Why 3D Doesn’t Work and Never Will

Walter Murch, in a letter to Roger Ebert:

The biggest problem with 3D, though, is the “convergence/focus” issue. A couple of the other issues — darkness and “smallness” — are at least theoretically solvable. But the deeper problem is that the audience must focus their eyes at the plane of the screen — say it is 80 feet away. This is constant no matter what. But their eyes must converge at perhaps 10 feet away, then 60 feet, then 120 feet, and so on, depending on what the illusion is. So 3D films require us to focus at one distance and converge at another. And 600 million years of evolution has never presented this problem before. All living things with eyes have always focussed and converged at the same point.

I think 3D is fun in very small doses, like in attractions at Disney World, where the movie is only around five minutes long. But I have never enjoyed 3D in a feature. Avatar was closest.

★ Tuesday, 25 January 2011