Re: HTF DVD REVIEW: Friday the 13th Part 3 in 3-D
After reading the comments here, I finally rented the new 3-D DVD anaglyph (red/cyan) version of Friday III to give it a closer examination. Here's my take on the 3-D aspects: The good, the bad, and the ugly- (And grab your anaglyph 3-D glasses for comparisons! Red lens over the left eye)
-----------------------------------------------
The Good:
What's nice is the original theatrical "2-D notice card" that ran before the Friday Part II 2-D flashback is in the anaglyph version, and is the first time it's ever made it video. The Japanese 3-D VHD released in the late 1980's just stayed in black where the text should have been. This 2-D notice let the audience know the intro "flashback" from Friday Part II was not in true 3-D, but they should keep their 3-D glasses on.
The anaglyph color encoding used on the Paramount 3-D DVD is actually somewhat decent most of the time when viewed under optimal playback conditions. ..When the alignment is correct, the 3-D (for video anaglyph, that is) isn't too bad. But more on the 3-D alignment below.
----------------------------------------------
The Bad:
It's like someone loaded up the left & right sides and made NO attempt to correct or monitor alignment errors. (More on that in the "ugly" section) Sometimes the misalignment is outright horrible, as can be seem in the jpeg examples below. This is NOT something that should be seen from a major studio such as Paramount. Forgetting what color anaglyph 3-D video can do already, extended viewing of misaligned 3-D video of this degree is sure to cause eye-strain. At a conservative estimate, I would say 25 to 40% of the anaglyph DVD has vertical alignment issues of differing severity.
---------------------------------------------
The Ugly:
It would be one thing if Paramount simply had "locked and loaded" the original 3-D elements for Friday III and "let her rip", so to speak. But that's not the case. Unlike the VHD 3-D video release made some twenty years ago ..which were known to typically be direct port overs of the original prints, this new anaglyph version of Friday the 13th Part III has far WORSE vertical 3-D misalignment than what was transferred over to VHD in the late 80's. Sometimes misalignment is shifted drastically, other times the convergence is shifted for no logical reasons, etc. ...Sickening.
And the other inexcusable blunder of this release was the studio's decision to present the opening stereoscopic credits (which IMHO are some of the best opening 3-D credits of the 80's wave) in 2-D! Does someone at the studio not know how to encode bright reds in anaglyph 3-D?
--------------------------------------------
To put up, or shut up:
I make NO claim to fame on being "King 3-D", or anything even close to that effect. Others can argue over the title. With that out of the way, outside of my professional 'daytime job' as a video technician, I have worked on enough 3-D material over the years to easily say some 3-D common sense can go a long, long way.
To that effect, I've allowed myself one evening to select some scenes from the anaglyph DVD and then to make my own anaglyph versions. I also provided a 3-D image from the opening credits, which was not presented in 3-D on the Paramount 3-D DVD. The parallax on these stereoscopic credits is very wide, and pushes the limits of anaglyph encoding. But it IS possible to do. You be the judge:
________________________
In summary:
Paramount could have done a far better job with this. Outside of my given elements at hand, if I had the transfer elements that Paramount used to perform alignments, I could easily do a better job than what was provided on the DVD, and even better than what I have provided here. And there are others out there that could do the same thing I did, if given the chance. Let us hope that Paramount strongly considers these options in the future.
Happy Friday the 13th everyone!
-Greg-
It's not perfect but some of the 3-D came off pretty good but I could definitely see the 'double images' that were mentioned above. I thought the best looking 3-D stuff wasn't the show-y stuff (like the eyeball or the spear) but just normal shots when there's something in the foreground and mid-ground and a deep background.
