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New and vintage 3-D in latest IMAX encounter Encounter in the Third Dimension

McKay, John

1999

Overview

Going back even before the 1950s, Encounter replicates some of those 19th and early 20th century stereoscope photographs that were all the rage at one time in North American society. Thanks to digital scanning and recompositing, the images take on a visual depth they probably never enjoyed before. Century-old snapshots of the Grand Canyon, for example, jump to startling life on the large-format screen. He says the real future in large-format cinematography lies in the digital domain, where there is much more effective control over the virtual images and sets. Encounter itself is created mostly in the computer. [Ben Stassen] foresees a day when even live action is shot with a digital camera, noting that George Lucas already experiments with it in Phantom Menace. A chuckling Stassen says they did have to remember the film's family venues in theme parks. [Elvira]'s notorious cleavage isn't emphasized unduly but on the IMAX screen it is also impossible to ignore: 3-D meets the double-D (cup).

• Publisher: Canadian Press Enterprises Inc
• Subject: 3-D films / 3-D technology / Audiences / Digital cameras / Experiments / History & criticism / Motion picture directors & producers / Motion pictures / Remakes & sequels / Theater