How To Avoid Getting A Headache During Avatar (Or Other Digital 3D Movies)

/Film reader Mike S alerted me to a nice article over at ShadowLocked which features tips on how to avoid getting a headache during digital 3D movies. And by digital 3D movies, I mean Real D, Dolby 3D or IMAX 3D. You know, the ones with the polarized black lens glasses. It is nearly impossible not to get eye strain from the old stereoscopic red/blue (or other color variation) glasses.

Personally, I've never had a problem with eye strain and headaches with modern 3D movies, but I know a couple people that do. So how do you avoid it? According to the article, "the problem lies in presenting the viewer with a fairly rich 3D environment, but no opportunity to choose to focus on a part of the scene that was filmed (or rendered) 'blurred', i.e. out-of-focus foreground elements such as leaves." To accentuate the 3D illusion and create a more artful composition, James Cameron sometimes keeps a very limited depth-of-field. So the trick to avoiding a headache when watching a 3D movie, or more specifically Avatar, is to "be obedient, and concentrate on the parts of the shot that the focus tells you are 'important'."