April / 2010

The CSC 3D Workshop

by Lance Carlson

Geoff Boyle FBKS

The much-anticipated first-of-its-kind CSC 3D Workshop, held in Toronto from February 5 to 8, began with a full complement of attendees from Ontario, Quebec, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, British Columbia, Hong Kong and Malaysia, as well as support personnel and a huge assortment of gear. Anyone on the planning committee who was concerned about selling out the spaces need not have worried, as in the end there was a waiting list to get in. 3D is, after all, the new HD with everyone trying to jump on the bandwagon and get to the front of the leading-edge pack.

Arranging the equipment for the workshop was a logistical and managerial challenge, not for the lack of cooperation but for the fact that 3D production has already invaded the workplace and much of the local gear was out on paying jobs. Those who are attempting to establish Toronto as a prime location, for 3D production seem to have correctly anticipated a trend and are doing well by it. So it was bit of a geeks paradise, to strive for competence this new field of dreams and avoid the minefields as we embark into the new 3D paradigm shift.

The workshop was held at Sheridan's new Digital Media Research and Training Centre at Pinewood Toronto Studios, with an added space next door provided by Pinewood Studios. Ernie Kestler, the CSC’s education chair, and Dylan Macleod csc offered brief introductions. DOP Geoff Boyle FBKS, the featured presenter, jumped right in and set the tone for the workshop by stating his own preference for 3D as a new tool to enhance dramatic storytelling and that he wasn’t here to tell anyone “how to do it” but to join in an exploration and try things, even if they aren’t supposed to work, and hopefully arrive at interesting and enlightening results.

Boyle, who is well know for his good-natured hyperbole, described himself as an unapologetic heretic and launched into his first presentation by expressing his own preferences while welcoming other views. It was quickly apparent that other views would be well represented with the attendance of instructor Paul Taylor stereographer, observers Phil Streather, 3D producer and consultant, and Jonathan Barker (producer, Bugs! 3D), all well versed in the development of either large-format or high-profile 3D feature films. Boyle was not afraid to express his views but also lived up to his reputation (by those who know him) as a bit of a teddy bear and by the end of the workshop his fan club and friend base had grown to include everyone in attendance. Technical issues aside, there were actually several producers (some contributing, some questioning and absorbing) present, attempting to get their heads around how to best use and present stories in 3D.

One of Boyle’s pet peeves is to appeal to stereographers and cinematographers to make nice and try their best to avoid creating separate camps. This sounds perfectly reasonable, but there are stories, including his own experience on the 3D feature Dark Country, where this became an issue and affected the outcome of the project. An example of large-format rules that he felt could be broken involved movement and dust (as in a car speeding by). He made and proved his case on Dark Country, which was screened at the AMC Theatres, Yonge and Dundas Street West using Real D digital projection.

3D is the new HD with everyone trying to jump on the bandwagon and get to the front of the leading-edge pack.

Clearly one of the challenges for cinematographers is to first and foremost become knowledgeable and then to exert themselves as the DOP/department head. Problems can arise when an experienced stereographer with a high profile or Imax experience is brought in to advise and may consider himself not only expert in 3D but a competent DOP in his own right. The other main challenge for DOPs is to become sufficiently knowledgeable in the new technology to establish a dialog with and further help educate producers and directors. Currently there are few directors and producers with sufficient experience to be able to make knowledgeable decisions even with technical input, not to mention the implications of esthetics and delivery. What Boyle was saying repeatedly is that in drama you should be able to engage the audience in a 3D environment, not continually hit them over the head with 3D moments because you can.

Another of Boyle’s mantras is to not make things more complicated than they are. There are technical challenges, but ACs and DOPs are smart people and dealing with focus, aperture and focal lengths is standard procedure and they can adapt to dealing with interocular and convergence settings as well. But of course, they are dealing with not one but two camera/lens systems that have to be perfectly matched and aligned, not to mention the rather sizable rigs that add to logistical challenges. While some of his comments on working with stereographers may appear a bit confrontational, all he was saying is let’s use some common sense. He has no argument with large-format stereography, but feels that it’s a different medium. The one thing he feels they don’t understand is the need for speed in dramatic production, a reality that drama shooters know all too well. Hence the importance of shooting tests to determine an approach and stick with that for production to roll out smoothly and efficiently. His advice to directors is that it’s better to choose a good DOP and ask him/her to learn 3D than a mediocre DOP who knows a lot about 3D. Since this is an era when almost everyone is still learning, such a statement should offend no one.

So-called 3D moments are achieved by adjusting convergence points and interocular distances, which impact the effect and result in positive and negative parallax, as in whether the subject in question is in front of or behind the screen. Fortunately these effects can be observed in tests (and on monitors), so it’s clear that DOPs and ACs need to shoot tests in pre-production to demonstrate the effects to the director and to enable them to explore the priorities of the film and arrive at the best way to get there. As Boyle indicated, the objectives of the workshop was not to show people how to do it but to do and see and judge the result of trying things that may be wrong (and experience what the audience sees) so that we gained a better understanding of how to approach a given project.

A small efficiency (if it can be called that), which may help simplify things for the director and crew, is the fact that 3D (drama) does not require as many shots nor as many varieties of lenses. Coincident with this is the phenomena that 3D lends well to larger DOF rather than the convention of shallow focus and out-of-focus backgrounds. As a matter of fact, this actually detracts from 3D viewing and can be confirmed by the fact that the biggest film in the world (Avatar), by the biggest filmmaker (James Cameron) was shot on modified F900s and so the implications are huge. Film cameras don’t work particularly well for this and even the 35-mm sized chips as in Red, D-21, F-35, Genesis et al may be less than ideal. Talk about a paradigm shift. Little wonder Boyle refers to traditional 3D technicians as dinosaurs (in a loving way of course) as some insist in retaining established equipment/practices. Add to this that he recommend that DOPs light for an environment rather than shot by shot and our paradigm is quickly becoming a bit of a cinematic Gordian Knot. Oh yes, zoom lenses (an invention of the devil), fuggedaboudit; use only if you insist on making your life hell. Since there are slight variances in most (some say all) prime lenses, there are more than enough problems in matching them.

On day one, a large prep area enabled ACs to build two rigs each with Reds while the general presentations were going on and by the afternoon they were up and running. There was a large screen 3D monitor on which to watch the shots (with glasses of course) as they were captured. As indicated, there was no plan to try to make every shot perfect because this would in fact not prove much. The two rigs were the Tango from 3D Camera Company and the Element Technica Quasar from David J. Woods, as well as the smaller ET Neutron rig brought by Boyle and adapted for Steadicam (with two SI-2K cameras). In subsequent days the camera rigs were mounted on a crane with remote head.

An attractive living room set, designed and created by Brian Verhoog and his crew, offered an appropriate studio-drama feel to the proceedings with two performers at the disposal of the crews to walk the walk, but not the talk as that would have actually been counterproductive here. The event was stage managed masterfully by production manager Sarah Moffat and her team of PAs who even maintained a ‘green practice’ approach with well-organized refuse collection and recyclable plates, cutlery etc. to mention only a few.

Day four, when all the camera and rigs had been wrapped out of the studio, screening sessions were scheduled at Creative Post in two sessions, one for ACs and one for DOPs. This session was hosted by Creative Post president Ken McNeil, Jim Hardie and editor Andrew Exworth. Data from the tests was processed and cleaned up sufficiently to enable a review of the good, the bad and the ugly, and to see first hand some of the eye-brain/mind-bends that viewers can experience and served as intended to make a better prepared group of 3D image-capture artists.

That evening Dark Country, the 3D film noir thriller shot by Geoff Boyle in New Mexico released last year, was screened at one of the new AMC theatres on Dundas Square. Boyle conducted a Q&A session and explained among other things the challenges and restrictions in dealing with the fact that car interior green screen work was shot on Reds, while the night exteriors were shot on SI-2K. He felt that the look of the film would have been better served if he were able to stick with the SIs. The evening was capped by a short walk to the historic Library Lounge above the Imperial Pub on Dundas Street West where new and old friends mingled, networked, planned and toasted their roles in the new 3D era.

The CSC would like to thank the following for making the 3D workshop possible: Instructors & Presenters: Geoff Boyle FBKS, Chris Chung, Brian Gedge, Marcel Janisse, Sebastien Laffoux, Ken McNeil, Jeff Packer, Demetri Portelli, Brent Robinson, James Stewart and Paul Taylor. Crew & Support: Mark Bone, Jason Campbell, Luke Gallo, Ben Gervais, Morning Glory, Jim Hardie, John Helliker, Joan Hutton csc, Matt Kennedy, Sydney Kondruss, Ian McLaren, Bob McAdam, Jack Mosor, Steve Purvis, Michael Rintoul, Alex Sikorsky, Brian Verhoog, Jason Vieira, Brian White and Kennedy Zielke. Supporting Companies: 3D Camera Company, AMC Theatres, Creative Post, David J. Woods, Element Technica, Pinewood Toronto Studios, Precision Camera, PS Production Services, Sim Video, Sheridan College, Sony Canada, Sony Pictures, Tango, Videoscope and William F. White. And last but not least, the CSC 3D Committee: Jeremy Benning csc, Ray Dumas csc, Ernie Kestler, Dylan Macleod csc, Sarah Moffat, D. Gregor Hagey csc and CSC executive director Susan Saranchuk.

Presenters:

Brent Robinson, first AC and underwater operator on Resident Evil: Afterlife 3D, presented his thoughts on the challenges encountered on a moderately high-budget film ($40 million plus) and offered some tips on dealing with those challenges. His concern was that there was never enough time and/or resources to totally resolve everything to everybody’s satisfaction. He has attempted to take previous 2D experience and adapt it to a 3D-production situation where speed is required along with a degree of competence if not perfection.

Paul Taylor, DOP/stereographer (Rescue 3D, Kylie Minogue 3D concert video) is one of a small handful of people who has been shooting 3D for 25 years. He attended the workshop to present the stereographer’s side of the equation and said he came to help demystify 3D, in particular interocular and convergence. He is well versed on the technical challenges and suggested that camera crews need to be well prepared. For example, with lens alignment challenges and imperfections in mirrors, it’s best to try to get an oval of 60 per cent as good as possible as the area that matters. Viewing 3D is more subjective than technical and is about where the eye goes. He cautioned that DOPs and directors should not spend hours and hours debating where the screen plane should be and that directors should not attempt to plan 3D by a formula or set of numbers because that just doesn’t work. Any discussion should take place during pre-production and he suggested that directors needed to learn to trust DOPs with 3D as they traditionally do with the look of the film. He feels that setting 3D attributes is an art comparable to lighting, and the sooner directors learn to trust a DOP and/or stereographer and concentrate on the story the happier everyone will be and the better the results will be. While 3D seems to be leaning towards digital acquisition, Taylor has seen results from Techniscope 35 mm, two-perf (over/under) rig and revealled that it was quite stunning (codeword for better than digital).

James Stewart is a Toronto-based director/producer who has worked in 3D for about seven years. He has been a longtime proponent and feels that 3D is not only coming on strong but will soon dominate in theatres as well as on television, games and mobile. For directors, he felt it’s important to decide how much 3D (effect) will be in a given film and what and how the 3D moments will be presented. He introduced the term “depth budget,” which is not about money but rather the combined values of positive and negative parallax. It’s often given as a percentage of the screen width, with a good rule of thumb being three per cent (one behind and two in front). In spite of his enthusiasm for 3D, he admited that setups take longer, motion artifacts can be a problem and care has to be taken to get it right. Something that the big studios are doing (to make money) that is not helping 3D is 2D-to-3D conversions, which results in cardboard-cutout style 3D.

Sebastien Laffoux of Arri Canada has been instrumental designing 3D camera rigs as well as channeling user feedback to Munich for the design of lenses that will be best suited to capturing high-quality 3D images. He raised the issues of the mirrors and offered his usual techie description of those used in 3D rigs and explained some of the challenges in creating a mirror that reflects the same amount of light as is passed through to be captured on the other lens. He sumarized five technical challenges needed to be addressed for successful and efficient rollout of 3D production equipment. One: Difficulty of verifying valid stereo parameters onset. Two: Difficulty of recording sufficient meta-data for post, in particular for green screen. Three: Remote control of two lenses that don’t match, making lens changes painfully slow and costly. Four: Most 2D cameras are too big for many 3D applications thus restricting creativity. Five: There are currently no real stereoscopic lenses available.

Some of the participants and/or observers:

Henry Chung from Hong Kong heard about the workshop via the CML and came specifically to find out more about the current tools of the trade. He has been shooting 3D stills since 1996 and a few years later began making his own rigs of wood in order to shoot motion video in 3D. He later upgraded to aluminum and has now completed rig five, including beamsplitter and interocular adjustments. He has used Sony EX-3 and F-900 as well as Red and Panasonic 3000 on his rigs. He was happy to participate, feeling that he has improved his technical and theoretical knowledge as well as meeting and sharing ideas with a lot of nice people.

Eric Oh, formerly of Toronto, is now based in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and like Henry Chung made the trip halfway around the world to attend. For the last year-and-a-half he has been shooting features, commercials and documentaries in the area and decided to come back and take the workshop to be able to expand the services he offers and open up some new opportunities. He felt that the workshop more than met his expectations in being able to learn and exchange ideas with other cinematographers and get a good grasp of the basics of stereo equipment and techniques. He enjoyed being able to grasp how to deal with the challenge of 3D. Because there is little 3D equipment or infrastructure in Malaysia he plans to begin to experiment and start by building his own rig and shoot some short 3D films. He was concerned about dealing with post, as the closest facilities are in Hong Kong, but he connected with Chung, so it looks like some serious collaboration is in order – a great spin-off for the CSC 3D Workshop to say the least.

Phil Streather from London, England, considers himself a generalist, as well as a 3D producer and consultant. His credentials are considerable, having produced the IMAX film Bugs!, among many others. He was in Toronto for the workshop and to collaborate with Jonathan Barker on a new IMAX film on the Monarch butterfly. He was happy to be here because there have not been any full-scale courses like this anywhere and he was also scouting for ACs and other crew for his upcoming film. He was interested in seeing the new rigs in operation as they are built up and taken apart, as well as the deep level of interest and the crossover to 3D from where it was to where it is going. He agreed that perhaps introductory courses such as the general topics covered on the first day of the workshop could be offered to directors and producers to begin to acquaint them with challenges. He was impressed with the fact that so many DOP and AC types have come together to learn and share openly and work with the most sophisticated gear available to meet the challenge of 3D and upping the skills base here in Canada.

James Wallace, lighting cameraman and professor at Capilano College in Vancouver, came at the request of his school and was very impressed with the amount of technical details offered along with the contacts and resources gained.

Daniel Villeneuve csc, from Montreal, came because feels that 3D is the next big thing. He is approaching it with an open mind and was impressed with the amount and sophistication of the equipment and realized that one of the most important things to take away was the need to spend a lot of time in prep and testing. Perhaps as much as double, or even triple, the time to make sure lenses match and that the whole system works properly, not to mention lighting tests. He remarked on the fact that in 3D one would seldom, if ever, use any lens beyond a 40 mm and that it really worked best with large or full DOF (back to 2/3-inch chips) requiring a review of many long standing principles of conventional shooting.

Catherine Robertson, from Vancouver, is known to us as a filmmaker and DOP, but is now with the Panasonic Professional Imaging Group from Western Canada. Her personal interest in 3D goes back to stereoscope from the 1800s and Viewmaster slides viewed as a child. She was impressed with how technically informative the workshop was and how well organized it was, as well as the level of competence and expertise by the technicians and presenters. She welcomed this “evolution of filmmaking” from picking up on new technology such as 3D to data management onset and finds it very exciting. She felt the timing of the workshop was fabulous and that with the release of Avatar many other large- and small-budget films will insist on 3D, so there was technical-support as well as budgetary considerations. Panasonic will be introducing an integrated AVC-HD 3D camera/recorder based on the HPX-150 and two lenses from the R-10. It will be shown at NAB, and while it’s not aimed at competing with high-end broadcast (2K or more), it will find a niche in sports, concerts and event coverage, for example. Hopefully it’s an experiment that will lead to something more exciting in the future. She felt she had a much better understanding of what was the issues and that the workshop was the best she has ever been to. She wished to thank those who had the vision and perseverance to pull it all together.

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