Schooling

This is really an exploration, a trial and error endeavor, and so a learning process. So far I have a some great teachers, a really nice and knowledgeable senior 3D animator from the NFB called Peter Stephenson has been giving me some tips and advice over email, and last night, I met with my good friend Kieran Crilly, who is wealth of technical knowlegde and general advice about all things filmic.  Turns out he has been researching 3D production for over a year now and he really opened my eyes on allot of points, a true schooling. He is also amazing at just bouncing ideas off of, you give him an idea, and he will expand on it ten times.

Among the things he made me realize is convergence: that the cameras need to be slightly angled in  so as to converge on the same point, and this is where the crux of the 3D effect will be felt, the part of the image that will be "pulled out".

Because I'm working in an installation where each eye has it's own "screen", I will keep researching to make sure this is case, but it does make allot of sense and concures with the litterature I've been reading: stereoscopy.com

I was assuming that having the cameras parralel on the same horizontal axis would be enough, but like I said, I will keep on researching.

The other big thing that came out of our meeting is a change in plans for gear: no 5Dmk2. As I had hoped, Kieran has researched and has some experience with the 5D and it seems like one of the big draws of shooting with a ful-frame sensor, a very shallow depth of field, doesn't make good 3D. He explained it in way that made total sense to me: that shallow depth of field, a long standing filmic convention, is used to simulate depth. It cuts out the subject from the background, where in 3D, you don't need to create a sense of depth, there is depth!

Depth of field in the 5Dmk2 seems challenging to control at the best of times, especially when dealing with movement as the subject can very easily slip in and out of focus.  I'm certain that it could be successfully used for this project, but I'm dealing with too many other variables that require special attention: 3D, using child actors, short time frame, that to incorporate an imaging system that requires it's own special care and attention is a little too much for this shoot.

I'm not sure what I'll use instead, but I am very glad to have these amazing people involved and to be learning so much.