(or how I learned to stop worrying and watch HorrorBuzz.com 3D Videos on my Smartphone)

When television started to threaten movie producers, film technologists went to extremes to try and ensure audiences packed into movie houses for the latest immersive experiences. Some films stretched around the viewers like Vista Vision, and CinemaScope. Horror films in particular were eager to embrace a variety of gimmicks to lure audiences for a night out at the movies. A 50’s “spine tingling” movie called “The Tingler” even tried to rattle the sensation into their audience by rigging movie theater seats with small electric buzzers. 3D movies attempted to bring the audience closer to the action. The 1953 hit “House of Wax” helped establish a very young Vincent Price in the genre and was the first 3D film to break that into that years top ten list.

Theatrical Poster for House of Wax 3D

House of Wax 3D

Skip ahead a bit (oh, 40 years or so…) and the convergence of digital projection, polarized lens based 3D projection, and computer digital animation and effects, have theaters scrambling to convert their film projector auditoriums to keep up with demand. Avatar became the highest grossing movie of all time for integrating them all so well, and for awhile it seemed like movies that didn’t even need to be in 3D were either being made in or converted to it just to be a part of the trend.

And again just a few years ago, it seemed that 3D HD Televisions were going to be the “next big thing.” A few of us made the investment to be able to watch SAW 3D, or Piranha 3DD (double d) at home, but it didn’t really catch on for most people. The technology was expensive, required (in most cases) rather heavy battery powered glasses, and was still prone to give people headaches.

Theatrical Poster for Piranha 3DD

Piranha 3DD Poster

Picture of 3D TV with the required Glasses

3D TV with the required Glasses

Around the same time, but chasing a completely different goal, some very smart technologists started playing with the idea of utilizing hi-resolution smartphones to revive the long stagnated 80’s concept of virtual reality head visors. It’s a game changing idea that companies including Facebook, Sony, Microsoft, and Google are investing a lot of time and money in right now, and expect to charge a lot of money to bring home soon.

Picture of Oculus Rift VR Headset

Oculus Rift VR Headset

Which naturally brings us to HorrorBuzz.com, a new convergence point of talent, horror, and technology. With the Southern California haunt season rapidly approaching we wanted to bring you something more immersive, and yet cost effective for most of us to enjoy. So if you don’t already have an Oculus Rift developer kit, or a 3D television, but you do have a smart phone we do have a cost effect solution for you, and believe it or not, it’s made of and called Cardboard.

Image of user viewing VR with Google Cardboard device

Google Cardboard VR in action

Goggle is trying to make it’s entry into Virtual Reality amazingly available and affordable. In reality kits containing lenses to focus your smartphone screen at a very short distance and a light-weight frame to hold the whole thing together start list online from less than $10.00 depending on what style and options you choose (larger 6-inch phone kits running a few dollars more)

Picture of Google Cardboard VR Kit - unfolded

Google Cardboard VR Kit – unfolded

We are in the process of editing and uploading 3D content from ScareLA to our HorrorBuzz.com YouTube Channel, and by just watching these videos right on your phone browser with one of these kits, you can instantly join the HorrorBuzz.com staff exploring the convention floor, or walking through some of the wonderful mini-mazes that we explored over the weekend.  Please be patient as we code and re-encode to find the best way to get the best content up to you fast.

So join us with your Oculus, Samsung, Sony, Google Cardboard, or 3D TV (we use the YouTube 3D side by side format) and keep in mind that we also plan to bring you deeper and more immersive content in the next several months. It’s also a very wonderful way to bring VR applications (like the Goggle Cardboard App), or experiences like the recently HorrorBuzz.com reviewed “Catatonic” into your own home for less than the cost of a far less intense 3D movie.

Let us know what you think of our little experiment, what you might want to see most this scare season. We will do our best to bring you closer to the chills than ever before.

Links to some of our ScareLA 2015 3D Mini-Maze Walkthroughs:

ScareLA 2015 Mini-Maze Curse of the Devil Swamp

ScareLA 2015 Mini-Maze Spooky Hallows
ScareLA 2015 - Mini-Maze Fear Station 3D Walkthrough
ScareLA 2015 - Mini-Maze - Vault of Darkness
ScareLA 2015 - Mini-Maze - Drunken Devil

https://youtu.be/kAQiM4bLEK0

About the Author

Victoria Susan (Vicks She/Her) is a lifelong horror fan. She also grew up in the amazing period of time in Southern California when Knott's Halloween Haunt was a regular event and became a true fan of the art and artistry of the haunt community. LGBTQIA+ you used to find her most every fall chasing Norm around with a Video Camera as Horrorbuzz.com's Video Director. Now relocated to Orlando, Florida - where the mazes are houses she enjoys the theme-park scares on the other coast. Still with a video camera in her hand.

2 Comments

  1. Kyle Walker August 17, 2015 at 10:23 pm

    Okay. Finally got my cardboard. For some reason the you tube app seems to be screwing up with the splitscreen videos and combining it into one image. they work fine on my pc with the two seperate images but youtube app on the phone is screwing it up with causes it to not work with the cardboard and trying to view it on chrome browser on the phone squezzes both of the images really tightly together.

  2. Ken Toghia August 18, 2015 at 10:58 am

    Kyle,

    So glad you got your cardboard. Sorry the app is causing you some issues.

    It might be a couple of things:

    We put versions up both 2D and 3D by request, and I’m not sure the YouTube app can always tell the difference.

    If you can please try using the browser YouTube on the videos. On the full browser, sometimes the 3D settings show up in the corner and you can select the way the 3D is displayed. Side by Side is the way the videos work with Cardboard. If you have any additional problems please let us know.

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