Shark Attack! Immersive 3D and . . . Rugby?

I remember it like it was yesterday.  The smell and crunch of fresh popcorn.  Red velour seats and shag-carpeted walls.  Flimsy paper glasses with plastic-film lenses, one red, and one blue, and . . . Jaws jumping out of the screen! 

3D is not new.  But it’s evolved.  Today families can take their children to IMAX Domes and enjoy feature films in special IMAX 3D formats.  Currently in my town (Paris, France), La Géode is showing National Geographic’s Sea Monsters, a Prehistoric Adventure.  Forget The Little Mermaid and Nemo!   

 The future is 3D HDTV, in your living room, wearing your pajamas, without the glasses!

On March 8, 2008, the BBC and The3DFirm test-screened the RBS Six Nations rugby match between Scotland and England for a select audience at Riverside Studios in London.  The game was televised in 3D HDTV, probably a first in the world of live sports coverage.

As David Wooster of The3DFirm said, “Premium sporting events, where demand for tickets outstrips supply, lend themselves perfectly to live 3D transmission.  3D creates an immersive, ‘almost as good as being there’ experience.  Unlike traditional television coverage, 3D ‘places’ the audience in the stadium, as if they were actually there, giving a heightened sense of reality.”

I couldn’t have said it better, David! 

We’ve come a long way from the Arrivision 3D filming technique used to produce Jaws 3-D in 1983.  Soon rugby spectators at home and in pubs will be jumping in their seats, not always to cheer, but as knee-jerk reactions to the rugby balls “flying” out of the screens!   

–Kate

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