Teleview
Encyclopedia
3-D film
A 3-D film or S3D film is a motion picture that enhances the illusion of depth perception...
, invented in 1922 by Cornell University
Cornell University
Cornell University is an Ivy League university located in Ithaca, New York, United States. It is a private land-grant university, receiving annual funding from the State of New York for certain educational missions...
graduates Laurens Hammond
Laurens Hammond
Laurens Hammond , was an American engineer and inventor. His inventions include, most famously, the Hammond organ, the Hammond Clock, and the world's first polyphonic musical synthesizer, the Novachord.- Youth :...
and William F. Cassidy. It premiered at the only theater that installed the equipment, the Selwyn Theatre in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
on 27 December 1922, during a show of shorts and the only feature shown with the process, M.A.R.S. (or The Man From M.A.R.S.
The Man From M.A.R.S.
The Man from M.A.R.S. is a 1922 silent science fiction film. This film is notable for using the 3-D process called Teleview, similar to today's field sequential 3-D. After its initial release the title was changed to Radio-Mania...
), later recut and re-released as Radio-Mania. The film was 95 minutes in length, and was directed by Roy William Neill
Roy William Neill
Roy William Neill was a film director best known today for directing several of the Sherlock Holmes films starring Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce, made between 1943 and 1946 and released by Universal Studios....
with cinematography by George Folsey.
Teleview was the earliest utilized alternate-frame sequencing
Alternate-frame sequencing
Alternate-frame sequencing is a method of showing 3-D film that is used in some venues. It is also used on PC systems to render 3-D games into true 3-D.-Applications in film:...
form of stereoscopic projection. Previous attempts had been made as far back as 1897, but Hammond's invention was the first time the idea had been put to use. With projectors running in interlock, alternating left/right frames were projected one after another in rapid succession. Synchronized viewers attached to the arm-rests of the seats in the theater open and closed at the same time as the shutters in each projector, and took advantage of the viewer's persistence of vision
Persistence of vision
Persistence of vision is the phenomenon of the eye by which an afterimage is thought to persist for approximately one twenty-fifth of a second on the retina....
, thereby creating a true, stereoscopic image.
Hammond and Cassidy's device won praise, but because of its limitations of having equipment installed—which was also uncomfortable to view through—the idea was dropped after the show's initial engagement.