For our friends in the US - see what our very own Peter, Campbell and 3D cameras got up to in Botswana with Icon Films this Sunday (8th April) on 3Net!
*** 3net -- The 24/7 3D Network from Sony, Discovery and IMAX - Ushers in Spring with World 3D Premiere of Viewer Favorite RIVER MONSTERS
(Culver City, Ca.) Culver City, Calif - 3net, the joint venture 24/7 3D network from Sony, Discovery and IMAX - will kick-off April with the world premiere of a special 3D episode from the Animal Planet hit series RIVER MONSTERS Sunday, April 8 (10PM ET/PT). 3net will simulcast the episode, entitled "Pack of Teeth" along with Animal Planet, who will premiere the 2D telecast. Also in April, 3net will celebrate the network's second yearas the exclusive broadcast partner of the annual International 3D Society's Creative Arts Awards. YOUR WORLD IN 3D will transport viewers to the red carpet and inside the awards themselves on Sunday, April 22 (9PM ET/PT). The network rounds out April withpremieres of the returning series SAFARI PARK 3D and DREAM DEFENDERS.
"We strive to continue to surprise viewers with a slate of brave, compelling 3D original ‘firsts,'' said Tom Cosgrove, President & CEO, 3net. "The April premiere schedule reflects our ongoing mission to remain consistent in delivering the most diverse and compelling original, native 3D content possible to our audience."
Sunday, April 8 (10PM ET/PT) - RIVER MONSTERS "Pack of Teeth" - World 3D Premiere:
In southern Africa there are rumors of a deadly fish that lurks unseen in the eerie waters of the Okavango. A killer with shark-like teeth, there are stories of hunting in packs, feeding frenzies on schooling fish...and even human bodies. Jeremy Wade is on a mission to see if he can track down and identify this terrifying river monster.
InSpeck 3D Capturor II
Optical 3D digitiser optimised for Human face and body capture.
3D Roller Coaster Advert for Extreme Game Show
Inition worked with Red Bee Media to produce a 3D advert for the new celebrity game show ‘
3D Rugby wins MAA Best Award 2011
The O2 3D Rugby broadcast produced by Inition has won the Marketing Agencies Association award fo
Amphibious Wins “Best Feature” at 3D Stereo Media European 3D Film Festival
Inition’s Asia Pacific office has supplied stereoscopic consultancy and equipment for Brian Yuzn
Bolt’s Record Breaking 3D Sprint
Triple Olympic gold medalist Usain Bolt’s record breaking run at Bupa Great CityGames in Manches
Elbow - Live in 3D
Inition worked with new start up HD-Music.TV and Universal Music to produce a 75 minute 3D music
3D Feature: Award Winning 3D in Extreme Environments for 'Amphibious'
The Brief
Inition were approached by Komodo Films to help with the filming of Brian Yuzna’s much anticipated Amphibious 3D. Komodo Films required a 3D specialist to a high quality stereoscopic experience and expertise in tough humid conditions on a low budget
The film follows the story of a giant prehistoric sea creature that terrorises the occupants of a remote fishing platform off Sumatra. Directed by horror veteran Brian Yuzna (Reanimator) and starring Michael Pare (Bloodrayne, Virgin Suicides) the film has made several appearances on the festival circuit.
Solution
Inition’s Asia Pacific office worked closely with Komodo Films and Fu Works providing consultancy on pre-production, storyboards, camera and monitoring equipment plus stereography during production. Amphibious was shot in challenging conditions in Jakarta over a two month period. Inition’s Head of Production for the Asia Pacific, Markus Stone, was the lead stereographer and headed the 3D department.
Results
Markus commented, “This was a complex 3D shoot, and was produced in often challenging conditions including the Javanese jungle, on board a boat and in a studio that was a humid 36 degrees every day with the air conditioners turned on. It just goes to show that great 3D is possible on a budget.”
Inition are delighted to announce that Amphibious 3D has been awarded “Best Feature” at the 3D Stereo Media European Film Festival in a competitive field of 48 entries. Criteria included 3D quality, understanding of 3D grammar, script and overall quality of the film and it was judged by a panel of industry experts including renowned Belgian Stereographer Kommer Kleijn.
3D Filming: Tony Hawk on Tour
The Brief
Extreme sports production specialist Boomerang Productions, asked Inition to supplied stereoscopic equipment, crew, consultancy and 3D post services for a half hour 3D programme following Tony Hawk on his European tour in Berlin and Brighton.
Solution
Due to a combination of low weight, compact size and high quality image output, Inition chose to shoot everything with Toshiba IK-HD1(1920x1080i) minicams to capture the essence and drama of the competitor's daring skate tricks.
Inition’s crew established three camera positions during the Berlin shoot in order to captuire the action from all angles.
A Fig Rig gave the cameraman incredible flexibility to capture fast motion shots. A Polecam lightweight jib was positioned at the top of a ramp side which captured stunning sweeping overhead shots including those classic 3D shots when the skater appears to be jumping out the screen. The third stereoscopic rig was mounted on a regular tripod which was used to capture ground level footage and close ups.
To monitor the action, each rig was connected to a StereoBrain Processor. Battery powered and highly lightweight, the StereoBrain processor can process a left and right signal and output a variety of 3D modes which can be viewed on a 2D or 3D monitor. During the Tony Hawk shoot, Inition’s crew used StereoBrain processors to output an anaglyph feed to 7” HD-SDI monitors. Media was recorded to Nanoflash solid state recorders.
Results
Using the three camera set up, Inition was able to deliver motion rich, immersive 3D footage for Boomerang Productions. Boomerang Productions delivered a 2D edit to Inition where it was geometrically corrected and mastered into 3D for 3D Blu-ray authoring.
The 3D footage was used to create a half hour TV programme which aired on French TV channel Canal+ in October.
3D Shoot: LG 'Rare Butterflies' Commercial
As part of LG’s multi million pound 3DTV advertising campaign, Inition worked with Framestore to shoot a 3D cinema advert which aims to show film-lovers how the 3D experience can be recreated in their living rooms. The campaign for media agency Mindshare was directed by The IT Crowd star Richard Ayoade. It features comedy duo Tim Key and his sidekick Lloyd Woolf who take viewers on a brief history of 3D through to the latest developments and what the future holds.
The Brief
Framestore required a versatile, mobile and high-quality stereoscopic 3D filming solution and the expertise to operate it on crane for their one-shot-wonder treatment.
Solution
Inition specified the SI-2K mini system which offers a great compromise between size and quality. Combined with our matched UltraPrime lenses this offered a cost-effective and highly maneuverable solution on this technically demanding shoot. 3 Inition crew were on hand to build and run the rig (3D rig tech and assistant and stereographer).
Results
The advert is a tongue-in-cheek take on current formulaic 3D showreels and starts with Woolf dressed up as Godzilla destroying a cardboard city below him. The sequence then pans through other popular 3D viewing genres such as football and nature, before ending in a stage set front room with Key and Woolf on the sofa and the strap line "Bringing the magic of 3D home with LG".
Inition's Andy Millns was the stereographer on-set. Post-production at Framestore included adding VFX to the live action sequence which was on-lined by respected VFX artist and post-production consultant David Cox.
"I was very happy with the material from the shoot, the optical line up between the cameras was very good and the colour matching was as close as I've seen." David Cox, VFX/Mistika consultant.
The cinema advert marks LG's first foray onto the silver screen and will be shown alongside screenings of 3D movies Tron: Legacy and the new Chronicles of Narnia film, starting on December 10th.
**UPDATE** LG were so happy with FrameStore's ad that they commissioned a second-part. Framestore came back to Inition who provided the same team and kit for the second shoot which went as flawlessy as the first.
You can watch the advert here (in 2D only) or pay us a visit to see in 3D!
Distant Thunder: Exploring Africa in 3D
The Brief
World-renowned filmmakers Deeble & Stone partnered with Inition to co-produce a 3D wildlife pilot in Africa called Distant Thunder 3D.
Solution
The shoot took place in Kenya and was produced in association with equipment manufacturer P+S TECHNIK. During the production process the team identified and perfected the 3D rigs necessary to shoot wildlife in the field of Africa. Being an environment of widely varying scales, Inition used equally a large variety of interaxial lens distances to capture the extremities of the landscape, from extreme close ups of chameleons eating lunch to the final dramatic time-lapse sequence of the Kenyan night sky where two still cameras were positioned 30 metres apart.
Over the space of a month Inition used a variety of 3D rigs - both commercial models and custom built. These included mirror rigs, 3D time-lapse set ups, side-by-side configurations and gyro stabilized, using SI-2K Minicams and shooting uncompressed RAW, recording to solid state drives so full creativity could be achieved in the post production process.
Every evening, the team reviewed the daily rushes on a large 3D screen to develop what was working and what was not. Over a two week period and in challenging stormy condiitons, we obtained enough spectacular footage to edit together a stunning 10 minute pilot.
Results
The promo premiered at the Dimension 3 S3D expo in Paris in 2010 and was later shown to audiences at the Berlin Film Festival 2010 and the Cannes Film Festival where it received a highly postive response.
Victoria Stone, producer and director of the pilot, in an interview with creativeplanetnetwork.com said, "Digital 3D is so immersive and experiential that it is perfectly suited to natural history storytelling. We were delighted that it was possible to achieve so much in such a short time. It was an extraordinary and very successful collaboration."
Filming Man Utd in 3D for Epson
The Brief
Inition's sister company, Pointy Stick was comissioned by Epson to create a stereoscopic 3D promotional film featuring some of Manchester United's top stars. The 3 minute piece, conceived and executed entirely in stereoscopic 3D was created to help launch Epson's first range of home 3D projectors and celebrate their partnership with the world-famous club.
Solution
The film, directed by Pointy Stick’s Michael Lindsay and Gaute Hesthagen begins with the players in a black abstract space with intimate super slow-motion sequences portraying the drama at the heart of the battle between player, ball and gravity. The combination of shooting in stereoscopic 3D and at 1000 frames-per-second, both techniques that allow us to see more, reveals the underlying forces, decisions and skills at play in what are normally unseen fleeting moments of the game. The piece transitions into playful behind-the-scenes moments with the players on set, watching themselves and each other in slow-motion 3D, for the first time, using a 3D Epson projector in a living room set, shot in the same studio.
The Challenges- With such rare access to world-class players, the aspirations for the project were high but meticulous planning was required for such a technically demanding shoot given only three hours access to the players. The stereoscopic treatment was developed in detail with a 3D aesthetic to reward the viewer with a rich, intimate experience, rather than just a 3D-effect; by shooting against black, all the available depth is levereged by just player and ball creating heightened volume, texture and definition that brings to life every tensed muscle, ripple in fabric, droplet of sweat, impact of player and ball.
Results
Michele Brown. Head of Advertising Creative at Epson said: "This beautifully shot 3D promo demonstrates the quality of the Epson 3D projector and the power of 3D as a visual medium". Michael Lindsay, Creative Director at Pointy Stick comment: "Our aim was to provide a taste of the athleticism and skills of the modern game of football in a medium that allows us to share their world. The piece was carefully crafted to create a powerful visual experience that fully exploits the mostly-untapped potential of stereoscopic 3D film-making."
The promo (in 2D):
Behind-the-scenes (filmed in 3D but shown here in 2D):
Epson's Range of 3D Projectors
The stereoscopic 3D promo is being shown at events around the world to show off Epson's first consumer 3D projectors. The Pro Cinema 6010 is aimed at high-end home cinema installations whereas the 5010 is aimed at the living room. Both projectors require active glasses and both include an HD wireless transmission unit.
Pointy Stick also delivered a TV commercial and shot a behind-the-scenes documentary footage directed by Chris Holt. Stereoscopic 3D production support and camera equipment was provided by Inition. Pointy Stick completed the edit in-house with final finishing completed at Onsight. 3 different 3D camera systems were used for the shoot including:
- Epic hand-held easy-rig (details)
- Phantom high-speed rig (details)
- Mini-cam documentary rig (details)
Credits
Directors: Michael Lindsay and Gaute Hesthagen
Stereo producer: Andy Millns
Line producer: Mark Parsons
DOP: Brendan McGinty
For more information please contact Alix Wood, Pointy Stick on 07989 068 416, alix@pointystickfilms.com