Stereoscopy 01

Stereoscopy is the term used for creating the illusion of 3D image on a 2D plane.

This illusion is possible because of the way our eyes work, specifically the way they interpret depth. In reality our eyes focus on an object and use the information it gets from each eye to determine how far away that object is from ourselves.

Stereoscopy uses this process to trick our brain into interpreting what we're seeing as having depth. This can be achieved in various ways, one such way to use this in cinema is to film using multiple cameras at slightly different angles, and then compositing them so that when viewed with special eyewear the image appears to have depth.

There is a similar method to the above, however instead of compositing the images, the images are blinked back and forth giving the illusion of depth.

Here is a link to a Music Video by Family Force 5 using this technique.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=24hR6j-x4fU