Conversions: Retro Fit vs Integrated - Blu-ray Forum

Rickyrockard · 08-22-2017, 08:10 AM

So I thought I'd start this thread as I believe there's quite a lot to be said on both sides of this discussion. There is no right or wrong. No better or worse but I believe there is a difference that should be acknowledged.

Conversions have now got to the point where, if done correctly with appropriate time and budget, can produce results very very close to, if not indistinguishable from, native 3D.

However, I believe (and I'm not alone in this thinking) that there are two types of conversions. Ones which inform the filmmaking process, that is to say that they affect many if not all other parts of film making (possibly including the script, if you follow the train of thought from the edit room backwards) and those which are simply applied after production has wrapped and no forethought has gone into the years of work before that point.

I agree that with the amount of CGI these days, production continues long after the actors have retired to their mansions and films sets have been dismantled. However, whilst there might be a small amount of decisions that 3D will affect at this stage, by-and-large because 3D wasn't part of the planning/storyboarding phase it's a case of the conversion company working with what they're given. Many directors and cinematographers have said as much.

The overall effect is of course subjective and very hard to explain in written words. It's also very hard to demonstrate because the only way you can do that would be to take the same script and ask a filmmaker to make the film for 2D, then ask them to make it for 3D. However, I'll attempt to give an (imperfect) example.

Here we have two 'person in space' action scenes. Both tense (although are obviously different movies in tone and for this particular scene in Gravity, is shot/rendered natively but that's beside the point). The main thing I'd like to draw your attention to is the number of cuts in Star Trek vs Gravity. In my opinion, 3D movies should have far fewer cuts than 2D - that's not to say that you can't have fast cuts, but that style doesn't naturally lend itself to 3D - if you were designing the film from scratch you'd naturally chose to cut less often in 3D.

[Show spoiler]

What does everyone else feel on this subject? Anything? Nothing?

(btw, yes, Retro Fit and Integrated 3D are terms I made up to summarise what I see/feel with these two type of movies)

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