World 3d channels - UPDATE

In no particular order...
UK - SKY 3d TV (launches officially in August 2010)
UAE - 2 channels currently - DU and Etisalat.
SPAIN - TV3 3D (Barcelona) and Canal+ 3D (Madrid)
ITALY - Nothing (Now that the FiFA deal has finished.

USA
No 3d TV channels actually confirmed as On- Air yet?
DIRECT TV may have a channel in association with PANASONIC.
SONY may launch their own 3dTV channel?
DISCOVERY plan to launch a 3dTV channel in the US in 2011?
ESPN plan to launch a 3d TV channel in 2011?
WEALTH TV plans on broadcasting 3D (via HD cable)

FRANCE. CANAL+ 3D broadcast of the 2010 World Cup ORANGE are running an IPTV 3d channel.
NETHERLANDS Some cablecasts in 3D.
GERMANY - DEUTSCHE TELECOM - from September will start broadcasting 3dtv on an IPTV platform.
Rumours that GOOGLE may launch 3d channel on EutelSat?

BBC on 3d TV

Sorry for the lazy post - but I have been up to my eyes in prepping for
the Unconference for EverythingFuture.org.
I will get some more real life stuff down soon...In the meantime.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/10446419.stm
Use this link (above)for the full article.
FROM BBC.CO.UK
Quality warnings issued over 3DTV
Technology reporter, BBC News
Hollywood epic Clash of the Titans was painstakingly converted into 3D frame-by-frame but the image quality received mixed reviews. After years of trial and error, 3D finally hit the mainstream; at least as far as Hollywood was concerned.
Big box office hits like Toy Story 3, Avatar and Clash of the Titans suggest that cinema goers have an appetite for 3D and they're willing to pay a premium for it.
Now the TV industry is trying to catch up.
3DTV sets went on sale in UK department stores earlier this year, after sports network ESPN committed to broadcasting at least 25 of the World Cup games in 3D.
Despite poor first month sales figures - just 25,000 3DTV sets sold across Europe according to analysts GfK - industry pundits say 3D television is here to stay.
"3DTV is not going to have the same impact as the introduction of colour TV," declared Simon Murray, principal media analyst at Informa Telecoms & Media in a recent report.
"However, it is not a fad and it will prosper as a niche product," he added.
The average TV production has neither the time or the budget of a blockbuster movie. Filming in 3D requires both in large amounts, so the alternative is to film in traditional 2D and then convert it afterwards.
There are various ways of doing this.
All Samsung 3DTV's now come with TriDef as standard. If money is no object, then a proprietry post-production software system - developed by large 3D production houses - is the way many film studios are heading.
One firm, Prime Focus, converted Clash of the Titans into 3D for Warner Brothers in less than eight weeks. It was an expensive, labour intensive process, involving almost 1500 staff said the firm, and the results received mixed reviews.
Budget 3D
But there is one option that has no financial cost.
TV manufacturer Samsung recently announced that it will be including automatic conversion software - TriDef, developed by DDD - in all of its new 3DTV sets, enabling viewers to instantly "upscale" standard live television into a 3D experience at the push of a button.
TriDef is already embedded in Samsung mobile handsets and Acer laptops.
This type of software has alarmed the film industry, with claims that the automated result is inferior to filming with specialist 3D cameras or using an expensive post-production process.
At a conference in May, Hollwood film director James Cameron - the man behind the animated 3D epic Avatar - warned the result of cheap conversion were "eye strain and headaches".
Panasonic refused to include the software in its 3D sets over quality concerns.
"'We don't think it's right to confuse consumers this early on with second-rate conversion technology,' Fabrice Estornel, product manager at Panasonic TV, told website Home Cinema Choice (HCC).
Chris Yewdall, chief executive of DDD, said the company is not trying to compete with big budget solutions.
"3D is just like any other market - you have good, better and best," he told BBC News.
"We offer a very specific feature aimed at the consumer to get them comfortable with the fact that it is possible to watch 3D at home. There's a cost and quality level associated with that."
Comparing the product with surround sound, Mr Yewdall added that the DDD solution offers an unlimited amount of content as any live TV programme can be split into 3D without adding time and expense to the production cycle.
"When you look at Clash of the Titans , it had a very aggressive schedule and cost of several million dollars. The average consumer doesn't have that. You just want it to work at the press of a button," added Mr Yewdall.

BBC 3d plans for 2012 Olympics

Found this article.
Quite interesting.
The BBC is lining up boxing and gynmastics as its lead sports for a 2012 Olympics showcasing 3D and Super HD TV.
But the corporation is unlikely to launch a dedicated 3D channel for the Olympics – using live venues and ‘red button’ event streams to air the coverage.
Sports with a sense of depth and confined space are expected to make the most impact in 3D, but major field games will also be captured to ensure the BBC has an archive packed with 3D and Super HD.
“The compact space of a boxing ring gives a real wow factor,” Roger Mosey, the BBC’s director of London 2012, told trade paper Broadcast.
“And with gymnastics, if you think about someone doing a vault, they start a long way away and move towards you – there is a real sense of depth.
“Team games and big pictures don’t really work – corner shots in football are good but often the players look like little models running across the field.”
International broadcasters are set to give their requirements for 3D, Super HD and other feeds to the Olympic Games’ official broadcaster, OBSL, this summer.

http://www.broadcastnow.co.uk/news/broadcasters/bbcs-3d-olympics-plan-shapes-up/5013262.article

List of Stereo 3d Blogs.

Here is a list of blogs. Different flavours, different styles. Enjoy!
I have treid to avoid any rating system as you can decide which one works for you! (hopefully you'll still pop back here from time to time...)

http://www.convergence3d.net
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/3dtv/
http://www.3dcinecast.com
http://lennylipton.wordpress.com/
http://www.today3d.com/
http://www.stereoscopynews.com/
http://www.facebook.com/v3imaging
http://www.3DGuy.tv
http://www.3dcinecast.com
www.3dvision-blog.com
3d Magazine
http://thirdmagazine.com/
International Stereoscopic Union
http://www.stereoscopy.com/isu/index.html
You can also join the Stereoscopic Displays and Applications Conference Linkedin discussion group - http://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=1945944
http://www.stereoscopic.org
Found Peter Wimmer (Stereoscopic player) on here:
http://www.stereo3d.com/3dhome.htm
If you want a 3D blog in Spanish
www.cine3D.com
www.3DMagazine.com
http://www.enhanced-dimensions.com/wordpress/
http://www.realvision.ae/blog - stereoscopy and a bit on AR.
http://www.s3ddatabase.com/p/Resources.html
For a list of some of the more popular blogs and some other resource sites.
http://schubincafe.com/
David Newman, the CTO and co-founder of CineForm
http://cineform.blogspot.com/
new one just added:
http://www.stereoscopicfilmmaker.com

Liverpool University Psychology Dept. and Vision Lab. trains 3d director in Stereography. Industry Insight Event planned in Manchester on Friday 18th

Courtesy of knowledge transfer funding from the North West Development Agency, Rob Black and Dr Bernard Harper have recently collaborated with RDA Innovation Award winner - Reg Sanders, classically trained (drama on single camera) ex-BBC director who has worked for among others BBC America, Discovery and the BBC.
Recently he began a project called Shoot3D.

The goal is to provide training and equipment for TV producers and directors wishing to capture 3D content for cinema, advertising and television.

Using their research in the Vision Laboratory in the School of Psychology as a base, Rob Black and Dr Bernard Harper provided media training tailored to the requirements of the client. This included distilling widely published research on human perception with studies conducted for the Independent Television Commission in Liverpool.

The data from a series of ITC funded experiments on Cyclopean Vision and
Orthostereoscopic Imaging from Presence journal and conference proceedings *
were the main resource used to guide the teaching and training. Over the
course of the stereographic training, the Reg was equipped with a solid grounding in the processes underlying visual perception. By greater understanding of how the
human brain processes visual information, stereographers are able to modify their
shooting and production grammar to produce more naturalistic and satisfying
3D content.

Much of the 3D media published at the moment is shot without knowledge of
basic principles, and as a result can produce easily avoidable perceptual
problems The key issues that have recurred throughout the history of 3D
imaging have been eyestrain and nausea often coupled to misperceptions of
size, shape, motion and colour. ** One theory is that visual disturbance
from poor stereography mimics the visual disturbances that accompany the
toxic effects of alcohol, poisons or of motions of the inner ear that lead
to seasickness. So our natural reaction to poor stereography is to feel
nausea and also eyestrain if the camera alignments force our eye muscles to
exert unnatural tension for extended periods of time.

Giving clients a grounding in visual perception enables professionals wishing to capture 3D content avoid many of the common 3D pitfalls and produce imagery that is easy to edit and view for greatly extended periods. Inappropriate camera alignments at the editing stage too can induce eyestrain through miniaturization, motion artifacts,
excessive parallax and incorrect object scaling so must be avoided.

Reg Sanders as a Stereographer with a strong visual background as a 2d drama director, along with Shoot 3D can offer assistance at every stage of the stereoscopic video production process. The steps include equipment specification, production
grammar advice, shot-by-shot analysis, on shoot shot, complete post
production services using industry-leading products such as Quantel Pablo
and Mistika and also projector calibration.

A 3d Industry Insight Workshop is being held at ProCam North, in Manchester on Friday, June 18th - featuring 3 x 2 hour sessions. For information contact reg@shoot3d.tv

A new convergence test.

Shot on a matched pair of JVC HD Handycams.
Non synced
Interlaced
at 70mm Inter Axial

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yeXVtM0Mw-Q

Welcome to Shoot 3d

Welcome to the shoot3d blog. I hope you find it useful and interesting.
This blog is a bit unusual. I started my research and training as a UK based Stereographer in January 2009. I kept a diary and notes and have only recently started the blog because so many people in the industry wanted to talk to me about 3d and how it works, and how to shoot 3d professionally, that I thought this would be a good thing to do. So I am gradually getting it up to date.
As of the present day - I have just finished shooting sample scenes in 3d for ITV. Including, Emmerdale, Countdown, The JK show and a 3d remake of the title sequence of Coronation Street. I am currently getting ready for an OPEN DAY in assoc. with Procam North - in Manchester in June. (June 18th)
I have just finished quite a complex shoot on 2 REDs... for some stereo footage for a 3d Viral.
Len Gowing Red DoP was officiating, and we had Rob Black and Dr Bernard Harper as Perception Consultants. If you want to get in touch I am one of a very few UK based Commercials Directors shooting 3d for cinema, broadcast, corporate films and virals.
reg@shoot3d.tv
The main blog follows below.

Ghost busting and Lanc synchronisation.

This was a sequence filmed under 'test' conditions with 2 HVR-A1 cameras.
They are not genlocked but ARE 'synched' using a Sony Lanc controller, they are
synchronized to within 5 milliseconds. We shot loads more - but on this shoot it wasn't very exciting,
so I have only posted the one clip. What I did learn from this shoot was about the concept of 'Ghost busting'
If you look in the background you can see the double imaging of the floor indicator above the lift doorway.
We converged on Rob (the guy in the black shirt) from about 3 metres - and the background has gone way beyond sensible convergence with the massive disparity that you can see. Well, this fact combined with the high contrast image creates 'ghosts' and there are some post production solutions that offer a 'ghost busting' service...
Youtube link here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ioXavo2hBNw

Biology + Psychology + Technology = 3d

The eyes are NOT film cameras. So stop trying to 'think' like a camera when you are trying to visualize a shot or a frame or a scene... This is the first major hurdle when you are a 'died in the wool' time-served 2d director such as me. 13 years in London, 2 years in the States, 6 months in Belfast, 6 months in Cardiff, 4 years in Manchester. That all adds up to 20 years of years 'thinking in 2d'!
To create good watchable stereo 3d that doesn't pull your eyeballs out of their sockets, you cannot rely solely on the Technology. You have to begin with 'how we see' and how the brain uses 'what we see' and combines that information with a whole load of other factors before you even get a camera out of the case...
At this point in the blog I should bring into the frame my new best friends. Dr Bernie Harper and Rob Black. They are from Liverpool University Psychology Dept and they eat, sleep, drink, walk, talk, 3d! They think and communicate only in 3d! It took some adjustment from them to be able to talk to a numpty director like me and start to explain and unravel some of the complexities of stereo 3d. Dr Harper (Bernie to his friends) has been 'doing' 3d research for 10 years and knows more about 3d than is good for the mortal man... Rob Black on the other hand is a Perception Specialist / Consultant and he can show you things in 1d, 2d and 3d that you never knew existed! So Liverpool University, has a world renowned psychology dept. and I would have access to some of their greatest minds to help me learn about 3d. I was psyched
Who was it that said? : "I could teach you everything there is to know about 3d in an afternoon, but it would take you a lifetime to understand it." Sorry if that is a bad quote, but it make the point. It is such a complex area that if you fancy having a go then good luck. Throw yourelf into it and prepare to fail! And understand you cannot 'fix it in post' - It doesn't work like that!

What is Native Screen Pixel Parallax? NPP

What is Native Pixel Parallax?
Well, put simply - this is the concept that by basically using some maths, you can calculate 'what works' in pixels on your screen.
Explanation: When we shoot 3d with two cameras, it is the vertical disparities (the differences) between left and right camera that the brain 'sees' and then tries to 'fuse' the images and create an artificial state of mind that makes us 'see' depth or '3d'. So the distances between those cameras should be equivalent to or near to the natural 'interocular' which is about 65mm. (2 and a half inches in old money...). If the disparities are too much then it gives you a headache and makes watching a 3d sequence a very uncomfortable experience, in some cases if the disparities are too extreme it will mean there is no picture for the brain to fuse and it just shuts down any attempt to 'fuse' for depth.
Now here is the problem, if you shoot your 3d footage and for whatever reason you have had to shoot at a larger than 65mm interaxial, you may well end up with some stereo footage that 'works' on a small computer screen, but will not work on a large 3dhd plasma - or possibly, you may have a sequence that works on a 46" 3dhd plasma - and equally it won't work on a 30 foot cinema screen.
So some of the world's Stereographers have come up with a plan. They have come up with a numeric chart of 3d 'depth' that allows for average screen sizes and average distances from the screen. Obviously this isn't a perfect science, but it's a start... (Note to reader: It's quite hard 'blogging' about stereo 3d production, because not all the experts agree on certain principles... They all seem to have a different viewpoint to the same problems. So my position is try and be polite and take on board everyone's views and then when I am in the position of filming use the different advice as required....)
So here are some of the maths involved. You decide.
A 30 foot cinema screen = 360 inches (30 x 12inches) Human interocular = 2.5 inches
2.5 as a percentage of 360 = 0.7 percent - Now take that as a percentage of the resolution (2K)
then you end up with 14pixels. So any disparities larger than 14 pixels would represent an unnatural disparity which we have trouble fusing...(Based on 2k resolution on a 30 foot wide cinema screen)
Now try a 46" plasma. Width is less than 46" (The manufacturers get that measurement by measuring diagonally corner to corner of the screen) The width is about 40 inches so if we do the same thing and take
2.5" as a percent of 40" we end up with roughly 6 percent. If the Pixel resolution of the screen is 1920 x 1080
then 6 percent of 1920 should give you about 115 pixels. So theoretically you shouldn't go over 115 pixels on a 46" screen.
Simples?
When we look at 'Infinity' our eyes are parallel and anything we see across the depths will have 2.5" disparity.
The thing is when you 'scale' an image down (less than life size) to fit onto the 46" screen, then surely the disparities would be scaled down, or we are 'seeing' something totally unnatural?
If we only ever filmed Ortho stereoscopically (all measurements = real life) and then we only ever viewed our material back at life size on a large cinema screen - everything would be fine. A 6 foot man would be 6 foot tall and the disparities would be the same as real life - nothing over 2.5".
In reality we have to shoot for a range of different screen sizes - therein lie the problems. My conclusion is that whatever size screen you are shooting for always try and get the cameras as close to a natural condition as possible. If you are 'over' or 'under' the magic 2.5" then some post production can correct some a percentage of error.
Finally, you may deliberately shoot over or under for a special effect! But try not to blow the viewers mind! I am learning by trial and error. Everyday I shoot some more stuff and then work it out.

Stereo 3d and Liverpool University

My few baby steps in learning how to shoot stereo 3d produced some results...
A very impressive anaglyph quicktime that when you watched felt like an alien spaceship was hovering above your head and was sucking out your visual cortex with a Star Trek transporter!
clearly I had a way to go...

Enter LIVERPOOL UNIVERSITY in the North West of England.

As a self confessed 'businessman' in the film industry, I applied to the Regional Development Authority for a Training & Innovation Grant', and I was absolutely amazed when I was successful! Great, I thought, I'll be heading down to Pinewood, Britains very own film industry, to play with the professionals and learn all their secrets... but NO, it was not to be. What happened was that the Innovation Grant wasn't money in your hand, it was 'training to the value of...' with one of the regions 'knowledge providers'. Which I found out in my case was to be Liverpool University. What could I learn at my age and with my experience in the film and tv industry, by going back into 'academia'??? The answer, as it turns out, is a fantastic amount.

Stereo 3d is 1/3 biology 1/3 psychology and 1/3 technology.

This is the first BIG thing to learn in stereo 3d, especially as a director and stereographer.
Learn and understand the biology of the human vision system (also known as 'eyes').
Our eyes are NOT video cameras, they don't zoom or 'pull focus'. they are NOT 3d imaging devices.
Learn and understand the psychology, or in other words how your brain 'sees' - How it interprets the monoscopic depth cues to provide a depth map of the environment and how it combines all the information from all its 'sensors' with sight, and also how the brain combines its existing data on imagery and spatial awarness to navigate us and help us interpret what we see...
Learn how the technolgy that is available to us as filmakers and stereographers can be used to best effect to tell stories, evoke emotion and 'paint' 3d pictures based on reality...

As I start my training with Dr Harper and Rob Black I am getting to see the importance of at least getting a basic level of understanding of the biology and psychology of stereo 3d if I am ever going to be able t0 shoot and direct a high standard of stereo 3d.
The technolgy is easy in comparison! You hand over responsibility to the guys with the big rigs and hand over some serious bucks at the same time! BUT, I have learnt that you really need to get a thorough basic knowledge of 'how we see', and 'how our brains interpret what we see'. THEN you can play games with technology to do the film makers thing... and around creating non real 3d reality!

I think I may be turning into an OCD 'Ortho' Stereographer - or pehaps that should be OSD - Ortho Stereo Director!
As I carry on my stereo 3d jouney I have come across 'purists' portrayed as amateurs and Hollywood Stereo crews portrayed as 'Industry Experts' . But I am starting to worry about this battle over the I-O (the distance between the 2 cameras when filming)...
I need to go and find out more.
Stay tuned as I report back daily...
Cheers
Reg Sanders - UK Stereographer http://www.shoot3d.tv/

Florette TV Commercial (2d) Feb 2010

I know this is a 3d blog. BUT I have to earn a living while the production community in the North West catches up with the rest of the world! Being a totally unheard of commercials director (not based in London or the South East) is quite liberating in an odd way. You have nothing to prove, no 'reputation' to live up to...and you avoid some of the more incestuous aspects of the business. The other thing is that I am really lucky having a company like The Mob Film Co represent me, because they have world class features directors on their books and so it shows they really have a superb reputation. The top directors in the commercials game can pick and choose who they work for. Ergo, if I am on their books - they must rate my work, because frankly they could pick and choose and boot me off in a instant. The other plus is that I sometimes get to pitch for big national and global brands - like Florette - those lovely 'crispy Salad' people. Their Ads have always been towards the surreal and fun end of the scale and so I guess the agency saw a something in my mad reel that appealed to them! The creative was great fun, and the development process went smoothly. Pre-prod was tight for time, but we got there. The guys at the agency are hilarious - well, they did dream up the whole Crispy Salad idea, and the wonderful world of Florette!
We filmed in Cheshire in one of only four 'Cruck' barns left in the country, a curious 16th century, European looking barn, it was a cold winters morning yet with the lights on and the superb set design by Paul Kondrass it looked amazingly late summer / autumnal! The DoP was Steve Weiser, a master at painting with light, and the shoot went flawlessly. You can see the finished results on TV - the deliciously fruity fruit segments, fresh from Florette! Look out for mad dancing people in a barn chopping fruit with their hands in a fruity ritual...
Directed by yours truly, shot in Arley Hall in Cheshire, edited by Olly at Delicious Post on Wardour Street,
audio at Grand Central and on a screen near you soon! (throughout 2010...).

Motion artefacts / temporal occlusion 101 - JAN 2010

Yesterday, Simon Stappleton from Procam North and I, and Dr Bernie Harper from Liverpool University took two Sony XD cams off the shelf to take a look specifcally at motion issues as I had read some stuff on line about 3d blur and movement and how things can get tricky when shooting movement. I wanted to find out for myself what happened under different circumstances. During my 3d training I have come across loads of people in the film and TV bizz who are full of advice and are quite happy to tell you how it should be done... But then when I asked the questions, I found out that although everyone is ready with advice, NOT MANY have actually shot 3d!(I guess thats just a bit like life...)

We put the cameras onto the prototype Procam SbS Plate, a special plate that Jonathan Bolton at Procam North had engineered so that we could mount ANY camera Side by Side for trials. When you are training it's hard to get access to large mirror rigs, apart from the obvious reasons of cost, ie you need a team of Nasa trained scientists to program it, align it, and 'fly it' for you. Pretty much all of that technology is very expensive to hire, and because 3d is the latest 'in thing' particularly in London and the South east, access is very limited.

Training - is limited and expensive, but if you have the money then Pinewood and Shepperton run 3d training courses. Actually, on the subject of training I was very fortunate in being able to secure an 'Innovation Grant' from the RDA in our region, and that was used to get me superb access to some of the keenest and most intelligent minds on the planet who have been living and breathing 3d for 10 years or more. Now at last the technology is catching up...

For our motion test shoot we shot a variety of settings - interlaced, progressive, different frame rates. We filmed loads of cars driving by and I spent hours in Noise Industries Dashwood Stereo 3d Cinema Toolbox looking at disparities and basically trying to understand what worked, what looked good and what looked bad. Whether or not to track convergence on the passing cars or leave convergence set at an optimal distance. I will talk about convergence in a separate post because it is another of those 'sensitive'' areas in the 3d community, and the idea of this blog is not to cause stress and anger, but to raise the issues for discussion...
In terms of motion - Point One: I would always shoot progressively for motion. Full stop. end. new para.
Yes, you can play with frame rates and electronic shutter speeds - but you must shoot progressively because of how the frames with movement on have motion artefacts when shooting interlaced. You may have seen it yourself in 2d TV - that weird jagged edge where the scan lines have captured slightly different moments in time so a waving hand breaks up across scan lines. If you combine stereo shots with this effect you end up with a mess that the brain can not fuse, so no 3d. Always shoot motion progressively.
Point Two: Your cameras should be synced or 'gen locked' so that each frame is written and captured at the same time - that is to say the beginning of each frame must start at that 1/50th or 1/25th of the second (or 1/60th) and scan each line, both camera's perfectly in sync. Line 1 right eye camera, scans at the same velocity and the identical moment in time as Line 1- left eye camera and so on through the full frame scan.
So Progressive and genlocked / synced. We did try some early days tests with 2 HVR-A1's that were not 'genlockable' but were synced through a dual lanc within 100ms and on the whole the results were not bad. Though we weren't filming anything with much movement - just some stuff around 'sets' for a tv drama, kitchens, living room, that kind of well lit set up in a TV studio. We used a digislate to mark top and bottom of each take to see how the sync help up over time and it was reasonable and useable.
Definitions:Motion artefacts - weird bits of video that are created when the technolgy has to 'predict' what the movement in the frame is - or how the technology sometimes fails to capture the action properly.
Temporal Occlusion - when the differences between the two shots are caused by time, by the the way the 2 cameras have recorded or 'captured' everso slightly different moments in time, and so they don't work in 3d.
My final thoughts - you can shoot on interlaced formats - I use 2 little HD JVC's shooting AVCHDs or MPEG.TS for 'Pre Viz' and ' recce' . They are not locked, not synced and interlaced!
But they show me enough to see what works and what doesn't work...

3d stereoscopy shallow depth of field issues

"Most professional directors spend a great deal of time and effort shooting on 'longer' length lenses for that beautiful shallow depth of field... And therein lie a few problems when you move into the world of shooting Stereo 3d..."

Simples.

The above statement has several pre-supposed observations. Perhaps I should preface it with "in my expereince as a BBC trained Drama / Commercials 2d director, I generally find myself choosing lenses from around the 50mm slot in the box of primes, and upwards.
(Except the last commercial I directed for Florettes in which we had a 'wide' on a 35mm. But on the whole my favourite lens is the 85mm.)

The thing I have discovered since training as an Ortho-Stereoscopic director in 3d - is that it is a trade off between the number of depth cues that you can fit into a 'tighter' frame, versus the shallow 'film look' depth of field.

This is an area I would like to explore as I develop my reportoire in shooting Stereo 3d...

A Christmas Carol - Not a good 3d experience DEC 2009

On one of those rare 'days off' moments - I decided to take the kids to see a 3d movie, kind of busmans holiday! Nevertheless we turned up at the local multiplex which had recently had its main screen converted to 3d.Infact, it was using the new Dolby 3d system which I had read was vastly superior to the Real D system, so I was keen to hand over my hard earned and get into the cinema... We took quite a load of kids with us, as our kids brought their friends who brought their friends! We ended up with 12 kids and 3 adults.

The first thing I noticed was that the glasses were duly handed out, beautiful shiny mirror look lenses and deep wrap around sides. I later discovered this is to maximise light the coming into each lens. During my stereography training I was told that the Dolby 3d system uses a combination of filtering to very finely control the colour information to each eye, so that although the channel separation is slightly less than the Real D polariser system the final result is better overall colour reproduction. I was looking forward to this screening, probably more than the dozen kids I was sat with!
I noticed there was a lot of activity pre-movie as the audience kept popping up and down to the attendant getting 'wipes' for their 3d glasses, getting them cleaned. I had to for some of our kids.
As the lights went down and the opening title sequence began I noticed I could see something in my lenses.
Again I cleaned them but it wasn't on the lens. What I could see was the reflection of my eyes and eyelids and lashes in the lens, as they were so shiny. Also the ambient light in the auditorium was very high, not helping the situation. In the UK they have strict regulations governing light levels in cinemas, and generally the cinemas have 3 levels. The walking in / walking out level well lit 'house lights' - then the next level of dimming is the spot reel or the adverts before the main presentation, I assume they have that lighting so that we can juggle our popcorn and kids, and get settled for the main movie. Finally, darkness for the main feature.
However, in my cinema trip, the lights never dimmed down to full darkness for the movie. You could extend your hand out and clearly see a shadow cast on the floor from the lights above. This caused problems with the 3d viewing because the images I could see through my lenses were overlaid with reflections, also the movie itself had a fairly 'dark' feel to it (being set in Winter in Dickensian London).
And therein spoilt what should have been a great 3d experience. The trouble is these multiscreen movies have very few people involved in their running. It's all done by computers... as they say. A Christmas Carol started and I went off like Scrooge trying to track down the projectionist. I went to the front of house area, to find a couple of students selling popcorn and coffee, they told me the projectionist had 'gone home' and would be back later to turn everything off... I asked for the manager, there was none. So the next day I'm on the internet and phone trying to find someone from the Vue Cinema chain to talk to... No luck. I sent an email to their customer services team who eventually reply with some brush off corporate letter about local planning regulations on light levels in public buildings... And didn't take on any of my points about 3d needing more careful light control than 2d so that the viewer can properly extract disparities and depth information for proper 3d viewing. I think they were worried about me trying to get my 50 quid back from them for the trip, but I made it clear I just wanted some technical dialogue on their procedures and spec for 3d cinemas... Bah humbug!

When I grow up I want to be a Stereographer.

Okay - so I set my mind on learning how to shoot stereo 3d. You can Google 3d stereography and find loads of sites that tell you all about it, seems to be a very popular pastime! There's a very interesting and indepth Wiki entry http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stereoscopy that pretty much nails it. So the next thing is actually shooting some footage and having a go at editing and then viewing the results in 3d. Sounds simple enough, but massive problems are presented with no stereo 3d post production and no 3d rigs outside of London... (Unless you have serious dosh!)
The first big leap forward was when Jon at Procam North http://www.procamtvnorth.com/ offered to help me by getting a basic 'Side-By-Side' plate engineered that we/I could experiment on. Then with the help of technical genius Simon Stappleton also from Procam North, we did our very first stereo 3d test shoot!
The plan was to work our way through some different cameras, comparing and contrasting results, and hoepfully learning something about the techniques required and of course the nature of filming stereo 3d. We started at the lowest level, 2 x Z1's!
We bolted them onto the Procam North Side-by-Side camera plate (Mk1) and set up some basic lighting in their camera test room. I double checked the manual 3D MOVIE MAKING by Bernard Mendiburu: http://www.amazon.co.uk/3D-Movie-Making-Stereoscopic-Digital/dp/0240811372/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1274113031&sr=1-1
and we spent a pleasant couple of hours filming a bunch of plastic and silk flowers gaffer taped to a lighting stand, at an eye popping interaxial alignment of 150mm! I took the rushes home and loaded onto my mac with the Noise Industries Dashwood Stereo 3d Toolbox http://www.noiseindustries.com/dashwood/stereo3dtoolbox/index.html
Then I spent a perplexing week with splitting eyestrain and banging headaches, editing in red/cyan anaglyph mode, trying to get my head around what happens when the cameras are further apart, and what the difference is between shooting parallel and converging. As I look back now I think that probably, it was what I needed to understand how critical it is to get the alignment right on the shoot - not use that old 2d production maxim of "It'll be alright, we can fix it in post!"
Lesson One. The most important rule in 3d - make sure you have the right Interaxial Alignment for the job! (Or I-O as some Stereographers call it).

3d stereoscopy - getting started

Last year (2009) I decided to find out about how to shoot stereo 3d for films, commercials and virals. And so began a journey of discovery...
I am currently working as a commercials director signed to The Mob Film Co. http://www.mobfilm.com/. I am based in the North West of England (Manchester - if you want to look it up on Google earth). For the past couple of years I have been busy adding virals and low budget commercials to my reel. I noticed over the last couple of years that the broadcasters are no longer using trained directors, but preferring to go for the more flexible (for flexible read low cost) option of self shooting AP's. Not that I have anything against self shooting, self editing AP's. Some of my best friends are self shooting AP's! It's just that the budgets imposed by the broadcasters and commissioners mean that there is no other way for the production companies to produce the programs. But over the last couple of years I have, on more than one occasion, had my ears chewed off by VT and Film Editors moaning about having to wade through hours of shite to get enough material to cobble together, for the latest hit 'reality doc'.
So anyway, I wanted to find out about who was filming stereo 3d on my 'patch'. The answer in 2009 was a resounding NO-ONE! So I decided to find out about training. At the time the only company I could find that was offering any training associated with Stereo 3d was a well established and respected I-Max Producer Phil Streather http://www.plf.cc/ Unfortunately for me 2009 was a 'quiet' year as a director and I didn't have enough money to pay for the 'premium rate' to train with the pro's for 3-5 days at Pinewood. So then I went on a journey around all the camera hire companies in the North west to see if anyone had any 3d kit that I could look at and get my hands on, to try and work out for myself how this whole 3d thing worked... Sadly no-one had any spare kit, most of the big players had kit in London that they could 'bring up' for a fee, or they had contacts where they could 'cross-hire' but sadly my bank balance was not quite big enough, I required something a little more in the 'self shooting AP' budget range!
So on my journey I came across Jonathan Bolton at Procam North http://www.procamtvnorth.com/
I discovered that Jon had an interest in 3d and like me he believed there was a potential to produce stereo 3d for broadcasters and production companies outside of London.
Up to very recently the South East has had a commercial hold on all the 3d kit, which is fair enough, as only the bigger players in the South (London) could afford to shoot stereo 3d.
It seemed to me at least, to be a world of super computers with lenses, and mirror rigs with military grade DC motors controlled by Nasa trained physicists and technicians and specialist 'Stereographers' commanding breathtaking Hollywood fees!
BUT - the more I researched the more I discovered facts about stereo 3d that made me realise that it was achievable with NON Hollywood priced teams, and then when Sky TV announced they would be launching a 3d TV channel in the UK - I knew it must be cheaper than 250k a day! Because there is no broadcast model on the planet that can substain those types of costs!!!
(No disrespect to Sky! At least they are transmitting a 3d channel...)

Reg Sanders Contact details.

Reg Sanders
07764 354 984
email: reg@shoot3d.tv

UK based Writer / Director
3d Stereographer
www.shoot3d.tv
http://shoot3dtv.blogspot.com/
LinkedIn: http://uk.linkedin.com/in/regsanders
UK Commercial representation: www.mobfilm.com
Online showreel: www.youtube.com/hungrywolffilms
Online Viral: www.youtube.com/theviraldirector

Google: Reg Sanders
Skype: Reg.Sanders