Third Magazine

Cinequest 3D Panel

Posted on 01. Mar, 2010 by The James in Industry, Movie Releases

The Cinequest Film Festival is in full swing in San Jose.  Being one of the top American film festivals, it isn’t surprising that they had a 3D panel discussion as part of their event.  The panel included an interesting mix of folks from different aspects of the industry including:   Kelly A. Williamson (CEO, CritterPix Studios and Director, Ollie the Otter), moderator Laurence Thorpe (Marketing Executive, Canon USA), Michael MacKay (Renaissance Center), Charlotte Huggins (Producer, Mad Media Entertainment), and Greg Boren (Panasonic).

Clinton Stark wrote up a good summary of the panel discussion over at SilverStarCreek.com.  I think the best quote to come out of the panel, which he highlighted, is

“A whole bunch of 3D cameras are coming, which means a whole lot of bad 3D films.”

This is probably true, but this is a good thing.  When filmmaking becomes accessible to the artistic non-studio people, we often get to see some brilliant work.  Although it is usually less than 1% of the backyard indie films that are produced.

More highlights from the discussion:

• “Don’t fatigue the audience, still important to tell a story.”
• 3D is “akin to optical illusion compared to normal cinema.”
• “When people see each other in 3D they start reaching out; there is something different about that world – not quite the same as real world”
• 3D tools have come a long way compared to the good old days (i.e. 6 months ago, now “you can change convergence in post. Rotation is easy, etc. … easily fixed now that it’s really gotten much easier to finish your movie”
• Charlotte Huggins: “These are just all fonts.” (3D)
• “Where does human vision break down from 3D to 2D and how do you apply that sports?”
• Broadcast doesn’t know how to send 3D (cable can); all setting up networks, but live television is a challenge.
• The NFL has been making 3D football for four years
• Star Wars converted; George Lucas shots were already lined up; can’t even tell it wasn’t shot in 2D

Tags: Cinequest, Film Fesival