Nintendo heeft de launch line-up voor de Nintendo 3DS bevestigd. Consumenten kunnen bij de introductie van de handheld, die 3d-gaming zonder bril mogelijk maakt, kiezen uit dertien launch-games, waaronder drie van Nintendo zelf.

De lijst Nintendo 3DS-games die tegelijk met de Nintendo 3DS in de winkels worden gelegd, bestaat uit games van verschillende uitgevers. Nintendo zelf heeft met Pilotwings Resort, Super Street Fighter IV 3DS Edition en verschillende uitgaves van Nintendogs + Cats drie games gereed. De Japanse gamefabrikant zal daar in de periode na de introductie nog onder meer de 3d-remake van The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time aan toevoegen.

Ubisoft levert, zoals eerder al is bevestigd, vier launch-games af: Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell 3D, Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Shadow Wars, Asphalt 3D en Rayman 3D. De overige uitgevers doen het met een stuk minder launch-games; EA levert The Sims 3, Konami is verantwoordelijk voor PES 2011 3D, Activision brengt Lego Star Wars III: The Clone Wars uit, Namco Bandai heeft met Ridge Racer 3D een ijzer in het vuur, Sega is de uitgever achter Super Monkey Ball 3D en Tecmo Koei legt Samurai Warriors: Chonicles in de schappen.

De volledige lijst launch-games voor de Nintendo 3DS omvat:

•Pilotwings Resort
•Nintendogs + Cats (3 verschillende uitgaves)
•Super Street Fighter IV: 3D Edition
•The Sims 3
•PES 2011 3D - Pro Evolution Soccer
•LEGO Star Wars III: The Clone Wars
•Ridge Racer 3D
•Super Monkey Ball 3D
•Samurai Warriors: Chronicles
•Asphalt 3D
•Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Shadow Wars
•Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell 3D
•Rayman 3D

You should be truly scared out of your wits… coz’ horror films in India have just become spookier than ever! The eerie theatrical of B’Town’s first ever Stereoscopic 3D film, ‘Haunted 3D’, helmed by the master of suspense, Vikram Bhatt, was recently unveiled to the media.

 

The entire cast and crew was present at the event, including leading man Mahakshay Chakraborty, who’s reverted back to his real name after his stint as Mimoh proved disastrous. (Remember ‘Jimmy’?) Looking dapper sans his trademark mane, Mahaksay commented on the terrific and terrifying times he had on set.
He said, “My experience was out of this world. Because the film is in 3D, we had to take every shot in detail. It was a very hectic job. We had to do a lot of retakes. But it was amazing. Vicky Sir would scare me by just explaining the shot. It was mind boggling.”
When asked if the legendary ‘Disco Dancer’ had any words of advice for him, Mahakshay replied, “My dad hasn’t given me any tips for this film. In fact, he didn’t even come for the shooting as he was very busy with his own schedule.”
Joining Mahakshay in this spine chilling adventure is singer turned actress Tia Bajpai, who must have had quite a tough time on sets, considering she gets the scares easily. She told members of the media present at the event, “Even if I see a horror movie, I sleep with the lights on.”
With ‘Haunted 3D’, Vikram Bhatt returns to his favourite genre. The scribe tribe questioned Vikram on what phantasmal power draws the director of hair raisers such as ‘Raaz’ and ’1920′ back to horror. His reply? “I feel safe with spirits, because you know they’re scary. What scare me are people, because you don’t know what they are.”

A picture of German choreographer Pina Bausch hangs, in memoriam, in the spartan hallway of Wim Wenders' Berlin office.Bausch, or Pina to everyone who knew her, died in 2009, just as Wenders was about to begin shooting a movie about her and her work.

 

What was planned as a documentary became something else: the world's first 3D art house film and Wenders' true testimonial to the woman many credit with revolutionizing the art of dance.The film, which will screen out of competition in Berlin, is the culmination of an obssession with Pina's work that Wenders says began the moment he saw Bausch's Tanztheater in 1984."I saw the first piece of Pina's and immediately saw five more -- I saw everything she did," he says. "I'd seen some classical dance, but I was always bored. Here was something completely different. Even calling it modern dance is inappropriate. She created the word tanztheater, dance theater. What she does is plays where the acting is done by dancers."Bausch's work is, on the surface, worlds away from the films of the German auteur. Although her pieces often contain snatches of dialogue -- itself scandalous for classical-dance purists -- there is no discernable narrative. Wenders had done documentaries, but the subject -- in Buena Vista Social Club and The Soul of Man -- was always music. In his huge body of work, there are no overt references to dance.But from the moment he saw it, Wenders knew Bausch's Tanztheater belonged on the big screen. The only problem was, the director of Paris, Texas and Wings of Desire had no idea how to do it."It became a running joke," Wenders says. "She'd say, 'Wim, when are you doing that movie on me?' and I'd say, 'Pina, I don't know how.' "The problem was space. Imagine shooting a dance performance: Where do you put the camera? Do a close-up of a single dancer, and you miss what's going on behind, in front of and beside them. Pull back for a wide shot, and the scene flattens out; you can see everyone, but the emotion is gone. And Pina's dances are emotional to the core."The more I got to know her work, the less I thought I was able to shoot it in a way that was valid," Wenders says.Then, in 2006, he saw an early cut of the groundbreaking digital concert film U2 3D in Cannes."It was the first 3D film, the first to use this new technology," Wenders says. "I called Pina from the screening. I said, 'Now I know how.' "

In a landmark event in Indian cinema history, BVG Films (BVG), a division of ASA Productions and DAR Motion Pictures (DAR), the filmed entertainment division of DAR Media Private Limited (a DAR Capital Group Company), today unveiled the first look of India's first Stereoscopic 3D film ‘Haunted 3D'.

 

The producers also announced that UFO Moviez India Limited (UFO), the world's largest satellite delivered digital cinema network, has come on board this path breaking project as the technical and Digital 3D Partner. Helmed by leading Indian film-maker and master of Horror, Vikram Bhatt, the film is all set to hit the theatres on 15th April 2011. 
The spine chilling theatrical was released in the presence of director Vikram Bhatt, Arun Rangachari, Chairman - DAR Capital Group, Kapil Agarwal, Joint MD - UFO Moviez India Ltd, Amin Hajee the writer of the film, the entire cast Mahakshay Chakraborty, Tia Bajpai, Achint Kaur, Arif Zakaria and Sanjay Sharma, leading film trade figureheads and the media.
Speaking at the Haunted 3D First Look unveiling event, Vikram Bhatt said "Haunted is my most challenging and fulfilling movie. The challenge began from the scripting stage itself because we had to visualise the country's first next generation stereoscopic 3D film. It was all new. The style was new, the technology was new. We had to acquaint ourselves with the technology, learn it, adapt to it. That was a major feat and I must thank the entire technical team. They were brilliant. We would never have been able to achieve this unique milestone in Indian cinema without them."
Haunted 3D is a compelling story, set in the misty mountains of Dalhousie that revolves around Glen Manor, a sprawling mansion with a secret past and a haunted present. The protagonist ‘Rehan' visits Glen Manor to complete a transaction, involving its sale that his father had initiated and which is now under a cloud due to certain mysterious incidents. What he does not bargain for is that while he is trying to do so he discovers a Secret and falls in love with it. What he does not bargain for is that the Secret catapults him to the biggest challenge and question of his life.

While it seems that 3D movies are a new technological invention that has only been available to filmmakers in recent years, it has actually been around for a long time. The first patent for a 3D movie process was filed in Great Britain as far back as 1890, and the first movie viewed by a paying audience was shown back in 1922. In the 1950s, 3D movies became popular for awhile, but remained a novelty. In the early 1980s, movie makers again tried to sell the 3D technology, and this time reached more mainstreams producers. Titles such as Jaws 3D and Friday the 13th 3D showed some success. New, computerized cameras and processes led to the latest 3D craze, but these processes did little more than expand on the already-existing way 3D movies are filmed.
Before answering the question on how are 3D movies filmed, it must be noted that not all of todays three dimensional movies are filmed directly in 3D. Some of them were filmed with standard cameras, and then they are sent to a third-party production company that converts the movies into the third dimension. The three dimensional effects in post-production movies are generally not as good as movies that are originally shot in three dimensions. In many instances, the effect seems forced, subdued, or otherwise unnatural.
The best 3D movies are shot with special cameras that were invented for just that purpose. The most advanced of these cameras is the Sony 3D camera system developed by James Cameron and Vince Pace in conjunction with Sony. Cameron used the cameras to produce two documentaries before using them to film what is considered the greatest 3D movie of all-time, Avatar.
In gaining an understanding of how are 3D movies filmed, it is important to understand how 3D works. Three dimensional vision works on the principle of human binocular vision, the use of two eyes to create one image in the brain. Having two eyes that work together in this way is what allows people to perceive depth. The brain uses the triangulation between each eye and an outside object or point to determine how far away the object is. Because movie screens are flat, all of the images are the same distance away, so a system is used to trick the eyes into seeing two different images.
Older 3D movies were made with two cameras that recorded one image in red and the same image from a different perspective in blue or green. The images were then projected onto the screen using two cameras in synchronization. Viewers had to wear special glasses with red and green or blue tinted lenses so each eye could see only one of the projected images, creating a 3D effect.
Today’s 3D cameras use two lenses to capture two sets of images, but instead of colored filters, the images are differentiated by vertical and horizontal or opposing diagonal polarization. The movies are projected using a standard projector with a special lens that projects the two polarizations used. Viewers still have to wear special glasses, but they are no longer colored. The lenses filter each of the differently-polarized images to each eye, producing the 3D effect.

AvaIn a letter to reknowned film critic Roger Ebert, Walter Murch, whom Ebert desribed as "the most respected film editor and sound designer in the modern cinema," says 3D film is a system that defies 600 million years of evolution and thus, should be done away away with. If you question Ebert's assessment of Murch, this should ease those doubts.

 

I saw Avatar in Imax 3D and was somewhat impressed, but I thought the admission price far exceeded the value of the experience. Since then I have avoided 3D films like the plague. I just consider it an over-priced gimmick that failed miserably when they tried it in the 1950s and will fail again today. I noticed My Hero removed her glasses early during our viewing of Avatar because the 3D experience was causing her [hysical discomfort. In his letter to Ebert, Murch explains why:

The 3D image is dark, ... (about a camera stop darker) and small. Somehow the glasses "gather in" the image -- even on a huge Imax screen -- and make it seem half the scope of the same image when looked at without the glasses.
I edited one 3D film back in the 1980's -- Captain Eo -- and also noticed that horizontal movement will strobe much sooner in 3D than it does in 2D. This was true then, and it is still true now. It has something to do with the amount of brain power dedicated to studying the edges of things. The more conscious we are of edges, the earlier strobing kicks in.
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.
If we look at the salt shaker on the table, close to us, we focus at six feet and our eyeballs converge (tilt in) at six feet. Imagine the base of a triangle between your eyes and the apex of the triangle resting on the thing you are looking at. But then look out the window and you focus at sixty feet and converge also at sixty feet. That imaginary triangle has now "opened up" so that your lines of sight are almost -- almost -- parallel to each other.
We can do this. 3D films would not work if we couldn't. But it is like tapping your head and rubbing your stomach at the same time, difficult. So the "CPU" of our perceptual brain has to work extra hard, which is why after 20 minutes or so many people get headaches. They are doing something that 600 million years of evolution never prepared them for. This is a deep problem, which no amount of technical tweaking can fix. Nothing will fix it short of producing true "holographic" images.
Consequently, the editing of 3D films cannot be as rapid as for 2D films, because of this shifting of convergence: it takes a number of milliseconds for the brain/eye to "get" what the space of each shot is and adjust.
And lastly, the question of immersion. 3D films remind the audience that they are in a certain "perspective" relationship to the image. It is almost a Brechtian trick. Whereas if the film story has really gripped an audience they are "in" the picture in a kind of dreamlike "spaceless" space. So a good story will give you more dimensionality than you can ever cope with.
So: dark, small, stroby, headache inducing, alienating. And expensive. The question is: how long will it take people to realize and get fed up?

'Sanctum' directed by Alister Grierson is loosely based on true events.  The film tells the story of Frank McGuire (Richard Roxburgh) a tough, take no prisoners, master diver intent on being the first person to explore the Esa-Ala cave system in the South Pacific.
Shortly after Frank descends into the caves, along with a team that includes his 17 year old neglected son Josh, (Rhys Wakefield) who spends most of the film complaining to his dad that he was a lousy father,  the expedition's obnoxious bankroller Carl Hurley (Ioan Gruffudd) his annoying girlfriend, Victoria (Alice Parkinson) and several others, a flash flood seals off the cave exit trapping everyone. The explorers must now find an alternate way out.
Frank tells them that their only hope of survival is to plunge deeper into the cave system...venturing where no one has ever gone before. Okay, so that's basically the premise.  And it's an exciting one.  The problem lies with the script.  It's filled with wooden, expository dialogue.  What were the writers (John Garvin and Andrew Wight) thinking? And why didn't any one stop them. Unfortunately the acting performances aren't much better.
This is definitely a film that should be seen...not heard.  'Sanctum' is a very thrilling, terrifying edge of your seat experience.  And for that reason...'The Two Jews On Film' recommend it.   Thanks to Jules O'Laughlin's 3D camera (the same one used to shoot Avatar) the great production design, and underwater photography,  you can't  help but feel as if you are one of those divers fighting for your life inside those deep vast underwater caverns. Just put your hands over your ears when the characters start to  speak. 'Sanctum' opens in theaters, Friday, February 4, 2011.  

 

The 2011 Berlin International Film Festival will feature 3D films to celebrate the potential of the format since its recent revival in Hollywood.
The 61st festival will see the debuts of five films, and will also feature a 3D animation, according to the director of the festival, Dieter Kosslick.
“There will be many new filmmakers, many female directors … and technical novelties that we hadn’t ever shown before at the Berlinale.”
Amongst these technical novelties is of course 3D, with three films in the tridimensional format set to show at the festival in Germany.
Kosslick believes that 3D however shouldn’t be confined to the mainstream Hollywood productions:
“These three movies show that you can really play around with 3D in arthouse film… We wanted to take on new people and not just bet on the safe horse.”
3D will benefit massively from uptake in the indie film world, with the credibility of the format still very much up in the air given its tendency to predominantly bring poor films into the third dimension.
There is no reason that indie cinema, artistically, can’t use 3D, but financially it may prove a problem given the increased cost of producing a film in 3D.
Hopefully the Berlin International Film Festival will prove a good expose for 3D indie films and there will be more to come in the coming months and years. Our only hope is that Lars Von Trier won’t see fit to use the format, or it could all get very ugly indeed…

After Hitchcock taught me how to frame actors kissing in a romantic two shot, I had no idea I would have the benefit of his tutelage again so soon (and about 3D of all things).

Java knows squat about 3D movies. It's that gimmicky format meant to lure audiences away from other passive forms of entertainment and into a public place to wear goggles so that someone can throw random things at your face. It's a pie throwing contest, and you're the target.

Or so I thought.

A few weeks ago, yours truly happened upon The Alfred Hitchcock Geek's 5-part series on why the master of suspense is also the master of 3D movies, using Dial "M" for Murder to set up his points. The author, Joel Gunz, notes that when Margot reaches towards the audience as the killer strangles her, it's a plea for help that draws the viewer in, as opposed to the usual 3D film where that which lunges out of the frame is meant to repulse.  Gunz also points up  items in the foreground (e.g. fences, lines of bottles on the tables, etc.)  used when Hitchcock wants to divide space, or keep the audience at a distance during a crucial moment in the plot.
I found the Dial "M" series very informative, not only about this particular movie's machinations, but also about 3D movie tropes in general. Hitchcock uses the process subtly, - no spear throwing, snakes lunging or cars jutting out over a precipice -  a simple point that I had assumed wasn't possible without making  the 3D format superfluous in a movie.
Fast forward and I am at the cinema watching a film in 3D. I'm not thinking about  Dial "M", until there's a random row of flowers on a desk spanning the bottom of the screen, tickling my nose. They are directly in front of a character who is about to be murdered in cold blood.
I giggle.
The blooms, coffin-like, are boxing him in (framing him like the lamps and bottles which frame Margot and her forbidden lover in Hitchcock's movie). The guy is already pushing up daises; that's kind of cool. Unfortunately, the movie goes downhill from there, rarely using the gimmicky format for anything but hurling people and shrapnel at you as explosions hit. But for one brief moment, I appreciate a rather macabre, but funny, joke that nicely incorporates 3D.