The technology of 3D may still be in its infancy, but past history indicates that studios and content providers had better start paying attention to this terrible new child. Right now the opinions about 3D range from passing fad to fanatical. Justin Lally, president of Funky Monkey Movies, weighs in among the latter group of opinions.
“3D is definitely the future for adult,” Lally says. “It’s like VHS was in the 1980s. It definitely will help out with the piracy issues and it’s a completely interactive amazing experience. It’s just so new and the adult entertainment industry has always wanted to be on the cutting edge of technology. This is something that could revamp the adult business, which basically has been looking for something like this for a long time. Right now there is so much monotonous content out there and this is something new.
3D will really improve the adult product, especially when you use POV, because POV is 3D.
“With so many 3D TVs being sold now, it’s economically beneficial for the general public. When they first came out they cost around $2,500 and not many channels broadcast in 3D. Within the next year 22 percent of American homes will have 3D TVs in them. Right now there are five or six cable channels that carry constant 3D content. I look at it like it’s 2002 and 3D is HD, when only a few channels were broadcast in HD. In three or four years, everything is going to be broadcast in 3D.”
Pink Visual President Allison Vivas doesn’t share Lally’s enthusiasm for the new technology — at least not right now.
“We haven’t dived into 3D too much because our perception of it right now is that it’s still a novelty,” she says.
“There is not enough consumer demand for it. The 3D TVs are minimal among consumers right now and there’s the issue of the glasses. In addition, when it comes to porn the content isn’t primarily viewed on the family TV. It’s viewed on computer screens, tablets and mobile devices.
‘We have some interest [in 3D] but it’s not a hot seller. It might have some potential for the tablet devices that are coming out and with Android. We understand Android is releasing a tablet maybe this fall which has 3D built in, requiring no glasses. We’ve already seen that the Android devices surpass the iPhone and Apple devices, so Android really does have some potential. If they are as successful with 3D as they were in the mobile market, it could have a lot of potential since the tablet is so convenient. You can take it anywhere and it has a large enough screen. But there still might be some limitations regarding the proper distance a viewer’s eyes need to be from the tablet. If it has to be at arm’s length, that might be a little odd and inconvenient.”
Lally, however, insists that 3D technology will overcome all of its early drawbacks and points out that huge strides already have been made.
“People have a misconception about 3D,” he stresses. “They picture the blue and the red glasses. That’s anaglyph content. That’s 1970s. Polarized content is the new 3D, developed in the last couple of years. When you see polarized content, it’s like going from 720p to 1080p in HD. It heightens the experience.
“I’m passionate about it, not just for adult content but for anything. I own three of those TVs and I watch nothing but 3D broadcasts. It’s like going from black and white to color.”
Lally not only has made a total commitment to 3D in his home. His Funky Monkey Movies company shoots all content in polarized 3D. For now, these DVDs are being released in anaglyph 3D so users can view them on their 2D screens, but the higher quality of shooting them in polarized form eliminates the ghosting and drifting that hampers most 3D content seen in 2D.
“I’m taking high-quality content and bringing it down so more people can watch it,” Lally says. “But unlike the content that’s shot in anaglyph and not polarized, viewers won’t get headaches from watching it.
“3D will really improve the adult product, especially when you use POV, because POV is 3D. Obviously everything on the screen is coming at you, but people have a misconception that 3D is only about things coming at you. That’s only one aspect, because in adult the girl can be throwing dice at the screen or squirting at you. Good quality 3D is about depth and making a scene look as real as possible.
