3D technology in films has been around almost as long as film itself. The "gimmick" of 3D was most popular in the 1980s and 90s. Sadly, this gimmick never actually died. As technology has become more advanced, especially with digital cinema and computer generated animation, 3D has become more popular than ever. Many people are unwilling to accept change, most notably with the advent of digital film vs traditional film. While 3D movies can work in some ways, old gimmicks and new ones hurt these movies more than anything.
The traditional gimmick of 3D is to throw objects, people, effects, or anything really so that it jumps out of the screen at the audience, which I call "Screen Pops." Interactive movies such as what have been at Disney theme parks utilize this very well. For its purpose and place, it is a good thing. Combine characters jumping out of the screen and splashing water with apparatuses that spray mists of water on the audience gives the illusion that they are quite literally involved with the movie. Something like this only works in a movie theater where the experience can be completely controlled. For the purpose of audience involvement, the fourth wall is typically broken to allow the audience to interact. When used in traditional films, this fourth wall has to be upheld which causes difficulties for 3D films.
In the 2008 film, Journey to the Center of the Earth, starring Brendan Fraser, early in the film, he turns towards the camera and performs one of these gimmicks. When watched in 2D, a movie made for 3D becomes blindly obvious of its gimmicks to the point where it takes you out of the movie. There are many problems with 3D films from the lack of standardization of glasses and technology to the health issues that arises from watching 3D films. For what a film should be, falling into a story and escaping within it, 3D hurts films.
Not every film is good for every technology. IMAX films are great to watch on such a large screen because your entire field of vision is filled with the movie. It could be argued that IMAX does a better job making you feel like you are in the movie than 3D does because there is no peripheral of vision where the outside world can be seen. For IMAX, what you see entirely is the film. However, IMAX fails in one department: subtitles. Because the screen is so large that when subtitles come up on the screen, you quite literally have to scan your head side to side to read (depending on where you sit). This has the same effect of taking the audience member out of the movie.
The second gimmick 3D movies have begun to use is what I would call "Tunneling." This is where a scene flies through or backwards in a tunnel like environment. It does not have to be a completely enclosed area, but flying through trees or with a fairly consistent border adds to the feeling of movement whether forward or backward. Much like the 2009 film, Monsters vs Aliens, where a paddle ball is used to force the ball towards the audience, it can become noticeable in 2D. This tunneling is even more obvious once you begin to look for it, just as once you hear the Wilhelm Scream, you will find it everywhere in film and television.
Films that utilize the first gimmick almost have to force it into the film which is not always conducive to the story. Oftentimes it feels like the brakes have been slammed on the movie, or hit a large speed bump. While the Wilhelm Scream can be largely ignored in a scene, the very act of noticing it can be harmful as the tunneling is. In large part, the Wilhelm Scream is an homage to all of the movies before it, but tunneling is only used as a gimmick for the movie going experience. Tunneling is not as blatant or harmful as screen pops, but often scenes in movies will center around the act of tunneling. The low angle speed through the forest of Return of the Jedi has been paid homage in many movies, but those scenes fit within the movie. It is as if these tunneling scenes are labeled as "3D sequences." They are made specifically for the purpose of the 3D experience and not so much for the story. In this sense, it is harmful to the movie.
So when is 3D ever supposed to be used? In many cases, 3D can give an experience unlike any other. The breaking of the fourth wall helps in this respect where the audience is quite literally a character in the story. Documentaries such as those under the sea are also very good at utilizing 3D. While I did use Monsters vs Aliens as an example of screen pops, the creators admit that is their only gimmick in the movie, and they strived to use 3D for what it really should be used for: depth. The screen is the fourth wall, and popping out of that is the very definition of breaking of the fourth wall which is rarely done right. Depth in a 3D movie immerses you into the film, rather than taking you out. As long as the 3D is not using gimmicks and instead supplements the film experience, it can be a good thing. Instead we have countless movies in the past ten years that ruin the movie itself while only offering higher prices for those at the movie theater.
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