3D technology has been used in movies for more than half a century – with considerable success, in some cases. The Disney Corporation has incorporated some of it into top-of-the-line attractions at Disney World and Disneyland. As the world moves to HDTV, what are the chances for improving this technology to expand the use of 3D in both movies and television?
At Bill Sobel’s monthly breakfast for the New York Media Information Exchange Group, we had a demonstration of the work being done in this field, and a chance to see how it is working right now.
David Dever, VP Broadcast and Network Sales of Quantel, presented a 3D video on their HDTV system. It’s pretty impressive. It does require wearing a set of special glasses to make the imagery work, but – once you get past that hurdle – the images themselves are quite impressive; the illusion of 3D is very good on a large HDTV screen.
According to Danny Peters, Director of Creative Services, Quantel, what’s different now is that we are able to do stereoscopic processing in post production. That has always been the primary problem in doing 3D productions. Traditionally, left and right images had to be edited separately. Quantel has come up with a way to make it work in post production. Peters provided a hands-on demonstration of how the editing can be carried out. Other techniques are possible as well – ways to provide color correction, depth perception and convergence, etc. Peters calls this one of the most significant developments in post production creation.
The demo was followed by a broader panel discussion of the 3D process and its possibilities, along with a review of some of the many considerations that need to be considered when shooting, editing and displaying 3D video.
The post-production technology on display could be used for virtually any display technology – from HDTV to Imax to the old Viewmaster “stereoscopic” viewer slides.
One key question: when will this get into the home and reach a much wider audience? Chris Chinnock says there are already a lot of 3D capable HDTVs in people’s homes – and nobody knows it. They do still require glasses. Some of the manufacturers are starting to do demo programs – it’s just starting to happen
Chinnock says there IS an audience for this. More theaters are coming on line virtually every day with the capability to display 3D entertainment releases, including fine arts and Metropolitan Opera productions. He also discussed a 3D in home consortium that is working on getting the technology into homes.
But there was also discussion of the need to change focus – to use the technology not as a novelty, but as a storytelling mechanism. There was general agreement on the panel that it is important to move past novelty and exploit the creative possibilities of the medium and the technology.
Chris Chinnock also says there are displays being made today that do not require glasses. This seems to me to be the direction that the industry will have to go. As long as you require an extra piece of hardware – the glasses – you’re going to be limiting your impact. Not a universally held sentiment among this group – but these are the pioneers in extending the technology.