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Lessons in 3D Filmmaking
It seems there’s a secret dialogue between our brains and eyes that allows us to engage in the magic of 3D cinema. Of course when experts at today’s StreetDance 3D panel tried to explain exactly how and why 3D films are so delicately produced, projected and beamed through those funny glasses and into our heads…well, it’s safe to say the audience may have gotten a little lost. Nevertheless, panelists Jim Spencer of Vertigo Films and director of StreetDance, 3D production pro Max H. Penner of Paradise FX, Michael Reute of Post Republic, developer of Germany’s first 3D post-production solution, and Julian Pinn of Dolby, showed Talents and Berlinale guests the trails and tribulations of undergoing a 3D project. Jim Spence had never approached a 3D project before, but when he asked Max H. Penner in Los Angeles for the help, Penner was immediately onboard.
After screening a 20-minute clip of StreetDance, Europe’s first live-action 3D feature film, each panellist took time to explain their part of the process – from the director’s choices, to production, post-production and finally the advancements of digital cinema to better enhance the craft and performance of 3D filmmaking. A great deal of jargon was flying between the panellists – words like convergent photography, stereography, dimensionalizing, grading, sweetening, VFX for small and large objects, etc. But by the end of the discussion, it was quite apparent the 3D process is becoming a standard in cinema, hand-in-hand with digital cinema. And due to its costly and time-consuming nature, StreetDance proves to be a grand accomplishment for a team of both rookies and wizards of 3D filmmaking.