For those not in Miami for tonight’s BCS National Championship game, getting closer to the action has become much easier.
FOX has collaborated with Cinedigm Digital Cinema Corp. to present the title game live in 3-D in movie theaters across the country, including at Rave Motion Pictures at Polaris.
The visual experience differs vastly from the old-fashioned 3D entertainment that typically comes to mind, said Michele Martell, chief operating officer of Cinedigm.
“If you haven’t seen any of the newer 3-D movies, you really have no idea how far 3-D has come since that old-fashioned, 1950s thing that we all think of,” she said. “Especially when you’re watching sports, what you’re really getting is a sense of dimension. We’re so used to seeing things on our 2-D screens that all of a sudden, when you see things in 3-D, suddenly you’re struck by your sense of space and depth and volume.”
Because broadcasting live television in 3-D requires more labor than 2-D, tonight’s battle between Florida and Oklahoma will be presented in only 80 theaters.
“We have very large satellite dishes that have to go in and sit on top of the theaters’ roofs,” Martell said. “It’s a big technology infrastructure requirement, which is why right now there are only about 80 locations in the country that have this and that are showing the live 3-D BCS.”
The audience can anticipate an experience unparalleled by regular TV, said Brandon Farrow, manager at Rave Cinema.
“It’s going to feel like you’re in the field,” he said. “You’re going to be right there with the quarterback. Watching it on TV, there’s obviously that separation there. You’re going to feel like you have to get out of the way or you might get tackled.”
Viewers who are worried about the embarrassment of the old-fashioned 3-D movie glasses need not worry, Martell said.
“You do wear 3-D glasses, but they’re not the old-fashioned red and green glasses,” she said. “They’re very comfortable black glasses that you can put on over regular glasses. They don’t give you a headache, you have no eye strain. It’s leagues away from where the old-fashioned stuff is. You won’t even realize you have it on after the first couple of minutes.”
The marvel of the extra dimension will have fans in the theaters dodging tackles and catching Tim Tebow’s passes, Martell said.
“You can always stay home and watch a movie on your DVD player,” she said. “But [at the theater] you get that sense of community, you have the biggest screen that’s available to anybody, you have 5.1 surround sound, and when you add the live, 3-D component, it’s literally like nothing you’ve ever experienced before. Once you’ve started to watch sports in 3-D, it’s like you can’t even go back to 2-D. You realize what you’re missing, so all of those factors together make it a really great way to experience unique entertainment.”
This game represents just a small sample of more to come, said Mike Florio, editor of profootballtalk.com.
“Football in 3-D is the future, and the future is here,” he said. “The technology has made incredible advances, and soon cineplexes throughout the country will be filled with sports fans watching football, basketball, hockey, baseball, and others sports in 3-D.”
Tickets for the showing are $25.
Zack Meisel can be reached at [email protected].
