Watch Prometheus in 3D or miss out says Aerial Stereographer

As UK cinemas prepare for a bumper Jubilee weekend, packed with people watching 'Alien' influenced ‘Prometheus’, Aerial Unit Stereographer Adam Sculthorp tells 3D Focus people should watch it in 3D, as Ridley Scott intended.

This article is brought to you in association with 3D specialists Presteigne Charter

Adam Sculthorp worked on the aerial sequences filmed in Iceland during July last year and attended the cast and crew screening yesterday. 3D Focus research suggests a high proportion of audiences will choose to watch Prometheus in 2D and Sculthorp believes this will mean many will miss out.

“With Prometheus, every shot was crafted for 3D with so much care and attention. This film really has been made for 3D. Not to watch it in 3D …. I think you are going to miss out on the experience Ridley’s designed for the viewer”.

Referring to the large portion of dark sequences featured in the movie (often a complaint about 3D movies due to the extra darkening effect of the 3D glasses) Sculthorp said “The dark bits are defiantly 3D. The 3D still comes across in those moments.” He continued … “It’s not about the constant wow factor of 3D; it’s about enjoying the overall experience and 3D has been used as part of that overall experience… Ridley Scott is synonymous with this type of film so for him to have watched every sequence critically in 3D, constantly from day one, is really going to come across. Overall the entire stereo team from James Goldman on main unit to the 3D team at MPC have done an excellent job.”

MPC in London were the Lead VFX Facility and worked on 420 VFX shots, who piped the refined footage to Scott’s Lexington Street office where he could comment and request the depth to be adjusted as a post process. 

MPC Stereographer Damien Fagnou exclusively told 3D Focus "Certain movies lend themselves very well to 3D (stereo) and Prometheus is definitely one of them! There are lots of really stunning space and planet environments as well as close-up shots that are significantly enhanced when viewed in stereo. A great deal of time and effort went into the production of Prometheus to ensure that the stereo was of the best possible quality. Throughout production and post production, the team would view shots in both 2D and stereo to ensure the viewing experience would be the best possible in both". 

Fagnou responded to concerns people have about the movie containing a lot of dark scenes with "The stereo version of the movie has also been graded in such a way that it compensates for the slight dimness that is introduced by the glasses and the resulting experience is truly immersive and thrilling."

How times have changed over the last two years. Post Avatar, just the word ‘3D’ would have been enough to persuade most people to pay the 3D premium but now the studios and marketers have to work a lot harder, if at all. In fact, the fact that Prometheus has been filmed in 3D might have been missed by many as Fox have been quite on the marketing front about the 3D version, relying on a highly effective viral marketing campaign to create a buzz instead.

Some observers might question whether the word ‘3D’ might even now be considered to be detrimental for a movie’s image, especially one that has been awarded a 15 certificate (R in America).

Prometheus is Ridley Scott’s first 3D movie and during the Comic Convention last July, he announced he will shoot all his movies in 3D from now on (including the remake of Blade Runner) saying "I’ll never work without 3D again, even for small dialogue scenes. I love the whole process. 3D opens up the universe of even a small dialogue scene so I’ve been very impressed with that."

Ridley Scott started work on Prometheus in April 2010; when the movie industry was riding high on the wave of 3D mania. However, skip forward two years and the public’s appetite for 3D has waned. The majority of people we surveyed at the Cineworld cinema in the O2, London said they had either not heard of the movie or they would choose to watch it in 2D. Many of those who said they would watch it in 3D said they would rather do so on an IMAX 3D screen.

Prometheus has been designed to be a 3D movie since its inception. The movie was shot natively in 3D using mainly 3ality Technica Systems. (which were used on the upcoming 3D Spiderman movie) and Ridley Scott was keen to incorporate the 3D element from the initial scripting stage. 

We asked Digital Spy readers whether they intended to watch Prometheus in 2D or 3D and here is a flavour of the responses …

Wulfster said “I'm lucky enough to be seeing it in IMAX 3D, so it'll be interesting to note some of the cinematic set-ups. To be fair, I've found that IMAX 3D tends to be sharper and brighter than some of the other 3D screenings…”

James2001 said “Doesn't matter if a film is "meant" to be seen in 3D; more and more people are getting sick of it.”

PheonixRises said “I won't be watching it in 3D (I didn't even know it was having a 3D release) because I don't think films shot in the dark for the most part, make good 3D films.”

Others suggest cinemas are forcing people to watch the 3D version by limiting choice as thought by Moony referring to his local cinema saying “Prometheus is only being shown at one time in 2D on release day (compared with 6 times for the 3D screening) – and the next 3 days after that only twice a day for 2D compared with 7 times a day for 3D.” He also said “The only movie I think has pulled off 3D successfully so far is Avatar. Perhaps Prometheus will too.”

“Ridley Scott shot it in 3D to be watched in 3D. They should scrap all the 2D performances I think” claimed PJ68, perhaps controversially and CJClarke said “The only films where I've been genuinely impressed with the 3D on a regular screen is Avatar and Transformers: Dark of the Moon, both of which were filmed in 3D, so I would imagine that Prometheus would be just as impressive (hopefully anyway).”

In our 3D Focus quick poll, 9% of readers said they did not intend to watch Prometheus at all, 69% said they will watch in the movie in 3D and 22% said they intended to watch the 2D version out of 116 respondants, although we expect 3D Focus readers to be more interested in 3D than average.

Like any movie, Prometheus will cost more money to watch in 3D. For example, the ODEON in Birmingham will charge £8.85 for 2D, £10.85 for 3D and £12.85 for IMAX 3D. Cineworld charge £7.40 for 2D, £9.40 for 3D (plus 80p for the glasses) and £13.10 for IMAX 3D).  Prometheus has also been D-BOX encoded and Cineworld are offering D-BOX Prometheus viewings in selected cinemas for an additional charge.

Prometheus will be released in the UK nationwide on Friday June 1st.

The official Prometheus movie website is http://www.prometheus-movie.co.uk/

What do you think? Will you be watching Prometheus in 2D? 3D? D-BOX?, IMAX 3D? At home on DVD next year? Please let us know below!

 

FREE WEEKLY 3D NEWS BULLETIN –