How are 3D movies made?

"Andrew Woods is a 3D expert and makes his own underwater 3D cameras. Andrew explains that the basic technology behind 3D movies is based on providing a different image to each eye which is what we see in real life. When we watch normal television, both eyes see the same image. With 3D movies or TV, the images are derived from a 3D camera, 2 lenses sit side by side and one image from the left camera goes to the left eye and the image from the right camera goes to the right eye.

There are various ways of separating the images that go to each eye. One way is to use the blue and red glasses but these glasses don’t allow the viewer to get a proper full colour picture.

A better approach is polarisation. Two lenses will pass different polarisations of light. Left eye will pass the left images and the right eye will only pass the right images. This will produce a full coloured image.

Polarised glasses were used in the 1950s so there is nothing new about this technology. Indeed it is surprising how far back 3D movies go. Andrew says that the earliest example of 3D movies being shown to the public audience is about 1915 and the biggest year for 3D movies’ production and exhibition was 1953 where 60 plus movies were shown that year.

With new digital technology, 3D technology is poised to enter our lounge rooms. The technology is available now; Andrew had a set with HD TV released in US in April 2007 which has a 3D option. People are able to buy these sets now. The glasses to use are infrared, remote controlled glasses with batteries which allow you to see 3D in HD selected TVs.

The movie studios are embarking on 3D projects and DreamWorks have indicated that they only want to produce 3D movies as soon as there are enough 3D cinemas which can support that format."

Source: ABC