3D in Depth: Coraline, Hugo, and a Sustainable Aesthetic

Digital 3D presents a rare opportunity to study the aesthetic impact of a new technology. In the face of its ever-diminishing novelty, filmmakers are seeking a sustainable formal response to 3D. Some are moving away from protrusion effects, which are associated with disruptive gimmickry, and explori...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inFilm history (New York, N.Y.) Vol. 24; no. 2; pp. 196 - 209
Main Author Higgins, Scott
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Sydney Indiana University Press 01.01.2012
Subjects
3-D films
Aesthetics
Animated films
Colors
Criticism and interpretation
Digital cinema
Filmmakers
Forecasts and trends
Motion picture industry
Motion pictures
Movies
Narrative style
Narratives
Otherworlds
Production techniques
Recessions
Scorsese, Martin
Selick, Henry
Snow
Stereo
Stereoscopy
Volume
Works
United States
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Summary:Digital 3D presents a rare opportunity to study the aesthetic impact of a new technology. In the face of its ever-diminishing novelty, filmmakers are seeking a sustainable formal response to 3D. Some are moving away from protrusion effects, which are associated with disruptive gimmickry, and exploring depth as a means of extending the technology's narrative reach. This style, exemplified by Henry Selick's Coraline (2009) and Martin Scorsese's Hugo (2011), courts narrative integration and critical acceptance by downplaying protrusion in favor of precise manipulations of perspective and volume. The essay argues against the concept of perceptual immersion as an explanatory framework for 3D, and focuses instead on the prospects for diegetic absorption.
ISSN:0892-2160
1553-3905
DOI:10.2979/filmhistory.24.2.196