Mike Ballew
Second Unit
Several of us here have been 3-D fans a long, long time.
I know that Bob Furmanek in particular got bitten by the bug as a youngster, and to satisfy his 3-D cravings, he had to make do with 8mm anaglyphic digest prints (or package films) like the Three Stooges in Spooks.
Me, I got hit with 3-D back in 1982, when I was 11 years old. I was already a great movie buff with a fair knowledge of film history, and I was mildly outraged that something this wonderful, something they had known how to do since at least the 1950s, was only just now making a bit of a comeback.
As we all know, that particular comeback didn't last long.
The anaglyphic cutdowns that helped Bob and others get through the lean times were not widely available to me; I only ever found one, a secondhand copy of The Mad Magician. I wanted more 3-D movies, and since Hollywood didn't seem to be making any, I decided to do it myself.
Here then are links to two honest-to-goodness dual-strip 3-D movies I made in 1985 and 1986, The Freak and The Minotaur. I filmed them using two Chinon cameras on a common base, edited them as best I could without a multi-gang synchronizer, and projected them very imperfectly using a pair of Super 8 projectors I had.
Lately I've had them digitally scanned. I've tweaked the sync and made some much-needed adjustments in convergence, which I did not understand very well as a young teenager. On The Minotaur in particular, you will notice that some shots are marred by illumination asymmetry, as the left eye is darker than the right eye. I hope to correct this problem soon and upload an improved version.
You will also notice that the films are silent, with intertitles and musical accompaniment. I didn't get a magnetic sound camera until Christmas of '86, and then only because it was a closeout special at Sears. So these films don't have sound, but by golly they have 3-D!
I hope you will look past the considerable imperfections in these films and find the entertainment value. I am very, very proud of myself for having had the gumption to make them. Thirty years on, I am still profoundly devoted to stereo photography and 3-D cinema, and if I know a lot more today, that's because I never stopped building on these humble foundations.
I know that Bob Furmanek in particular got bitten by the bug as a youngster, and to satisfy his 3-D cravings, he had to make do with 8mm anaglyphic digest prints (or package films) like the Three Stooges in Spooks.
Me, I got hit with 3-D back in 1982, when I was 11 years old. I was already a great movie buff with a fair knowledge of film history, and I was mildly outraged that something this wonderful, something they had known how to do since at least the 1950s, was only just now making a bit of a comeback.
As we all know, that particular comeback didn't last long.
The anaglyphic cutdowns that helped Bob and others get through the lean times were not widely available to me; I only ever found one, a secondhand copy of The Mad Magician. I wanted more 3-D movies, and since Hollywood didn't seem to be making any, I decided to do it myself.
Here then are links to two honest-to-goodness dual-strip 3-D movies I made in 1985 and 1986, The Freak and The Minotaur. I filmed them using two Chinon cameras on a common base, edited them as best I could without a multi-gang synchronizer, and projected them very imperfectly using a pair of Super 8 projectors I had.
Lately I've had them digitally scanned. I've tweaked the sync and made some much-needed adjustments in convergence, which I did not understand very well as a young teenager. On The Minotaur in particular, you will notice that some shots are marred by illumination asymmetry, as the left eye is darker than the right eye. I hope to correct this problem soon and upload an improved version.
You will also notice that the films are silent, with intertitles and musical accompaniment. I didn't get a magnetic sound camera until Christmas of '86, and then only because it was a closeout special at Sears. So these films don't have sound, but by golly they have 3-D!
I hope you will look past the considerable imperfections in these films and find the entertainment value. I am very, very proud of myself for having had the gumption to make them. Thirty years on, I am still profoundly devoted to stereo photography and 3-D cinema, and if I know a lot more today, that's because I never stopped building on these humble foundations.
