Monthly Archives: April 2011

Born To Be Wild 3D – Trailer better than Movie?

I’ve tried to find a good discussion board for this topic but my Google-fu has failed me. I suppose there is not a lot of discussion about a 40 minute Imax nature short film.

I love seeing films in Imax (real Imax, not LieMax – google it if you’re confused). I’m lucky enough to have 2 Imax screens and 1 Regal Superscreen near me.
3D on the other hand, has yet to really impress me. I’ve seen movies in 3D and in Imax 3D and it’s cool for a few minutes, but after a few minutes, you forget it’s there.
I’ve seen Tron Legacy, Avatar, and a few others I can’t recall in Imax 3D – just not impressed (although I had a crappy seat at the far right of the theater for Avatar so I’m not sure I got the full effect.)
It all seems the same. The image certainly has depth but it starts at the screen and goes back. It doesn’t ‘pop’ out of the screen.

Until I saw the trailer for Born To Be Wild. I believe I saw it before Tron Legacy Imax 3D.
It absolutely blew me away. These images didn’t start at the screen and go back. They started at the screen and came forward into the audience.
There is an oragutan sitting in the water and the water looks like it stops just above the seat in front of me.
An elephant lifts up its trunk and it seems to stretch across the audience.
I have to stop myself from lifting out my hand to try and touch it – like a child trying to grab the moon.
>THIS< was true 3D. This is something worth paying an extra 10 bucks a ticket for. Why was it different? I didn't know. Maybe it was filmed with an Imax 3D camera (does such a thing exist?). Most 3D films aren't even filmed in 3D - they are converted later. And even films like Avatar are not filmed in Imax - they are converted to the larger format. There was nothing on the films website to let me know why this was such a better 3D experience - but I knew what I saw in that preview and it gave me goose bumps. So I marked my calendar and waited with excitement for the films release. So I took the wife and kids to see it last weekend. And here's the big question - what happened to the 3D? Sure, the movie was in 3D, but it was regular old 'from the screen and back' 3D, not the mind-bending 'right in front of you' 3D that I saw in the trailer. Was I crazy? No, my wife remembers the same thing. Things were right in front of you in the trailer, but not in the movie. As far as the movie itself? Not bad - your typical National Geographic / Discovery channel nature show with some neat 3D added. I don't exactly feel ripped off, just confused. This was same Imax theater (Lincolnshire, Illinois) using the same type of 3D glasses, but the trailer experience was completely different than the movie. I don't know what the difference is - but I know there is some 3D out there that can knock my socks off - I just haven't seen it yet in anything longer than a movie trailer. FYI - the song used in the trailer is "Wavin' Flag" by K'naan. According to my Google stats, no one cares about the 3D, they come here looking for the name of that song!

Song of the Day: Full House – Communicate

Damn – trying to get back into the swing of posting a few videos a week and I get a double smack of a nasty flu and two root canals. Pain and disease. House music to the rescue!

Full House
Communicate

D.J. International Records DJ 926
Produced By Danny Wilson
Written By Danny Wilson, Richie Patterson
Mixed By Farley Jack Master Funk