Stereoscopy - Two sides of a story

There has been a lot of buzz lately about Stereoscopic imagery in the movie industry. James Cameron making The Avatar in Stereo, commonly called 3D, but also commonly confused with Computer Generated Imagery (CGI), Pixar has also lined up a couple of animated movies to be released over the next couple of years which are going to be made in Stereo.

Stereoscopy as wikipedia would say it - Stereoscopy, stereoscopic imaging or 3-D (three-dimensional) imaging is any technique capable of recording three-dimensional visual information or creating the illusion of depth in an image. The illusion of depth in a photograph, movie, or other two-dimensional image is created by presenting a slightly different image to each eye. Many 3D displays use this method to convey images. It was first invented by Sir Charles Wheatstone in 1840.

The way I see it, the future of entertainment is definitely going to be Stereo, Why? Because of the fact that people always look towards something being as real as possible. With the improvisation of technology, directors and producers now make convincing visual effects to 'fool' the audience into believing the story, the advances in the field of audio give you the aural sense of being in the space and thus making the experience more convincing.
The next step is obviously the visual arena and nothing can put you in the environment as good Stereo can. The experience is good enough to take you away from all reality... as long as its good and well calculated stereo or else your head will split into two in a couple of seconds and you'll be cock-eyed for the rest of your life. The thing about stereo is the way you capture it, is very critical, it can define the parallax of your image, the amount of "3D-ness" required. A lot of compositing softwares such as the Foundry's Nuke and color grading softwares such as Assimilate's Scratch support and cater to Stereo compositing and color grading, due to the growing interest in the field.

I happened to be lucky to actually work with stereoscopic imagery in 2005 with Mr. Paul Bourke, who works a lot with stereo panoramas and High Dynamic Range Imagery (HDRI). The experience is simply brilliant and nothing can come close to it. We were working on a stereo panoramas of the Hampi acheological site in India, where stereo panos were captured and then we composited CGI characters, who were also rendered in stereo through our CGI softwares and then composited on to the panoramas.
The applications of stereo is infinite, it can help scientists in fields of research and development. Archeologists can look at ancient remains which can be reconstructed in stereo, to be studied as though it still exists intact. Medical professionals can operate with better accuracy using stereo representations of the insides of the human body. It can help to take flight/driving simulators to the next level with its realistic depictions of space and time.
In terms of entertainment its boundless. I visited the Stereo show at Sentosa Island in Singapore, where you not only have a stereo film playing but also other elements such as water and wind to make the experience really fun.
Maybe in the near future we would be using stereo contact lenses to give us the full effect of stereoscopy instead of the aviator like looking goggles. The implications are boundless.
The future for sure is going to be amazing. Its only a matter of time before the technology becomes widespread, it already is, with the amount of movies lined up.

To more about how stereo works visit here.