Holography Goes to the Movies

Holography scientists, technologists and artists alike are often guilty of bemoaning the (mis)use of the term ‘holography’ to describe augmented and virtual reality (AR and VR) displays such as HoloLens. But is there a case to say that depictions of holograms on film, TV and other ‘flat’ media have actually foreseen, and perhaps motivated, developments in 3D imaging techniques?

It’s been 45 years since ‘Star Wars: A New Hope’ (1977) was released into cinemas, and Princess Leia was introduced as a hologram projection, before she was seen as a ‘real’ character on screen. This, in itself, is an interesting proposition – namely, that within the made-up world of a science fiction movie the projected image of a person not present was perceived to be as ‘real’ as the person would have been if they were in the room.