At 'Transformers: Dark Side of the Moon' Preview Event, Michael Bay and James Cameron Discuss 3D; Bay Still Not Totally Onboard

Last night on the Paramount lot, The Hollywood Reporter teamed with the studio to present twenty minutes from "Transformers: Dark of the Moon," along with a Q&A with James Cameron and Michael Bay about the state of 3D technology. They called the event "3D: A Transforming Art" (get it, because of the transforming?).

Cameron, of course, has long been a champion of the third dimension onscreens, and many credit the success of his last film, "Avatar," with rushing in the era of 3D, which audiences still seem fairly divided over. He recently announced a major new partnership with “Avatar” collaborator Vince Pace aimed at promoting and providing tools and innovation for 3D production.

Many critics believe that the extra dimension is at best unnecessary and at worst headache-inducing, while 3D films do tend to see a bump at the box office (due in no small part to the higher ticket prices). Myself? I think we've only seen the beginning of what 3D is capable of, and am eager for a filmmaker with a strong vision to reinvent the wheel.

While The Hollywood Reporter had an exclusive on the event - barring other outlets from recording the event in any way - the more interesting aspects of the evening still made their way around the Internet this morning. In particular, Badass Digest reported that despite shooting the latest "Transformers" film in 3D, Michael Bay is not totally sold on the process yet.

Part of his problem stems from the need to shoot 3D digitally - after the first day of shooting, he was impressed by what 3D did for the film, but found out the next morning that the hard drive was corrupted and they had lost their footage.

Now, as anyone who used to work in IT will tell you, the best way to prevent that is to back it up, and it's kind of amazing that a production the size of "Transformers" had only one hard drive. But I digress.

Bay also noted that the rigs required for 3D are cumbersome, and given that Bay likes to shoot very, very quickly, in live action, on city streets, the cameras presented a bit of a challenge.

Contrasted with the fact that most of "Avatar" was created entirely in computers, and the rest was done on a controlled set, it's easy to see why Cameron would be so dismissive of 3D's restrictions while Bay would find them harder to work with.

Both agreed that exhibition for 3D films is lacking, noting that many theaters don't turn up their bulbs all the way even on 2D films. Add to that the dimming effect of 3D glasses, and it can often be like looking through oil.

Many outlets agreed that the footage was pretty impressive, however. Collider, Hitfix, and (more expectedly) The Hollywood Reporter were over the moon for it (no pun intended). A new 3D trailer will come attached to "Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides" this weekend, so if you find yourself in the unfortunate position of watching that this weekend, you might at least have some pretty pictures to look at.