Three-dimensional theatre makes its debut in Ethiopia at Matti Multiplex Cinema

Moviegoers gain a whole new level to their experience by donning the eyeglasses that enable one to view a movie in 3D, using stereopsis, making Jake Sully’s avatar in the film (below left) appear even more lifelike.

Matti Multiplex Edna Mall introduced three-dimensional (3D) films on the big screen on Friday, July 30, 2010, to a full house of by including government officials and well-known businesspeople among the invitation only crowd of moviegoers.

The popular film Avatar graced the theatre for its second run, this time to a hall full of people wearing nerdy, thick rimmed glasses. Anyone not sporting this look would have been missing out on all the lifelike action in 3D. With everything from spears, arrows, and ikrans (flying dinosaur like creatures) to bullets, rockets, and shrapnel seemingly coming out of the screen toward the audience, this was a new experience for filmgoers in Ethiopia, even those who had already seen Avatar.

It is difficult to imagine how a 3D film would look unless one has experienced it. In 3D movies, two images are projected in slightly different ways. Due to the differences in the right and left lenses of the eyeglasses, each eye only sees one image. The images are then staggered. The farther they are apart from each other, the closer the images appear. This is one of the ways that depth perception can be determined and is called stereopsis.

To demonstrate why this helps to create depth perception, one can hold a finger in front of one’s face and stare past it while moving it closer and closer. Each eye sees a separate image of the same finger, and the images get farther apart as the finger gets closer. If one removes the 3D glasses during a 3D movie, most of the images on screen will appear blurry or doubled.

The 3D glasses employed at Edna Mall do not have the red and cyan (blue) lenses that some people may be familiar with. Instead each lens is polarised in a different way that only allows light from one of the two images projected on the screen to come through to be seen by each eye. There are many other ways of filtering the two images, but this is one of the best ways, especially when compared to the coloured glasses. While this system has undergone many technological improvements, the core technology was developed way back in 1936.

Some of the most lifelike 3D scenes in Avatar included objects or surfaces that stretched from close by to far away. One such scene occurred when the main character, Jake Sully, was being chased by nantangs (hyena or wolf like creatures) across thick, mossy tree limbs. Another scene was when Colonel Miles Quaritch moved from the right side of the attacking mother ship to the left side. In both of these instances, it was hard to believe that one was looking at a flat screen. Of course, this experience was repeated over and over again throughout the film.

Unfortunately, one drawback of 3D films is that if some objects are not in focus when filmed, there is no way to make them clear. After trying to focus on objects filmed out of focus, one’s brain may be confused before realising that no matter how one looks at them they cannot come into focus. For this reason, it is better just to focus on the main action happening on the screen, just as one would do during a regular 2D film.

If one wonders why 3D is necessary when it is easy to tell distances between objects in two-dimensional (2D) films anyway, realise that distance is determined based on things such as size, lighting, movement, occlusion, and perspective in 2D films, excluding stereopsis. However, even in 3D films, not all forms of depth perception are utilised, either, making even 3D films not as 3D as real life.

Stereopsis is what makes some of the images appear to be closer than the actual screen they are being projected on. If one has sight in only one eye, it is still necessary to wear the glasses, but the film will not be any more realistic than a normal 2D film as only one of the images will be seen.

Matti Multiplex charges a premium of 100 Br on Sunday, August 1, 2010, for those who want to be among the first to see 3D films in Ethiopia, after which the price will drop to 55 Br on weekdays and 65 Br on weekends, including Fridays. In addition, a deposit of 100 Br or a kebele ID or driving license is required before receiving the polarised glasses necessary for proper viewing, which will be returned in exchange for dropping off the glasses when finished.

While some movies have been converted to 3D after being filmed in 2D, Avatar was filmed in 3D, resulting in very high quality. The fact that some people have seen both 2D and 3D versions of the film has increased the amount of money it has raked in, surpassing other famous films such as Titanic and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King on its way to becoming the highest grossing film of all time.