Michael Bay is Not Impressed By 3D Conversion Tests of Transformers Films

Michael here. It seems like Michael Bay is against the idea of converting Tranformers 3 to 3D, and James Cameron is also speaking out against quick conversion jobs.

Check out the below quote from Bay, From Deadline.com:

I shoot complicated stuff, I put real elements into action scenes and honestly, I am not sold right now on the conversion process.... Right now, it looks like fake 3-D, with layers that are very apparent. You go to the screening room, you are hoping to be thrilled, and you're thinking, huh, this kind of sucks. People can say what they want about my movies, but they are technically precise, and if this isn't going to be excellent, I don't want to do it. And it is my choice.... I'm used to having the A-team working on my films, and I'm going to hand it over to the D-team, have it shipped to India and hope for the best? This conversion process is always going to be inferior to shooting in real 3-D. Studios might be willing to sacrifice the look and use the gimmick to make $3 more a ticket, but I'm not. Avatar took four years. You can’t just shit out a 3D movie. I’m saying, the jury is still out.”

And Cameron says: (also from Deadline)

After Toy Story, there were 10 really bad CG movies because everybody thought the success of that film was CG and not great characters that were beautifully designed and heartwarming. Now, you’ve got people quickly converting movies from 2D to 3D, which is not what we did. They’re expecting the same result, when in fact they will probably work against the adoption of 3D because they’ll be putting out an inferior product.

I love how Bay is never afraid to speak his mind about what he thinks is best for his movies. And I agree with Cameron that studios are taking the wrong message from the success of Avatar: Conversions, if they aren't going to harm S3D in the long run, need to be of a high quality.

Of course, my real hope is that we see more films shot natively in 3D. I know Bay says his shooting style is too aggressive for 3D cameras and that, according to Deadline, he found them too heavy and cumbersome for the fast pace action scenes he shoots. However, I think he could definitely find a way to make it work. Look what Nolan did with those huge IMAX cameras on The Dark Knight.