By Barry Sandrew, Ph.D., Founder and CCO/CTO, Legend3D

Excerpt from Invited Presentation to the World Cultural Forum in Hangzhau, China To Promote International Cooperation for a Healthy Planet:

Immersive Stereo 3D Has Unique Educational Potential:

However, to fully reinforce this emotionally immersive perspective, we need a way to physically immerse our young people into the dark side of environmental issues so they can understand by personal experience how fragile our planet is and what the potential solutions are to current and future environmental crises.

Today our children can experience… essentially first-hand… significant environmental events throughout the world through well-crafted, immersive documentaries produced by gifted 3D filmmakers.

Unlike current 2D movies, 3D filmmaking transforms the movie screen into an exquisitely open window that has both an interior and an exterior, enveloping the entire theater.

In fact, when produced correctly, the space both in front of and behind the movie screen becomes an integral part of the story and the message.

As both a neuroscientist and filmmaker I’m very much aware how audience members experience feature films differently in a 3D movie relative to a 2D movie. In a 3D movie they experience the content both visually and viscerally in a very primal manner because the 3D medium actually infringes on each audience member’s unique personal space… drawing them into the 3D immersive experience.

To better understand… surround sound has an analogous effect in that we sense that we are physically “in the center of the audio” rather than passively listening to stereo audio in front of us. This is the difference between 2D documentaries and what I see as the future of 3D environmental education.

As a pioneer of 3D filmmaking I believe that presenting the facts of global warming and environmental decay in a manner that closely simulates reality is the most effective method for capturing and holding the attention of young people… motivating them to become engaged in conservation and environmental change.

However, recent 3D environmental documentaries present naturalist themes that deliver sanitized, naturalist views of the world via stunning cinematic vistas and staged cycle of life docudramas of indigenous animals and people. Unfortunately, these documentaries do little to draw awareness to the plight of the planet. Quite the contrary, they present a sense of denial. [more…]

Source: Reflections on the Growth of 3D