In the Movies Ep. 11: Coraline and 3D Technology

This week we watched one of my favorite movies, and I got to research a topic that I have been interested in for quite some time. It's a very technological episode as the making of a stop-motion movie like Coraline is very technically challenging, and 3D movies is a technology with a lot of history.

I think the most interesting, and a little surprising, fact that I learned about 3D technology is that it's been around almost as long as photography has been around and it hasn't changed much since then. It's still the basic concept of giving each of your eyes a different image to see that your brain puts together as a perception of depth.

Neither Juliana nor I are fans of seeing movies in 3D these days, but it was fun to watch Coraline at home with the pink and green 3D glasses. Okay, we didn't make it through the whole movie, but we gave it a chance. 

Unlike Juliana, I saw Coraline in theatres, and bought the DVD when it came out because I loved it so much. In fact, I love Coraline so much that while I was waiting for Juliana to come over to watch the movie, I had some fun on Coraline.com. You can interactively explore the whole world of Coraline on the site, see movie clips, behind-the-scenes clips, and have fun giving yourself button eyes and spelling your name in mice. I highly recommend checking out the site and having some fun!

Here are your links, as promised. Have fun learning about how 3D glasses work. Maybe you'll understand polarized light better than I did...

Movie News

Disney Animated Movie Slate [Hello Giggles]

The Storytellers: New Voices of the Twilight Saga [Lionsgate]

3D Glasses Resources
Anaglyph 3D [Wikipedia]
Polarized 3D system [Wikipedia]

Listen on iTunes, Podbean, or stay right here with the player below! Let us know what you think about this episode, suggest future episodes, or just say hi by emailing us at inthemoviespodcast@gmail.com.

Coraline Collector's Edition DVD

I love Coraline so much! I saw it in theatres but I really wish I saw it in 3D. So I was really excited when I heard they were releasing a DVD in 3D. As much as I love the movie, the old-school 3D (one eye red, one eye green) really doesn’t look so good. At the beginning of the movie it warns you that it may take about 5 minutes for your eyes to adjust to the 3D. I think it took longer than that and even when the 3D seemed to be working, it took the color out of the movie. Only the color blue really stood out. It’s not a very colorful movie in most parts, but it was definitely dull. There’s no part of the movie that’s really amazing-omg-gotta-see-that-in-3D-right-in-your-face. So, although it was interesting to watch it in 3D at home, I probably won’t ever watch it in 3D again. It’s much more enjoyable in its natural state.

The DVD also includes a few behind-the-scenes features, which I found really interesting. Claymation animation is so complex and takes so long. It’s amazing that people have the patience to do that.