'Polar Express' 3-D.

[Jack Aubrey]

I once saw a 3-D movie at our local Imax and left with the granddaddy of all headaches.

 

From Crave Online:

 

But why are we craving Bob Zemeckis's The Polar Express, based of course on the Caldecott Award-winning children's book? Aside from the state of the art Performance Capturing technology used to give the animation the most life-like appearance yet in a CG animated film, it's going to be the first full-length feature ever (and only of the major animated films coming out this season) to be converted into IMAX 3D.

 

Basically IMAX has developed its new digitally re-mastered (IMAX DMR) conversion technology to turn the entire film into a 3D experience sure to knock your socks off. Crave got a preview of four completed 3D sequences courtesy of IMAX and the result is pretty impressive. After a few moments for your eyes to adjust to the quick cuts not normally associated with 3D images (real life is really one continuous long take), snowflakes are settling on the end of your nose and hot soup platters in the dining car are almost spilling in your lap. It'll also take a couple seconds to recognize that Tom Hanks was the model (and apparently the voice) for several of the film's characters.

 

The trick is, according to IMAX technical guru Hugh Murray, that the entire film was already produced in three-dimensions. IMAX has presented DMR versions of Hollywood films like The Matrix Revolutions and Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban before, but never a 3D full-length feature. There are also other difference this time around. For one thing, IMAX climbed all aboard really early in the process, so director Zemeckis (who actually worked for IMAX early in his career) could be mindful of the process going in; most previous arrangements have been last-minute affairs. And since TPE is entirely created in CG with the performance capture process (in a nutshell: putting little sensors all over actors like Tom Hanks to create a computer model of their physical performances), the extra data necessary to create a truly 3D film already existed.

 

While the 35mm version in most theatres is restricted to the two-dimensional data, IMAX took the extra info and compiled it into their DMR process to produce probably the best 3D you've ever seen. Say goodbye to clunky liquid crystal glasses that give you a headache; the new 3D glasses are lightweight and filter the dual-projected left and right images into the proper eyes to sell the 3D effect to your brain. Murray tells us the artists at IMAX had to do a little tweaking here and there, like adding extra layers of steam and snowflakes to really take advantage of their 3D potential, before printing it on two giant 15/70mm reels of film. They also took the 2D limitation of the frame, whereby a character's figure may actually be cut out of the shot in a close-up, and used the extra data to construct the rest of their body in the third dimension. So now someone's head pops out of the picture rather than being lopped off.

 

IMAX estimates that about 100 IMAX theatres worldwide will have the enhanced, premium (read: more $$) experience available this Holiday season. Not only do IMAX releases improve the performance of the movie in neighboring traditional theatres (making it a no brainer for studio Warner Bros), but a film can run in IMAX for several months after a theatrical release expires. Add to that the cache of The Polar Express as a timeless favorite for kids and adults alike, with an appeal far broader than its documentary Nascar 3D or the decidedly more adult Matrix films, and IMAX can probably bet on this train coming in.

 

But don't bet on getting a comparable experience from your home theatre anytime soon. The trick is in the projection, and according to the company, the technology to allow the same quality of 3D to chase you around your living room at a consumer-friendly price is years off. The company says it's working on ways to bring live action movies to life (president Greg Foster declares that 3D is the future of IMAX), but with a post-production technique necessary to keep the 3D process out of the way of filmmaking--imagine having to shoot an entire film with hidden motion capture sensors on all the actors--the total digital environment of Polar Express is probably going to be the state of this art for a good time to come.

 

Look for The Polar Express wide in U.S. IMAX and traditional theatres November 10th.

 

--Steve Krutzler