[Wired]

When prepping to film Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance, directors Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor put themselves through a hellacious fact-finding mission. The daredevil directors tried out nearly every 3D camera rig on the market, at one point becoming convinced they would need to build custom hardware, bolt by bolt, to capture the type of comic-book action they envisioned.

“We were under the impression,” Taylor told Wired, “as many people are, that [shooting in 3D] was inherently superior to post-converting.” But after their tests, they compared what they could do with 3D cameras to what could be accomplished with computers — and the machines won.

“Now that the software guys are getting to the point where they can do incredible work with anything you shoot, then why wouldn’t you just free up filmmakers to shoot the movie they want to?” said Taylor, whose PG-13 Ghost Rider sequel opens Friday. “The hardware guys and the software guys are sort of in a race — it’s like an arms race for 3D.”  ….

Converting to 3D saves time and headaches on set
Proponents of post-conversion point out that turning everything 3D after the fact makes the filming process easier because directors don’t need to worry about getting a shot perfect while on set — or about wasting actors’ valuable time while complicated 3D shots are set up.  …

To make sure their 3D was badass instead of half-assed, they got their conversion partner — Canadian company Gener8, which has developed its own conversion software called Stereo Composer — on board early.  …

Making 3D rigs with a 2D feel
Even as film-conversion companies hustle to improve their software, the makers of 3D camera rigs — structures that hold the dual cameras necessary to capture a stereo image — are devising ways to make their gear cheaper, smaller, lighter and more like regular camera set-ups. The goal is to make shooting native 3D as inexpensive and easy for directors as employing a room full of nerds at a conversion shop.  …

“They’d like no rigs at all, and ultimately that’s the future,” 3ality CEO Steve Schklair told Wired. “At some point it won’t require a rig to make good 3D images, and those are technologies that we’re working on today and are actually very far along with.”  …

Read the full post here: http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2012-02/20/rise-of-3d-conversion?page=all

[Minnesota Public Radio]

“I’d like to talk to you about a fresh start, a new world,” a character tells Sam Worthington’s Jake Sully in the opening scenes of “Avatar,” the 3-D mega-hit. “You’d be making a difference.”

The same line might be pitched at Minnesota filmmakers being encouraged to literally take their work to a new dimension this week at a “3D University,” day-long Twin Cities symposium on the growing demand for 3-D material.

To be sure, it’s a long way from the planet Pandora to downtown Minneapolis, but it’s here that Minnesota Film and Television Board Executive Director Lucinda Winter is working to foster a brave new world of 3-D production. She says that while 3-D has not exploded the way people predicted it might a couple of years ago, there is a growing demand for content, and people with 3-D expertise are going to get work.  …

Ployhar recently worked on a huge 3D project created almost entirely in Minnesota, “Space Junk 3-D,” an examination of the threat of debris in Earth’s outer atmosphere. The film is the brainchild of Minnesota producer Melissa Butts, founder of Melrae Pictures. She says that while 3-D takes some specialized equipment, the real need here is to develop expertise.  …

If You Go: 3D University takes place Monday, Feb. 27, 9 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. at Showplace Icon Theaters in the Shops at the West End, on West End Boulevard, in St. Louis Park.

Among those scheduled to attend are 21st Century 3-D founder Jason Goodman, who brought “Pirates of the Caribbean 3-D” and “The Amazing Spiderman 3-D” to big screens, and Steve Schklair, founder and CEO of 3ality Digital Systems, whose credits include “U2 3D,” and “ESPN 3D.”

Read the full story here: http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2012/02/19/3-d-u-minnesota/