The oval sphere vs. the flat canvas

Abstract

3D cinema is heading towards self-sufficient maturity both technically and aesthetically. In this paper, I will undertake a comparative analysis of the distinctions between 3D and 2D cinema based on a correlation between techniques of production and perceptual physiologies. Moreover, with reference to Siegfried Kracauer's classic remark about cinematic ontology that “the nature of film is the redemption of physical reality” (1961), I will argue for 3D's greater ability to retrieve “physical reality” than 2D cinema through ontological comparisons between the two media. I will further elicit aesthetic values for 3D cinema based on the above argument and illustrate the grounds of artistic differentiation between 3D and 2D visuality and viscerality by comparing the extreme slow motion aesthetics utilised in brutally violent scenes in Dredd 3D (2012) with those in the 2D film Killing Them Softly (2012).