(This is a photo of Matt and his crew checking out the cool 3D effects on Friday night of the 48 Hour Film Project. I've posted a few photos from the event, but I really did understand the 3D portion of the shoot. I was the Best Boy and I helped dig a few graves. So, I will let our director explain the process.)
"After last year's win, we decided to bite off more than we could chew for this year's 48 - not that this isn't already a very difficult exercise on it's own - We decided that we should do something seemingly impossible and a couple of weeks ago my friend Jim Ricker and I began to scour the internet for instructions and theories regarding 3d cinematography.
We decided on a game plan regarding shooting and post and set out to shoot the first 3d flick ever shot in 48 hours. I was under the assumption early on that we could just get a lens for the camera and go for broke. Little did we know as we started the process that there is no "easy way" to do this, no adaptors or lenses - it would involve 2 cameras, a homemade camera rig, terms like inter-ocular distance and convergence, twice the footage and a hill to climb in post production that - as a result of the electrical storm - would prove insurmountable.Production went well - shooting in anaglyph 3d dictates everything - you cannot rack focus, close ups are problematic, and you cannot effectivly dolly forward without consequence, the list goes on... - Luckily, the system Jim and I developed to determine convergence worked like a charm and we were finished shooting by 1 am on Saturday night.
We had a rough by Sunday morning and we began to add the bells and whistles. I was doing the effects and opening title sequence with some graphic elements provided by Donnie Heath. Chris Avedon was working sound, and Dave Harrison was working the edit. This left Ricker to pace back and forth wondering when he could start the tedious task of aligning the shots for 3D.We were racing towards the common goal when lightning struck during a crucial render and shut down and ruined both the title and film exports.
We scrambled to restore one of the two video channels in order to deliver the film. (you have a separate edit for the left and right eyes that are later overlayed to create the 3d effect- so we went back into the left eye edit and exported that singular video track) I whipped up a quick/simpler replacement version of the title cards in After Effects and we inserted them as soon as the render was over. We laid a 2D version to tape and delivered the film with moments to spare.
Certainly not the outcome we wanted but at least we finished and delivered a film. Once back to the studio, the 3d version was rendered, the title sequence was completed and placed and we debated pulling from the competition and delivering the 3d just so we could project the version we intended the audience to see. In the end, we decided to let the 2d version stand with the understanding that we may have the chance to show the 3d version at the awards event for anyone interested.
In all, it was a crazy experience as expected. I really wish the 3d version was in competition as it totally worked - but alas, mother nature had other plans for us...So, I guess we are the first to shoot in 3d - but the title of the first team to deliver in 3d is still up for grabs... That may be a crown we leave for anyone else crazy enough to go down that road in the future.Here's to being clothes-lined by the bar while trying to raise it. "
- Matt McNeil, The Keen Collaboration
This excerpt was taken from the following website. To read more go to:
http://www.48hourfilm.com/greensboro/blog.php
No comments:
Post a Comment