To create the illusion that Sandra Bullock and George Clooney are floating in endless space, Gravity director Alfonso Cuaron used 3D — and thanks to Cuaron and other filmmakers such as Ang Lee and Baz Luhrmann, audiences are starting to see more examples of the format’s use as part of the storytelling and not as a gimmick. “We talked about how his signature shots – [long takes during which] the camera moves around the subject — could work fantastically well in 3D and about using wide-angle lenses to achieve the type of roundness and volume he was looking for,” Parks tells The Hollywood Reporter.
In fact, Cuaron made extensive use of long takes, including the first shot in the film that lasts 12 minutes before the first cut. The use of wide-angle lenses throughout the shoot enabled Parks to pull elements into the theater space. These included sun flares, debris like a ballpoint pen, air bubbles and parts of the escape pods. “We were able to make narrative use of 3D because Alfonso had integrated 3D with cinematography, visual effects and every other craft department from the outset,” Parks says.
“In some ways, post can never achieve what you can get from native or stereo-rendered 3D, particularly when it comes to shooting close-ups of human faces, but you will often get the best results and the best audience experience by putting both into play,” he says.
“3D films have quite rightly received a lot of bad press,” Parks adds. “There are very few worth seeing in 3D. The majority of 3D is not good since it doesn’t add anything to the experience. The main thing I hope the audience will take away from Gravity is that good 3D can definitely enhance the experience. “What is so vital to achieving that goal is that everybody involved in production needs to be onboard with 3D. Everyone has to be prepared to accommodate and achieve the ambition of creating fantastic 3D. That approach stems from the director. If the director’s ambition is to create a great 3D experience, then everything from pre-viz to DI [digital intermediate] will be integrated to that make that happen.”
Full story at the HollywoodReporter.com.