3D Society Conference and Awards

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)

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Winter Quarter Session 2 March 5th

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

Winter Quarter Session 1 Jan 29th

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

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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?

I look forward to your comments and seeing you Feb 5th
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