Life in The Third Dimension

Those of us with reasonable, synchronised vision in two (or more) eyes can forget to appreciate the advantages of simple things like "depth perception", and "seeing things from both sides" - at the same time (if you are standing close enough to the corner of a building).

And then there are "3D movies" that offer that enhanced experience to the theatre going (and, for some, home 3D TV owners) audiences. My first exposure to this sort of technology was at a cinematic viewing of "Friday the 13th - Part III". A potentially *scary* movie, and - I went with my sister. We were given our 3D glasses - the old sort - cardboard frames, with a red filter in one eye piece and a blue filter in the other (*). I will leave the technical description of "filtered light" to another time - perhaps never, but I do briefly mention it again below (*).

It's how you look at it ...

Those details aside ... my sister and I attended the film within the first few days of it opening in our local area. The cinema was completely packed with like minded adolescents and young adults. The lights dimmed and the film started with a 10 minute introduction - the last 10 minutes of the "Part II" film. I seem to recall it was in "black and white", though I might have been mistake. Of course, there was no evidence of "3D" and we were wondering what all the fuss was about. And then it happened. The opening title sequence began with the word "FRIDAY" in big bold capital letters, bright blood red on a black background. And the letters began to get larger, and appeared to be approaching the viewer at an alarming speed. My sister SCREAMED. She was genuinely startled. She was the only person who reacted. For a moment there was silence. Then the entire cinema erupted into a raucous cacophony of laughter and giggles. From that moment on, every 3D effect was acknowledged by the crowd with more laughs. And none of us thought the movie was scary at all ...

Another 3D experience

Those of us lucky enough to see Jim Cameron's 3-D extravaganza Avatar will not doubt the effectiveness of the current technology, and its ability to encourage the feeling of total immersion in the cinematic experience. A truly breathtaking visual experience. Backgrounds and animations at the peak of current animation technology, elevated to Himalayan heights with the 3D effects being achieved seemingly effortlessly by the use of "polarised" light. To see the "3D", you need a pair of glasses - one of the lenses is polarised so as to filter out half of the projected imagery. Polaroids aren't new - ever notice how well they reduce glare - especially when used for driving? Well, reflected light is polarised - so having the lenses aligned properly will filter out light polarised at a perpendicular axis.

Technical details aside ... part way through the movie - at the point where I've finally remembered to breathe, and even became accustomed to the wonderful immersive cinematography - curiousity took hold. Yes, I've seen 3D movies at an IMAX theatre - but this was different. No big bulky eye wear that achieved the 3D effect by interlacing the two images and having the lenses alternately synchronised (ok, too much detail ...) ...

SO ... I pondered ... why not ...? I looked at the cinema screen. I then lifted the 3D glasses slightly, and kept looking at he screen. Ah. I see the difference. I did it a couple more times. Then I turned to the left to view my friend John who had accompanied me. I did the quick lifting and lowering of my glasses in front of my eyes, to see what sort of effect I might get from the cinema screen images reflected from his profile. Coincidently, simultaneously, and also at the same time, John had been thinking exactly the same things and, turning to his right, saw me looking at him - and I saw him looking at me (sounds almost romantic, but it wasn't!), while we went on to perform a few seconds of impromptu synchronised spectacle juggling. It was a hilarious moment that I hope I never forget that was immediately followed by the sounds of two grown men giggling.

At the completion of the film, I explained "polarised light" to John, and showed him a simple demonstration that proved we had been wearing polarised lenses (****).

(*) A real life Kiosk musing.


I was at the junior soccer club kiosk a few nights ago, talking to some parents about the new "hoodies" that were going to be available for parents, friends, players - in fact anyone. I even ordered one for myself. I pointed out that the club logo consisted of "primary colours" (**) which amused and confused my audience. I informed them that "red, blue and yellow" are THE three primary colours. Secondary colours, I went on to explain, were those formed by combining those colours in pairs - for example, if you mix red paint and yellow paint, you'll get "orange". So the secondary colours are "orange, green and purple". Simple enough eh? But what about black? Well - that's a complete absence of colours - no light at all. How about white? Well that's a mixture of many colours from a spectrum of light. I seemed to be getting somewhere. Then I explained the term "complementary colours", such as pink - for example, "Gee you look really fabulous in that pink shirt". Of course I was really steering the conversation towards a description of "complimentary colours". Yes, a very subtle spelling difference! You get a complimentary colour when you take a spectrum of light and remove some colours. For example, remove "red" from white light, and everything looks light bluish ("cyan").
Of course I've now been accused of trying to elevate a discussion about Art to one about Physics (optics) - and they were correct. Nevertheless - I seem to have left a mark on a few of the parents - they now tell each other that "you look nice in red - that's a complementary colour!".

(**) I won't live without "U".
Colours.
 Yes, I spell that word with a "u". As both a child and an adult - my favourite (another "u" there too) book has been The Dictionary. Forever useful and informative - and yet so few people seem to have ever sighted one - let alone consulted the wisdom therein. Anyway, my "bible" of dictionaries is "The Oxford English Dictionary" - of which there is an Australian edition (suitably and personally appropriate - I have been, after all, borne and bred in Australia). Automatic spell correctors be damned - I'll go back and re-insert the "u" every time, whether it be online chat sessions, Facebook, e-mail or SMS messages (***).

(***) Yes, I am stubborn.
Some might even add "fussy". But only stubborn about a few things - and fussy about a few other things! A casual acquaintance would never suspect.

(****) DO I have polarised lenses?

Direct sunlight is not polarised. The electromagnetic waves of light are aligned randomly in all combinations. Using a polarised filter will only make the scenery look dimmer (after all, *most* of the light is being blocked). Light reflected from a polished surface *is* polarised. Polaroid sunglasses incorporate a polarised filter - you can see how effective a Polaroid lense is by rotating it in front of you, while looking at the reflected light. There will be one orientation of the lense that will block out most of the reflected light. That's why Polaroids are great "driving glasses" - they filter out a large portion of the polarised light reflected (i.e. glare) from other cars etc., only letting some light through - hopefully light that is polarised perpendicular to the offending glare.

So if you are indoors - how do you tell if you have some Polaroid lenses? Well, it is actually easier if you have TWO. put the glasses in front of each other, and rotate one of them, so that, say, one pair of glasses is aligned horizontally, and the other is vertical (i.e. the lense axes will be perpendicular). If both lenses are polarised filters - they will appear to be black - almost no light will get through. Using this method, I was able to demonstrate to  John that the glasses we used during the viewing of Avatar both had *one* polarised lense (the left one).

And yes ... I was brought up to spell the word lense. I know, the automatic spelling corrector doesn't like it at all. In fact, it doesn't even like the word movies - but it will accept DVDs and even VHS video tapes!

A Midnight Solar Eclipse?

I recently read about (well, not *about* - just the headline) the midnight solar eclipse - happening above the Artic circle. I bet those wacky elves living up at the North Pole have been busy making each other suitably festive pin-hole cameras so they can safely observe a silhouette of the glorious event. Sadly, I expect none of them are permitted to leave the confines of their maximum security dormitory when it is so very late at night, and well past their bedtime.

My First Post in My First Blog

Well folks, this is a momentous occasion. While (unsuccessfully) attempting to find a friend's blog, I have decided to create my own.

Some may find me insightful, irreverent, irrelevant or just plain irritating. My friends tolerate me anyway, bless them all.