Life of Pi Editor: Tim Squyers

Hey All,

I have yet to see Life of Pi, but a friend of mine did and she was recently telling me how great it looked and how it really turned her impression of 3D in film. I had heard about the movie but did not know much of the story line and after some online browsing, came across an interview with the editor, Tim Squyres. It was his first attempt editing a 3D movie and he has been nominated for an Academy Award for his work. In the article, he discusses some of his thought processes and how his approach differed from editing a 2D film. Although the scopes of our projects differ, many of us will be approaching the editing process from the some place as Tim Squyres did, “first timers."

From the article, I found few things to possibly think about when starting our own 3D editing processes.

·       Squyres edited everything in 3D and exclaims in the interview "We figured if we just worked in 3D, we wouldn’t have to intellectualize that [what it will look like]. We could just respond to what we were seeing." 

·       All the editing was done on a large screen so that he did not have to imagine the extent of the 3D the audience will experience.

·       His thoughts on utilizing 3D for immersion in storytelling.

The full interview can be seen here: http://www.screendaily.com/reports/interviews/editor-tim-squyres-cuts-down-3d-tigers-on-life-of-pi/5051090.article

3D's Achilles Heel?

I visited a friend over the holidays who had recently bought a new 3D television. There were six people and five pairs of glasses. While having extra pairs on hand is key, the glasses are an obvious barrier between the consumer and the 3D content. At home, I recently noticed that my roommate's cellphone has two lenses and takes 3D pictures. Like the camera's we used in our first class, the screen didn't require glasses to view the content. I mentioned it and we started back and forth on the limitations of only being able to view and share 3D media with similar devices and the lack of these type of devices in the marketplace.

I was further reading up on this year's CES after last week's post and came across a 60" glasses-free 3D TV that Philips demoed. While high resolution televisions (4K and above) were the main focus, Philips think that their product is the answer to 3D TVs slow to date popularity rise with consumers. To them the glasses are more like goggles and are the technology's "Achilles heel." Their television's picture (at 4K) can be viewed from many different positions within the room.

On the smaller scale, I also read about a proposed 8" android tablet by NEO3DO which can display content "glasses free." Its developers, David Briggs and David Spriggs, announced its production this week. They think that the tablet will help secure 3D content's success on portable devices. Spriggs, in a youtube interview, said "The amazing part of this product is that it frees users to shoot and capture video in the field, to display it in the field, to be free of the television and free of the glasses that have been a hindrance to the roll out of traditional 3D." This changes the game in terms of producing and shooting 3D content.

Whether or not the glasses are in fact 3d content's "Achilles heel" is debatable, regardless, the ability to view 3D content "glasses free" will be key in the medium's continued success. Maybe the department will purchase the tablet for the rig once it launhces...

Philip’s Glasses-Free 3D TV

NEO3DO’s Glasses-Free 3D Tablet

Three Dimensional Transparency

This is the first post of a string of blog articles which will discuss 3D technology, more specifically of the media variety (although 3D printers are the coolest new thing. I'll include a link with more info at the end). If there are particular stereoscopic interests that as a reader you would like more information on, bring it to my attention and I'll see what I can find. I'll do my best to post a variety of 3D interest areas, but there might be some slight favoritism towards 3D for marketing/advertising purposes as well as towards new technology which incorporates 3D content (as is the case with today's article).

I recently stumbled upon an article about a new 3D television which was presented at the 2013 CES, or consumer electronic show. The 3D television offers a transparent display. Viewers can essentially see through the television when off or when on and displaying 3D content. I wondered how this would effect how audiences viewed the content. This technology seemed like a novelty to me at first, but then I thought about heads up displays and how that can involve 3D technology. If you aren't aware, heads up displays allow viewers to see data on transparent glass. The technology is currently being incorporated into paned glass, car/airplane windshields and windows.

These new ways of presenting digital 3D images, in an augmented reality setting, expands the possibilities for 3D content. It begs the question: Will we start seeing 3D content, in narrative form, interact with real world dimension?

3D Transparant TV: http://www.gizmag.com/hisense-transparent-3d-tv/25712/pictures#4

3D Heads Up Display: http://www.gizmag.com/tre3dnavsystem/20278/picture/145690/

3D Printer (Check it out!): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8aghzpO_UZE