a $5 premium charge on tickets. Katzenberg believes the experience TRU3D offers is worth that small addition to price.
He also affectionately mentioned the key difference between this type of 3D and other, earlier forms of the technique. He believes that most 3D is there for the gimmicks and the "Gotcha!" effect, where things come jump at you and break the peripheral — the barrier between the audience and the movie.
Katzenberg believes breaking the peripheral ruins the story and movie itself, and that's why with TRU3D, the aim is not to come out at the audience, but to bring the audience inward and along for the ride.
Even though "Monsters Vs. Aliens" may have a few 3D tricks up its sleeve for the opening and closing credits, he said once the story begins and characters are introduced, they never break that peripheral for a cheap thrill, but rather make it as if you are a bystander witnessing all of this happening before your very eyes.
Despite the enhancement of 3D, Katzenberg and all of Dreamworks Animation believe in the importance of a great story. As he stated, "No matter how good this effect, it won't make a bad movie good."
So what lies in the future if this technology becomes a success? In addition to more movies being released in this new application of 3D, new advances will find their way into our lives within the next decade or so.
Katzenberg believes we will soon be able to purchase Transition Lense Glasses that change from sunglasses when outdoors to 3D viewing glasses while indoors. After that, technological advances will be able to show us movies in 3D, without the use of glasses.
Of course, all of these things will make their true settlements in the next generation of moviegoers, but they are just on the horizon of cinematic creation.
"Monsters Vs. Aliens" will be released in 3D in approximately 2,500 theaters across the U.S. on March 27, 2009.
