Martin Scorsese Encourages Restoration of 3D Films for Blu-ray

Martin Scorsese, speaking Wednesday night at the International 3D Society’s 3D Creative Arts Awards, requested that the industry restore classic 3D movies for Blu-ray. The suggestion was met with thunderous applause.

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Scorsese said he and his team screened many 3D movies as inspiration while working on Hugo. “My favorites are the old ones,” he said, citing as examples Warner Bros.’ House of Wax and Dial M for Murder and MGM‘s Kiss Me Kate.

“There are so many. To see the films at home (on 3D Blu-ray) is going to be really remarkable. And to see them in their original form … seeing Dial M for Murder in 3D, in particular, is an entirely different experience.”

Scorsese noted that 3D films are spread around several studios. For example, Universal has It Came From Outer Space, Sony/Columbia has Man in the Dark, and Fox has Inferno.

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During Wednesday’s awards ceremony, a black tie affair held at the Beverly Hills Hotel, Scrosese received the Harold Lloyd Award for filmmaking — a fitting tribute as a scene in Hugo echoes Lloyd’s iconic performance in Safety Last. Hugo won awards for best live action 3D feature, best stereography (live action), and best 3D moment of the year.

“Art Form” was the theme of the 3D Society’s awards, with numerous presenters and honorees discussing that topic onstage and off.

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“(3D) is on the verge of being recognized as a great contributor to cinematic storytelling — and that is what it is,” said Academy Award nominee Chris Miller, director of DreamWorks Animation’s Puss in Boots, which won the trophy for best stereography in an animated film. “When we added it into any sequence in the film, it was about ‘how can we best (use 3D) to tell the story.’ ”

Rob Legato — the Oscar-nominated VFX supervisor on Hugo — accepted an award for the film, saying that Scorsese’s direction of the 3D was to create “art as opposed a gimmick. … that turned into drama, and that drama turned into an art form that uses depth to tell stories in such a unique way.”