Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/130212
erts More are embracing 2D-to-3D conversions as the workflow continues to improve. By Christine Bunish The 2D-to-3D stereo conversion process has greatly improved in the last year, and the world market for converted content has "matured" and grown, notes Todd Cogan, senior VP of operations at Venture 3D in Culver City, CA. But overall, conversion is "still a very manual and labor intensive," process that strives to deliver artistry via the application of often proprietary technology. "It requires the skill of good artists," Cogan emphasizes. "It's not a numbers game." STEREO D Twenty years after its release, Jurassic Park has returned in 3D stereo to deliver the original thrills and chills to audiences but in a different dimension. The goal is also to get them in the mood for Jurassic Park IV, which is slated to open in June 2014. Jurassic Park 3D enjoyed one of the top box office openings for a 3D rerelease and generated recordbreaking returns in the IMAX format. Stereo D (www.stereodllc.com), which is part of the Deluxe suite of post production services, performed the film's 2D-to-3D conversion, following its earlier success with another blockbuster legacy title, Titanic 3D. "Any time you work with a filmmaker like Jim Cameron or Steven Spielberg you get better — they strive for greatness," says Stereo D president William Sherak. He says Cameron and Spielberg are "so artist-centric" in their involvement with the conversion process that they "walk the floor" with Stereo D's more than 400 artists in Burbank, so "the artists get to see their idols and show how much they love the project." Seven hundred artists in Pune, India, are also "visually connected' to the facility for live review of material. "We're a one-shot company in different locations," Sherak explains. Stereo D oversaw Jurassic Park 3D from the original 35mm negative scan to the 4K full restoration and clean up, the stereo 3D conversion and the preparation of deliverables, including IMAX and Blu-ray. The first fully-converted sequence that the Stereo D team showed Spielberg showed the park's Ford Explorer falling out of the tree. "Steven hadn't seen it that way since he shot it — you really felt as if you were there," Sherak reports. "That was the moment we felt we could do this [conversion], and it would be amazing." Stereo also proved tremendously effective for the sequence with the kids and Velociraptors in the kitchen whose "sense of danger was heightened exponentially" by 3D. Practical rain was augmented in 3D in a handful of shots, as were flashlight beams and some smoke layers. Quiet scenes also worked well in 3D. "In the scene where Dr. Ellie Sattler and John Hammond are at the dining room table, you really feel you are at the table with them," says Sherak. "Steven shoots with such depth to begin with that we used all the cues and lens choices he gave us in the 2D image to make the scene all that more intimate — it was a huge success." Such scenes are a testament to Sherak's belief that "any storytelling can be enhanced by stereo conversion. When you look at [conversion] as a creative process with the filmmaker involved, it can be a success in any genre: There's something in stereo for every quadrant." Stereo D maintains a proprietary asset and pipeline management system for its conversion work, but "we create specific tools Stereo D oversaw the conversion of Jurassic Park 3D from the original 35mm negative scan to the 4K full restoration and clean up. for every film tailored to what the film entails," Sherak explains. The rotoscoping and depth teams break down each frame of a film and work with the components contained within; the depth team uses the company's proprietary VDX software. Stereo D not only converts legacy films but also films currently in production. Sherak believes the future is "fantastic" for 3D stereo products and the ever-improving conversion process. "Global audiences are gobbling up 3D, and more and more A-list filmmakers are playing with it. We're on our second, third and fourth projects with some of these filmmakers — we're doing our fourth Marvel movie now, and each one gets better." www.postmagazine.com Post0513_022-24, 26-stereoRAV4finalread.indd 23 Post • May 2013 23 5/3/13 2:41 PM