There is something in 3D that HD and the regular 2D viewing method cannot bring…
“A close-up with 3D volume and detail is incredible, as it heightens the viewer’s access to the actor’s emotion. You can read the subtlest of expression and look straight into their eyes,” related The Great Gatsby‘s director of photography Simon Duggan in Exploring 3D.
It’s been widely publicized as Gatsby’s release approached that seeing Alfred Hitchcock’s Dial M for Murder in its intended 3D form helped convince Luhrmann to use the format on his adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s 1925 novel.
“It wasn’t things coming at me that was interesting to me — what was interesting was to seeGrace Kelly just moving around in a room in 3D,” Luhrmann said more recently. “I mean, I just wanted to reach out and touch her. And the camera’s not moving, she’s just moving and acting. So, it struck me how much 3D is like the theatre, how powerful it is in 3D when an actor moves toward the camera as opposed to moving the camera toward an actor.”
The film was lensed with Red cameras using 3Ality Technica 3D rigs, but before making that decision, the potential to create emotional impact using 3D was tested at Sony’s 3D technology center (which is now part of Sony’s Digital Motion Picture Center). The filmmakers’ conclusion was that the production could use volume to bring the viewers closer to the humanity in the actors’ performances.
As explained in Exploring 3D: “Extreme close-ups were selected for intense moments, while mid-shots with two or three characters in frame at varying distances from the lens conveyed ‘not only the interaction between the characters in frame but additional detail and volume, so that the viewer can find their own close-up on any character within the frame,’ says Duggan. ‘An actor’s body language is amplified in 3D. The shot is easier to read because you are a lot more aware of detail.’ ”
More on HollywoodReporter.com.