The “Positive Parallax”: Narrative, Spectacle and the “Aesthetics of Recession” in Digital 3D Cinema

Abstract

Against the backdrop of stereoscopic cinema’s current revival and its integration of digital technologies, this PhD project will argue that contemporary 3D films have become more sophisticated in their use of stereoscopic effects for narrative purposes. Hence, I argue that conventional associations of 3D with spectacle rather than narrative are not adequate in considering digital 3D as a storytelling tool – rather than supplanting narrative, 3D can be used to enhance and deepen it. I analyse the narrative tropes and techniques explored by contemporary 3D filmmakers, arguing that the dominant paradigm governing these tropes and techniques emphasises the virtual space behind the screen (the positive parallax), rather than in front of it (the negative parallax), as was the case in earlier “waves” of 3D cinema. I refer to this newly dominant paradigm as “the Aesthetics of Recession”. Integrated with digital technologies such as CGI and digital compositing, this approach fosters a more measured deployment of spatial effects than the “protrusion effect” evident during previous 3D booms. Although a few contemporary films, whether schlock films or popular blockbusters, still exploit such “protrusion effects,” in most cases they are used much more sparingly in order to give audiences the sense of a complete experiential world existing within the film – a world in which narratives can flourish. Using this measured approach, contemporary digital 3D cinema works to establish a sense of the “hyperreal” that is grounded in human perceptual capabilities associated with our binocular vision. This kind of “reality effect” is ideal for the kinds of immersive stories that Hollywood favours. On this basis, 3D filmmakers set up different types of spatiotemporal relations that contribute to narrative. These include: the creation of differential “timespaces”, in which narrative actions unfold; the staging of dramatic encounters in “expanded” space; the spatial layering/juxtaposition of characters’ psychological perspectives; and the juxtaposition of flatness and depth according to the dramatic/ontological qualities of characters and spaces. Closely aligned with the Aesthetics of Recession, all these new narrative techniques illustrate the storytelling possibilities embedded in digital 3D cinema’s engagement with space and volume.