History of 3-D Movies
Picture courtesy of http://www.thelooniverse.com/movies/west/aspectratio/3D.html
Early in the 1950s, the introduction of the television caused movie box office sales to drop significantly. The film industry desparately looked for new ways to get the public back into the movie theaters. In 1952, the polaroid system for 3-D movies was introduced in the movie "Bwana Devil" produced by Sydney W. Pink, who is considered the father of the 3-D genre. Since the polaroid system used light waves projected on perpendicular planes, it could be used with full color movies. The success of "Bwana Devil" peaked interest in 3-D movies, leading the important release of "House of Wax" the next year. "House of Wax" is still considered to be the most successful 3-D movie ever made and it started a 3-D craze among the public. Most of the major studios scrambled to produce their own 3-D movies, leading to the release of films such as "The Nebraskan" and "Kiss Me Kate" in 1953, and "Creature from the Black Lagoon" in 1954. (6)
The downside of 3-D movies was they often gave viewers a headache, causing them to drop out of favor with the public. All the money that had been spent on the industry went down the drain. In the 1980s there was a small resurgence of 3-D movies because of another drastic attempt by the film industry to keep their sales from being stolen by the newly introduced VCR. Popular movies such as "Jaws" and "Friday the 13th" were shown in 3-D versions, but the concept never caught on with the public (7).
Currently, 3-D movies are still made by IMAX and Disney, as well as a few other companies. Most often they still use the polarization system. One of the most common uses for 3-D technology now is television and computer games. Most of the video games out on the market can support 3-D. Instead of the anyglyphic or polarization systems, a new type of system using LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) shutter glasses is used. To find out more about each of the types of 3-D systems, visit the link Physics of 3-D Movies (2).
Around the turn of the 19th century, people began experimenting with 3-D technology. The first publicly shown 3-D movie was made in 1903 by the Brothers Lumiére. Only about a minute long, the film was shown at the World Fair in Paris, but could only be viewed by one person at a time. The next big moment in the history of 3-D movies was in 1915 when the first short 3-D film was played for a paying audience in New York. The film titled "Jim, the Penman" used red-green anaglyph spectacles for the audience to see the 3-D images. Other films using the anaglyph process were produced in the next few years, but the process was limited because it could not be used with full color films. (1)
