“Making 3D is easy,” says 3D film expert Buzz Hays. “Making good 3D is hard.” With that truism in mind, the newly opened Sony 3D Technology Center will soon begin to train cinematographers, directors, game developers, and others in the nuts and bolts of stereo 3D production and postproduction.
Facility provides training for filmmakers in 3D stereo techniques
“Making 3D is easy,” says 3D film expert Buzz Hays. “Making good 3D is hard.” With that truism in mind, the newly opened Sony 3D Technology Center will soon begin to train cinematographers, directors, game developers, and others in the nuts and bolts of stereo 3D production and postproduction.
The new 3D Technology Center is headed by Sony Pictures Technologies president Chris Cookson, who is now also chief operating officer of the 3D Center, while Hays is the Center’s senior vice president. By taking a lead role in making sure filmmakers are educated in stereoscopic 3D production/post, Sony is also reaching out to all the other Hollywood studios, with the idea of bolstering the 3D film industry in general. “Bad 3D will sour consumers on the experience,” Cookson noted. “We want to elevate peoples’ knowledge on 3D so the experience can be pleasant.”
Stereoscopic 3D filmmaking has taken off in the last year. According to Hays, Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland, a Disney picture, is the eighth 3D film to pass through Sony Imageworks (for 2D-to-3D conversion and other services) in a relatively short period of time. “Many of those were CG, and now some, such as G-Force and Alice, are hybrid live-action/CG,” he says.
The pre-release buzz over Avatar led many experts to state that the future of 3D filmmaking hung on that single feature’s success or failure. Needless to say, its huge box-office numbers have made it a runaway success, for both director James Cameron and—some hope—the future of 3D stereoscopic filmmaking.
But one missing piece is the knowledge base about best 3D practices among directors, DPs, and others in the production/post chain. With the opening of the Sony 3D Technology Center, the first steps toward training have already begun. The Center has partnered with the International Cinematographers Guild (ICG) Local 600—which began training cinematographers in 3D techniques a few years ago—and the USC School of Cinematic Arts to hold its first four-day workshop this month, aimed at cinematographers.
Cinematographers Steven Poster, ASC, who is president of the ICG Local 600, states that the Guild will accept entries to this workshop on a first-come, first-serve basis. Preference will also be given to cinematographers who are directly involved in producing 3D content. The USC School of Cinematic Arts will focus on student filmmakers, who will partake in the workshops to train for “next-generation filmmaking.”
All workshop participants will learn 3D concepts and fundamentals, virtual camera, 3D production workflow, and 3D previsualization. Hays points out that anyone involved in 3D has to learn the lingo, with an understanding of the concepts of interocular distance, interaxial distance, and convergence. Workshop participants will also be exposed to new 3D tools, such as FrameForge 3D Studio, a 3D previsualization system from Innoventive Software that gives filmmakers a virtual way to experiment with cameras and lenses.
Cinematographers will also learn lighting for 3D, 3D dailies review, 3D editorial and post, and have the opportunity for hands-on practical shooting tests. Directors will focus on 2D versus 3D storytelling techniques, previsualization and editorial, and those involved in live events and game development will also look at designing for stereo 3D.
For everyone, techniques will focus on ways to make sure that viewers aren’t stressed by bad 3D. “3D can be unnatural and tire you,” says Cookson. “You focus on an image that appears to be off the screen, but you’re still focusing on the screen. We want to enhance reality…not put a spear in your face.”
Underscoring the importance of training cinematographers and others in 3D techniques is the emergence of 3D TV—including 3D Blu-ray—for the home (see the Editors Note in the March issue of CGW). “TV will be key for 3D,” says Hays. “It’s hard to gauge the actual 3D experience in theatres, whereas it will be more standardized with TV in terms of the size of and distance from the screen.”
To emphasize that point, Harry Friedman, executive VP of Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune, revealed that the show—which pioneered shooting in HD—is looking at going to 3D as a way to “keep the show fresh and interesting.” “We want to change the show without changing the game,” says Friedman, who notes that the shows’ three-dimensional sets are a perfect match for stereoscopic production.
Cookson also pointes out that 3D stereoscopic games can be played on 3D TVs, with active shutter glasses for full 1080p viewing. “We’re excited about games—that could be the killer app,” says Cookson.
Debra Kaufman is a freelance writer for numerous entertainment industry publications. She also writes about content for mobile devices at www.MobilizedTV.com. She can be reached at dkla99@verizon.net.