I attended the second annual 3D Society Conference and Awards in Hollywood Feb 8th and 9th. I also attended the LA SIGGRAPH 3D event smartly hosted by Marty Schindler of the Schindler Perspective(www.ishindler.com ).
Stereography is an emerging craft and becoming a essential crew position. My key learning is that all 3D is subjective and almost all 3D experienced by an audience is a creative decision controlled by a handful of variables. stenographers are a crossbetween VFX Sups and Assistant Camera Operators. They must interpret the artistic direction from the Director and DP and control both hard camera controls as well as soft post processing. Done wrong, audiences will run from screens with strained eyes and aching heads. Done right and 3D is an immersive experience audiences will pay more for and upgrade to 3D TVs. Storytelling now includes manipulating the audiences point of convergence, the foreground, background, and how depth perception changes when the camera moves. 3D perception is a complex psycho-physiological phenomenon only accurate forabout 20 feet where binocular convergence gives us a true "sense" of depth. Beyond that; vanishing points, lighting cues, atmosphere cues, occlusion and parallax play layer roles. For example, estimating distance on the ocean is notoriously difficult compared with in a city with all it's depth cues.
Aside from on-set decisions, the next crux of 3D is when to go native Vs to convert from 2D to 3D. Which is better when is an ongoing debate. The craft of 2D to 3D conversion is rapidly evolving, time consuming and expensive at between $30k and $150k per minute! You can count on 3D growing. Sports and music performances will likely lead the way for home adoption. Panasonic demoed a live HD 3D Switcher! 3D Channels are already being launched and 3D TVs were everywhere at CES 2011.
The second annual 3D Society awards exceeded my expectations for glitz and glamour. They rolled out the red carpet for nerdville and showcased the years best examples of 3D film land TV. It was difficult for me to tell what it was about some of the winners that stood out, but some, like HUBBLE 3D IMAX, and ALICE IN WONDERLAND for best conversion, were obvious.
Here is the list of Winners:
LIVE ACTION 3D FEATURE OF THE YEAR: “TRON: Legacy” The Walt Disney Studios
ANIMATED 3D FEATURE OF THE YEAR: “How to Train Your Dragon” DreamWorks Animation (DWA)
SHORT 3D MOTION PICTURE/NARRATIVE: “Day & Night” Pixar
BEST 3D DOCUMENTARY: “Hubble 3D” IMAX
OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT OF 2D TO 3D CONVERTED FEATURE: “Alice in Wonderland” The Walt Disney Studios and Sony Imageworks
3D LIVE EVENT: “Black Eyed Peas 3D: Live” AEG Live
BEST 3D SCENE OF THE YEAR: “Tangled” The Walt Disney Studios
BEST 3D STEREOGRAPHY – LIVE ACTION: “TRON: Legacy” The Walt Disney Studios
BEST 3D STEREOGRAPHY – ANIMATED: “How to Train Your Dragon” DreamWorks Animation (DWA)
Thanks to FLINT DILLE for being such an excellent guest speaker. Flint shared his vast experience as a Producer, Screenwriter, Game Designer and now, Alternate Reality Game (ARG) Producer. Some notes: • Reality is becoming more game-like all the time! Flint views the mediasphere as one huge graphic equalizer of media whereby elements such as game, music, story, character, mobility are all tuned. • Read Kieth Richards Autobiography and how the Stones experimented and just did it! The barriers are now low. • It is no a better time than ever to experiment with media and just go and produce, experiment, have fun, release, repeat! • TRANSMEDIA is really the new contextualization of “FRANCHISE”. It is a broad term that has come to mean distilling the essence of a property for adaptation across all platforms. It includes prequels, sequels, spin-offs, Toys. Flint was engaged to reinvigorate Hasbro’s Tansformers with the original animated series he created as one of his earliest jobs. • Flint teamed up with Gary Gygax, the Co-creator of Dungeons and Dragons, the world’s first MMORPG. It was pure role-playing and Flint learned the ethos of a shared adventure. This experience was a key influence for him. Mr. Gygax passed in 2008 at age 69. He arguably started a multi-billion dollar industry. • Flint is working on Starship Troopers 4 • Flint thinks that essentially game-like entertainment has already eclipsed movies. This was exemplified when AVATAR’s release was moved over for CALL OF DUTY MODERN WARFARE’s release. • Flint is teaching the first ARG courser at UCLA. There are currently no examples of a “Hit” ARG, but there will be! Don’t discount the influence of hard core fans to whome past ARGs may have been targeted. Although small in reletive numbers, great in influence. Flint views their impact like an epidemiologist looks at a virus.
Sphere: Related Content
Thank you for a great first class! We have a diverse group from 7 nations and a range of backgrounds. Full-time students from 7 nations and working professionals form production, agencies, studios, networks and crew positions.
You can find a roster on Blackboard in the Course Admin section to help us get to know each other.
The following topics were suggested to add to the syllabus:
The future of iTunes The App Economy Globalization of the entertainment industry Newsonomics: Technology impact on journalism 1k Vs 2k Vs 4K resolutions in theaters and at home Digital Production jobs on the set Reputation Management for Social Media
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- We covered CES 2011. The summary, photos, and videos are linked to below: Jerusalem Post Article http://bit.ly/gnKgVV Photo Collection: http://gallery.me.com/svolkow/100422 Video diary: http://gallery.me.com/svolkow/100427
We then covered megatrends including: The Internet as the primary entertainment and media medium worldwide International demographic and economic trends impacting the Entertainment / Media sector. I summarized the PRICE COOPERS WATERHOUSE GLOBAL ENTERTAINMENT MEDIA OUTLOOK, which is a good resource (http://www.pwc.com/gx/en/global-entertainment-media-outlook/index.jhtml). Mobile as the primary Internet access method worldwide Social Media Gaming Globalization of the Movie and TV business Digital Production, Distribution and Projection.
Thanks to Silvio for mentioning HD Video Wallpaper. Good points regarding how rapidly changing technology is impacting business models like TV distribution.
This week we should focus on discussing the impact of Social Media Tech and Mobility on the Egyptian uprising. Refresh your knowledge of how these technologies impacted Iran's Green Movement, Haiti Earthquake, Tunisian Uprising and protests in China, especially the Uighur protests in the far-Western Chinese province of Xinjiang. Will Jordan or Yemen be next? How are governments reacting?
Things tend to be BIG at the Consumer Electronics Show, the annual gadget-fest held this month in Las Vegas. There were BIG crowds, 140,000 in total. There were BIG promises, such as glasses-free 3D or the somnolescent Microsoft CEO, Steve Ballmer, insisting "Windows will be everywhere". Finally, there were BIG products, like Mitsubishi's 155 inch OLED Display. That's four meters of OLED goodness in your living room. However, many of the more popular innovations focused on LITTLE details, particularly User Experience (UX) and User Interface (UI). The winning products in our roundup, compiled with the help of media strategist and UCLA Instructor, Stuart Volkow, excel at UI / UX.
Smart Appliances: Apps for your kitchen? As noted by Daniel Burrus, author of the new book, FLASH FORESIGHT, “Product Intelligence” will make everyday products more efficient and networked.LG’s THINQ line of WiFi networked appliances use your Smartphone to self-monitor, diagnose themselves, manage the cooking, washing, and power consumption. Expect to see have apps by next year.
Mobility and Tablets:
The fastest growing category in consumer electronics last year was tablets. However, the glory and the profits belong to Apple, with 87% market share and 7.33 million units sold in Q4. Hoping to grab a piece of the action, Motorola scored the biggest buzz with XOOM. This uses Android 3.0 Honeycomb, comes equipped with front and rear cameras and even works with Flash. Other Android tablets include the AZPEN, the Samsung GALAXY and a $199 model from chipmaker Marvell aimed at the educational market. Marvell is among many component manufacturers and OEMs going direct to consumers.
iPad has also ushered in a 'Touch Revolution'. Several exhibitors brought multi-touch and gestural interfaces to big screens. Hardware manufacturers are nurturing an ecosystem of developers around this new form of Point-of-Sale display and advertising.
COPIA (http://www.thecopia.com) is an entire book ecosystem for Tablets aimed squarely at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Google Books and Apple iBook. It is an open “social reading” engine with a large store that is cross-platform. Unlike Amazon's Kindle, the social commerce layer allows sophisticated real-time and archival shared annotation.Authors can publish special annotated editions like the value added features on DVDs. You can also rate/friend/follow/group/discuss/share every book.
HDTVs: The ATSC, Digital HD, Flat Screen TV transition happened over the last several years. New frontiers are ultra-thin, elegant design, and incredible picture quality. Backlit LCDs flat screens dominate with new features that provide astounding color, contrast ratios, motion smoothing and resolution. The arms race between LG, Samsung, Vizio, Sony, Panasonic, and Sharp is a win for consumers.
Connected HDTVs: Looking for a trendy buzzword? Try this one: "Smart TV's". Nearly every mid to high-end HDTV is now 'Internet Ready' via WiFi or Wire. And if you missed getting a “Connected” TV, a plethora of adaptors are ready to confound you with Internet to TV choices. Fending off IPTV disruptors like APPLE, GOOGLE and VUDU, TV manufacturers want their full-featured TVs in the center of your media universe…User Interface (UI) be dammed!!
Each Smart TV has an “App-Platform”, including the horrific (and intrusive) Yahoo TV Apps.Your business and media imagination can run wild with ideas for TV Apps. Most of the demo TV's included Pandora, Netflix, Facebook and YouTube.Among the many exhibitors, Samsung's Smart TV platform is the winner for connected TV.Their “Smart Hub” competes with the likes of Microsoft’s media center but integrates Network Attached Storage (NAS) to the television.
Sony's proprietary Internet VOD platform has the absurdly Japanglish name QRIOCITY. It works with their connected Blu-Ray Disc (BD) players, TV and the PS3 Live platform. Amazingly, it did not work with Sony's online video site, Crackle.
Prefer to save a few shekels and retrofit your existing television for Internet Connectivity? In that case, the Sony BD player is your choice. You can onboard WiFi, Hulu, Netflix, Pandora, Cinema Now, DVRs, and even 3D at affordable price points. The TV industry will never be the same.
3D HDTV: Despite slow 2010 sales (estimated 5 million devices worldwide), the 3D HDTV's on display were eye-popping magic. Driven by dramatically better quality, expect 3D HDTV viewing to become mainstream..soon. In the interim, the debate between passive and active-shutter glasses rages. Curent Glassless 3D “Holodeck” and Glassless 3D prototypes provided a low-resolution viewing experience. However, compared to last year the experience has rapidly improved.
HD Projectors: Liquid Crystal on Silicone (LCoS) is competing with TI DLP (Digital Light Processor). Cinema quality projectors at $100K are the rule for Theatrical 3D. However under $5,000 very high quality consumer models compete with almost any TV experience in a darkened room.
Automotive: Ford has positioned itself as the most “connected” car. Next-gen telematics use voice-activated SYNC from Microsoft. The glass cockpits and HUDs shown by Audi and parts supplier Visteon take in-care connectivity and computer control to a new level.
Audio: GRACENOTE is of special interest for its incredible digital music ecosystem. Acquired by Sony in 2008 for $250 million, the company has focused on building a database that “fixes” the track-artist-album titles in your iTunes collection. Their new products focus on simplified recommendation engines and playlist creation.
Games: Games, 'gamification', mobile games, games in TVs, social games, console games, tablet games…This year it was Games Everywhere.
Reality games? The RV Quadcopter, complete with onboard camera, got out in the mall with full Smartphone remote. Even I was able to operate this in a few minutes.
Home Theater, Audio, IP Radio: In addition to Dolby 7.1, these systems showcase the rapid evolution of Internet radios, powered by server-side systems like Reciva, Pandora, Groove Shark, NPR and others.
Cameras: Cameras from Casio, Kodak, Cannon and others have become fashion accessories, and 3D Consumer/Prosumer still and video cameras are coming this year. On display was a full 3D Digital Cinema set-up to satisfy any ZGeek (http://zgeek.com).
Digital Health & Fitness: Digital health, home monitoring and digital fitness is coming of age with wireless sensors for home BP, Heart, Body Mass Index, Blood Ox, etc. Smart Medication Reminder/Dispensers promote compliance and track symptoms. The list goes on.
Also, a myo-controlled exoskeleton for paraplegics was demonstrated as a near future practical prosthetic.
Smart Power: Smart Grid technology and power management devices promise to make every home power efficient. In addition, solar and fuel cell devices showed new ways to recharge anywhere.
Cool Stuff: Take a moment to watch the video on www.tiwi.com. It’s a Teen Tracker for the car, complete with Geo-Fencing and instant updates, warnings, alerts etc.
The Sling Box got micro thin, and smart cards got much smarter and programmable. The UNO (http://bpg-motors.com) is an electric, gyro transforming Unicycle/motorcycle vehicle.
The Mixed Reality promise is delivered in the http://www.reconinstruments.com HUD Goggles.
A variety of Bots were spread around including a robotic snake-like biomeme that out maneuvers snakes with some incredible moves. Be wary, ophidophiles!!
Discerning a trend at this year's CES was easy- bigger is not always better…but a superior User Experience is a good start. This is the lesson of Steve Jobs and the larger lesson of CES 2011.
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d aching heads. Done right and 3D is an immersive experience audiences will pay more for and upgrade to 3D TVs. 
Storytelling now includes manipulating the audiences point of convergence, the foreground, background, and how depth perception changes when the camera moves.
You can count on 3D growing. Sports and music performances will likely lead the way for home adoption. Panasonic demoed a live HD 3D Switcher! 3D Channels are already being launched and 3D TVs were everywhere at CES 2011.
