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Sony Pictures, located in Culver City on the West Side of Los Angeles, was the epicenter of a gathering of entertainment industry leaders in the field of 3D imaging and 2D to 3D conversion on June 17, 2010. The event was hosted by the International 3D Society and took place at the Ince Theater on the Sony Pictures lot. Jim Chabin, President of the 3D Society, took the podium and welcomed the participants. We were introduced to the distinguished panel of speakers. Lenny Lipton, Vice Chair of the 3D Society and President of Oculus 3D moderated the panel and pointed out that most of the folks present have a stake in the conversion business. Aaron Perry, CEO and Executive Producer of Stereo D, is a pioneer in the 2D to 3D conversion arena. Matthew DeJohn, Vice President, VFX Producer, In-Three was on hand to answer some of the technical questions. Corey Turner, Stereographer and Stereo Supervisor from Sony Pictures Imageworks was there to offer his insights; Barry Sandrew, Founder and President of Legend films; Rob Hummel, CEO of Prime Focus in Hollywood; and David Cohen, Associate Editor/Features of Variety were all on hand to answer questions and to give their expert analysis of the trends breaking out in an industry that is rapidly moving toward producing more 3D content.
The first person to speak on the subject of 2D to 3D conversion was Barry Sandrew. Legend Films is a company that has in the past specialized in colorization. About 5 years ago they became interested in 2D to 3D conversion. The process of colorization in the initial phases is very similar to 2D to 3D conversion. Over the past five years, the application of the technology has shifted entirely to 3D. They have done a few commercials and they did about 20 minutes of “Alice in Wonderland.”
Aaron Parry answered an important question: Why is the idea of conversion so controversial? From an artistic standpoint practical optics and spatial relationships are issues. When it comes to 2D to 3D conversion, there are people who are very dogmatic. They’re facing some of the same objections that were posed back when they were taking old black and white films and converting them to color. There’s a certain amount of artistic intention that is lost when you do a conversion. Still, it is clear that 3D has arrived and is here to stay. Matt DeJohn took the mike and continued the explanation that if your depth choices don’t match perfectly then it doesn’t really work. Some examples we saw during the evening demonstrated that if the process is done correctly, the results are very impressive.
The next question to be answered was how do you convert 2D to 3D? The first thing is to create depth, then to specify volumes—use a virtual camera to create two new eyes. Imageworks has converted 9 films so far so they have a lot of experience. Tim Burton likes close up shots so for “Alice in Wonderland” they had a digital double and one of the things they can do with that is to manipulate the image in various ways such as bending the face. Prime Focus Digital Effects worked on “Journey to the Center of the Earth” and what you do is calculate the Z depth of the scene. When they start talking about layering things they encounter the question, “can you do that without creating a pop-up book effect?” Rob Hummel stated that one way to create the illusion of 3D is to use two different cameras from two different perspectives to trigger the 3D processors in the brain. Some people push the technology too far and there are people at the studios that are making decisions without a complete understanding of the conversion process. You really need a good stereographic person on the team if you’re going to do a high quality conversion. Jon Landau said that the hardest shot to convert is the close up because if you can’t get the roundness in the face, you can’t get the shot. On feature films, they’re willing to pay for a realistic shot and to allow the people who are engaged in the process to take the time required for a quality conversion.
Jim Cameron took the lead in terms of sending people out to inspect the theaters to ensure a good 3D experience. The projection systems are not uniform. Los Angeles is probably the best place in the world to see films but there are places in town where the projection system falls short of what is necessary.
There were some issues with “Clash of the Titans”, and journalists did not spare its producers. Joe Morgenstern from the Wall Street Journal bashed it for both the story and 3D effects but later retracted some of his negative remarks after seeing the movie properly projected at the theater at Prime Focus in Hollywood. The reviewer writes, "...Mr. Fink invited me to visit the company's Hollywood offices and see sample scenes of the film as it had been delivered to the studio. I did so earlier this week, and got an eyeful—two eyefuls, strictly speaking—plus an impromptu education from Rob Hummel, the man in charge of Prime Focus's postproduction. The scenes I viewed were indeed bright, with an impressive illusion of depth. They were also surprisingly strong in what Mr. Hummel called volumetrics—the illusion of volume that can make a ball look like a ball, rather than a disk. Clearly the glasses had been at fault. And my experience, as it turned out, was only one of many."
Barry Sanders said, "Clash was an anomaly. It caught people at the studio and the conversion company with their pants down. It also made history with the best 3D opening." The views of the journalist, and his subsequent retraction, points to two significant issues. The film can be an excellent example of quality 3D conversion when it leaves the production company but not play well in theaters that are not correctly equipped with proper 3D projection systems or glasses. It's a matter of equipment and its operation. Another point is that there is a lack of understanding of the overall process leading to misconceptions among people at the studios, the press and the public.
The question that became relevant after this was, “do you think the public cares if a film is shot in 3D or if it’s converted?” David Cohen answered: “After Clash of the Titans they do.” It seems that – in a sense – Cohen has already been proved right by Avatar’s success. People have been calling 3D the latest California gold rush, and while it’s not terribly complicated to convert a ten minute short to 3D, it is an extremely complicated process to convert a feature film with hundreds of visual effects. Jim Cameron spent ten years studying stereoscopic 3D imaging: Avatar really was not a lucky shot.
Buzz Hays and the people at Sony Pictures are giving classes to cinematographers and it’s going to raise the bar for the people involved in the conversion process. David Cohen concluded by saying that what we’re seeing in 3D is prompting remarkable responses in audience behavior that hasn’t been seen before. You’re seeing a change where people are paying more and coming out with a positive 3D experience and it seems that the audience is telling the industry that they like it and they want to see more.
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