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Unit 3 Film Analysis

Decent Essays

The best use of 3D in films comes when a filmmaker is trying to absorb the audience into a different world. Scorsese's *Hugo* leads the audience into Scorsese's magical and whimsical Paris with a gorgeous train staton. *Coraline* draws the audience into Coraline's disturbing alternative life. *Avatar* literally creates a separate world and realizes it with 3D. Marvel's *Doctor Strange*, while not equal in overall cinematic quality to these films, uses 3D incredibly well to align the audience with Doctor Strange and experience the kaleidoscopic "other" dimensional worlds of the film. These extraordinary moments of 3D stand in stark contrast with the flatter, more ordinary world Doctor Strange used to live in before he became a sorcerer/guy with a beard. …show more content…

In it, physical objects can be twisted, distorted, and re-shaped in *Inception*-on-steroids ways. The opening scene of the film shows off this dimension before even introducing the main character. The Ancient One (Tilda Swindon) and Kaecilius (Mads Mikkelsen) are battling in this mirror dimension. Just like how *Avatar* and *Hugo* start with shots that show off their 3D, this scene essentially screams its use of 3D. Buildings rotate and bend in front of the audience. Shatter patterns and cracks in space appear in front of the screen. Streaks of magical power and broken bits of building fly out. The camera tilts, rotates, and pans, flipping the entire world (and the audience) on its side. The audience can't help but be aware of (and, the filmmaker hopes, awed by) the spectacle they are witnessing. It's a mind-bending opening that draws in the viewer--not only does it tell the audience that this is a 3D film, but it also indicates what visuals, effects, and patterns to expect from the film, even as it cuts to the comparatively mundane and flat surgeon life of Doctor

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