Star Wars Fails to Realize Dimensionalization

I attended the Thursday night midnight screening of Star Wars: The Phantom Menace in 3D and I was greeted with the usual costume fare (there was a slave Prince Leia, Jedi with light sabers, and a Storm Trooper).  However, the theatre was nowhere near full to capacity as one would expect for a premiere.  When the weekend gross was in, what I witnessed was reflected in the overall gross of Star Wars’ opening weekend as the film came in fourth with a, “Weekend [of] $23M.”¹  A very sad display for what used to be a huge cash cow but not only does this reflect George Lucas’ neglect of his fan base but the fact was that I may as well have been watching a 2D film as there was hardly any depth added to the film.

Mind, I am in no way commenting on the quality of the storytelling as we all know what problems are inherent to this film; I am only commenting on the quality of the 3D.

I left the theatre asking myself, “Why even bother dimensionalizing the film?”  All of the depth was either at the neutral parallax or so shallow in the positive parallax that when I lifted my 3D glasses I could’ve basically watched the film without the glasses.  The vanishing points were crushed into a flat 2D background and there was only minimal dimensionalization of the foreground objects in the positive parallax.  Overall, I felt that the 3D was left severely wanting.  I’m not sure if Lucas was trying to play it safe since the films were originally shot in 2D and he was trying to minimize the stereo window violations or for some other logic that escapes me but in the end I left the theatre dissatisfied with my 3D viewing experience.

Well, those are my thoughts for the week…if you take my advice I would save my money for some other 3D film other than Star Wars: The Phantom Menace in 3D because you could easily get the same experience at home with your Blu Ray or DVD.

Cheers-

Russell McGee

¹ N. Finke, RECORD-BREAKING WEEKEND! 4 Films Open $20+M: ‘The Vow’ $41M, ‘Safe House’ $39M; ‘Journey 2′ $27M, ‘Star Wars 3D’ $23M, WWW Document, http://www.deadline.com/hollywood/

Lighting for 3D

The area that I decided to focus on this week is lighting for 3D.  The biggest point that resonated with me is that, “infinite focus comes with an infinite amount of light, or close to it.”¹ What this meant to me is that the depth of 3D requires focus and clarity and this detail of depth may only be achieved by utilizing much more illumination than lighting for 2D photography.  The exact ratio of lighting for 3D cinematography is: “3D = Light + Light + Light”².  That is three times the normal light level one would use in 2D cinematography!

I followed up this new incite on light by looking at what cinematographer and editor Tim Dashwood had to share about 3D lighting, “The beamsplitter will […] cause a density and color shift on the reflected camera which will need to be corrected in post."² However, the thing that I found most interesting about his comments was the following, “Creative lighting can be used to help with window violations. For example, if shooting an over-the-shoulder shot I may use some negative fill to darken the foreground person on the side of the window he/she is touching. This can help soften the negative effects of the window violation.”²

In closing, the things that were most striking to me were that you will need three times the light of a 2D production and Tim Dashwood’s remarks about the density and color correction issues caused by the reflected image in a beamsplitter 3D rig.  Hands down, the biggest tip was about the use of creative lighting for an OVS shot to minimize the stereo window violation.  A technique that I am sure may be useful as I continue my journey through the realm of 3D.

I hope you enjoyed my post and look forward to your comments.

Cheers-

Russell McGee

¹ B. Mendiburu, 3D Movie Making, (Focal Press, Burlington, MA, 2009), pp. 113.

² H. McKnight, 3D Lighting, WWW Document, http://www.videomaker.com/article/14936/

The Dimensionalization of “The Lion King” vs “Beauty and the Beast”

Okay, sooooo my fiancée and I have watched both of the 3D versions of “The Lion King” and “Beauty and the Beast” and here are my thoughts. 

First, I would like to make sure that I am not taking for granted a previous knowledge of terminology thus I took a look at the term dimensionalization.  A term defined by NASA as a process of, “offine conversion of 2D films to 3D stereoscopic films…”.¹   The current 2D/3D conversion process of dimensionalization is very labor-intensive and relies on an artist(s) to rotoscope (to trace or “Transfer (an image from live action film) into another film sequence…”.² Many films flooding the market that are being touted as 3D are actually 2D films that have been dimensionalized.  The problem that this can present is that 2D films were not filmed with 3D storytelling techniques in mind and as a result create stereo window violations.

Such was the case with the dimensionalization of “The Lion King”.  The artists who converted the film were not aware or ignored the stereo window violations that were inherent to this 2D film conversation i.e. they pushed vertical objects that violated the stereo window into the negative parallax and as a result created eye strain.  They also employed a technique of projection of the 2D image onto geometry or 3D modeling which created unusual and warped effects on the 2D perspective of the original artwork, which in my opinion was a major gaff and was very distracting as a viewer.

However, Disney learned from their mistakes in “The Lion King” and made improvements in their dimensionalization of “Beauty and the Beast”.  The depth script for “Beauty and the Beast” never went into the negative parallax and instead the depth of the rotoscoped images were either at the plane of the screen or along the positive parallax and as a result, the film did not have the stereo window violations of “The Lion King”.  They also abandoned the projection onto geometry technique in favor of traditional rotoscoping. 

The only major stereoscopic flaw that I saw with the dimensionalization of “Beauty and the Beast” was in the opening push into the castle through the forest.  This shot had too many planes strung out along the z-axis at varying depths and as a result it created eye strain via excessive parallax.  However, all and all the dimensionalization of “Beauty and the Beast” was in my opinion a major step forward for Disney over “The Lion King”.

Well, those are my thoughts for the week, I hope you find them insightful and look forward to your feedback.

Cheers-

Russell McGee

¹ A. P. Van Pernis, M. S. DeJn, Dimensionalization: converting 2D films to 3D, WWW Document, http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2008SPIE.6803E..27V

²Google, ro·to·scope, WWW Document, https://www.google.com/search?q=rotoscope&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a#hl=en&client=firefox-a&hs=eNm&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&q=rotoscope&tbs=dfn:1&tbo=u&sa=X&ei=-kAmT4_ELYWJtwfswIW3Dg&ved=0CB8QkQ4&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.,cf.osb&fp=f74b341c0d792ed5&biw=1280&bih=637

Will All Films Eventually Be 3D?

Picture: Sigourney Weaver New York premiere of 'The Ides of March' at the Ziegfeld Theater - Arrivals New York City, USA

This week I took a look at an article on Sigourney Weaver’s views of the future of 3D and want to also refer to some other ideas of 3D storytelling from this week’s readings.

First, let me touch on Sigourney Weaver’s thoughts. She is of the opinion that, “…2D is going to be like black and white soon because 3D is the natural way that people encounter life, so it's a revolution the way that Greco-Roman sculpture was after hieroglyphics.”¹ She went on to say that she thought that it would be some time before 3D may be achieved consistently in a way that seamlessly connects the audience to the world of the story. This relates back to the idea that it will take a few years for storytellers to learn the most effective storytelling tools or rules in order to convey a story in 3D. Weaver also said that the objective of any storyteller is, “to immerse you in a world, not to trick you or entertain you."¹ In the end, it is about the story and we have to learn how to best use 3D to serve the craft of storytelling.

Two storytelling techniques that struck me from the reading were 1) the use of Depth of Field along the Z-axis in “Citizen Kane” and 2) the use of the Planes of Action along the Z-axis in “Dolores Claiborne”. Orson Welles used the Depth of Field to convey Kanes’ emotionally diminishing position by having Kane walk away from his guardian along the Z-axis to visually depict his diminishing size as his guardian is given the power position over him much in the same way that a small child is dependent on a parent who gives them an allowance. Thus the use of relative size along the Z-axis can be used to visually depict a character's control and power in a scene. In “Dolores Claiborne” the Planes of Action are used to depict the past in the far positive parallax while the mid-ground and negative parallax are used to depict the present. This is a filmic technique that I had never considered as a way to convey story and I see how it could be an effective storytelling devise in 3D.

Well, those are my thoughts for the week. I hope that you find my musings insightful as we continue to discover the rules and tools of 3D Storytelling.

Cheers-

Russell McGee

¹ Contactmusic.com, Sigourney Weaver - Sigourney Weaver: 'All Films Will Eventually Be 3D', WWW Document, http://www.contactmusic.com/news/sigourney-weaver-all-films-will-eventually-be-3d_1285527

"Pina" in 3D at the IU Cinema

The Cinema is screening "Pina" in 3D in February. This has been getting great reviews.

http://www.cinema.indiana.edu/?post_type=film&p=1814

Tickets are $3 for students and $6 for everyone else.

NEW BEGINNINGS: THE EXPLORATION OF 3D

IFC Films Bausch's unconventional approach to subject matter
and staging challenged Wenders when representing the work on screen.

Today marks a turning point or transition and new beginning in my journey as a storyteller.  Today, I begin my journey into digesting and learning the story structure and craft of stereoscopic film making.  I hope you the reader will also learn and grow with me as I explore and I am sure at times flounder in this exploration but I have learned that many of my greatest discoveries as an artist have come from my failures so GERONIMO!!  Let’s dive in!

“Because 3D is our natural way of seeing, it brings a feeling of realism to the audience…By reducing the effort involved in the suspension of disbelief, we significantly increase the immersion experience.” ¹ 

The majority of the 3D that I have seen to date uses 3D as a gimmick and not as a storytelling tool; there are exceptions to this statement but the use of 3D as a storytelling tool is not unlike the introduction of sound, color, or CGI and all of these cinematic tools took years to refine before they were mastered as storytelling tools.  “Ennio Morricone says, “What is important in a film is that the spectator doesn’t perceive when the music come enters and leaves.” That should be the same rule for the depth in a 3D movie.  The 3D helps you tell a story but 3D is not the story.”²  Thus I hope to explore the use of 3D to engage and immerse an audience emotionally with my characters and story through the stereographic tools that I will explore through these blog posts.

Morricone’s sentiment was echoed by Wim Wenders in the recent interview on Weekend Edition of NPR.  Wenders stated, “I wanted to invent a 3-D that was all natural and was gentle to the eyes, and that you would almost forget after a few minutes."³ The ideas that Wenders expressed may be put into application through some of the depth practices that stereographer Brian Gardner employs, “I use 3D to create similar perceptual associations. If I want to show that one person’s life is deeper than someone else’s then I actually make the space around them deeper.  You associate that person with depth.  I can put another person in a shallower space, and you automatically think that person has a shallower life.” ⁴ Gardner’s depth techniques are an effective storytelling tool much in the same way that a “Save the Cat” scene (a likeable characteristic of the protagonist that is established in the set-up) is an effective devise to emotionally involve your audience with the protagonist on a subconscious level.

Other effective tools in 3D include short lenses and occlusion; “Occlusion occurs when objects overlap each other.  Occlusions are the most powerful depth cues.”⁵

These are effective tools to utilize in stereography but there are also things from traditional 2D cinematography to avoid.  Things like, “…mismatched reflections and nearby objects straddling the edges of the image.”⁴ This creates a “Discrepancies between the two…” images in 3D which is referred to as retinal disparities.⁶  Another example in 2D is, “…to cut out the top part of talents’ heads.  This is actually a plague in 3D…Remember to always leave some space above the heads.”⁷

I also realize that like staging a theatrical production, which utilizes spatial levels and the blocking of the talent to focus emotional emphasis of the scene; the composition of the 3D window must be used to frame and focus the emotional impact of the story.  “You have to think in terms of volume composition, instead of pictures composition.  You will box the action more than you will frame it.”⁸  Other things that I consider will be useful 3D storytelling tools are a depth script to guide the emotional rhythms through the use of depth and overhead diagrams to plan the story arc in terms of compositional volume. 

Well, these are my opening reflections on stereography.  I hope you find them useful and will join me as I continue to explore new ideas in the world of 3D.  Please, feel free to leave comments and let me know your thoughts.

Cheers-

Russell McGee

¹ B. Mendiburu, 3D Movie Making, (Focal Press, Burlington, MA, 2009), pp. 3.

² B. Mendiburu, 3D Movie Making, (Focal Press, Burlington, MA, 2009), pp. 92.

³ P. Dowell, Wim Wenders On 'Pina': A Dance Documentary In 3-D, WWW Document,

http://www.npr.org/2012/01/14/145123337/wim-wenders-on-pina-a-dance-documentary-in-3-d

⁴ B. Gardner, Perception and The Art of 3D Storytelling, WWW Document,

http://magazine.creativecow.net/article/perception-and-the-art-of-3d-storytelling

⁵ B. Mendiburu, 3D Movie Making, (Focal Press, Burlington, MA, 2009), pp. 18.

⁶ B. Mendiburu, 3D Movie Making, (Focal Press, Burlington, MA, 2009), pp. 17.

⁷ B. Mendiburu, 3D Movie Making, (Focal Press, Burlington, MA, 2009), pp. 97.

⁸ B. Mendiburu, 3D Movie Making, (Focal Press, Burlington, MA, 2009), pp. 92.

Yet Another 3D Class at IU

Monoscopic depth queues exercise

The spring semester has begun again at Indiana University and that means we have a fresh 3D Digital Production class swinging into action.  We have 12 excited students, one of them a graduate student, who are already out in the field creating stereographs with stereo still cameras.  They're working in teams of two to use a FujiFilm REAL 3D W1 or Sony Bloggie 3D to explore the third dimension while recording technical data about each stereograph.

They're also looking forward to pitching story ideas in class soon and moving on to the BIG projects for the semester. Each student will develop and crew three short productions over the course of the semester for a grand total of six class productions that will be screened at the IU Cinema in May.