[Press Release]
Benna’s Work on Upcoming Global Asylum 3D Movie “A Haunting in Salem” Provides Milestone
HOLLYWOOD, June 23, 2011 | SHOOT Publicity Wire | — Shannon Benna, an independent producer and creative director specializing in emerging technologies and entertainment media production, has become Hollywood’s “First Female Feature Film Stereographer” through her work on Global Asylum’s upcoming 3D feature film “A Haunting In Salem.” With credits that span traditional film, TV, and interactive content production, Ms. Benna served as On-Set Stereographer during the entire production of that project.
Slated for release in late August, “A Haunting in Salem” is a horror film based around the historic events of the Salem witch trials of 1692. Global Asylum felt the storyline lent itself to being enhanced by stereoscopic 3D, and chose to capture the movie in native 3D, rather than converting it after the fact. Shot on Red Ones and using the DV4 beam-splitter provided by InterVideo, the feature’s principal photography, helmed by DP Alexander Yellen, maintained a tight schedule, covering up to 28 set ups per day. As On-Set Stereographer, Ms. Benna was in charge of stereoscopic equipment, camera and rig alignment, depth budget, and depth score. She also served as the film’s overall stereoscopic production consultant.
An experienced filmmaker, Ms. Benna said, “I was amazed by the efficiency and cohesive teamwork behind ‘A Haunting in Salem’. This production team managed to shoot a full length, 3D feature in only 12 days. I was skeptical about making the schedule, especially with a full sized rig, but once we got the feel of our system down, we had almost no problems. Everyone was very receptive to making adjustments to enhance the stereo effect. It was great fun to work in such a collaborative environment!”
According to the film’s director, Shane Van Dyke, “Working with Shannon was an absolute pleasure and an invaluable learning experience. Having never worked with 3D myself, I was able to gain a whole new understanding of the process and the fundamentals that go along with it.”
In addition to her consulting work on behalf of various 3D productions, Ms. Benna is also launching a “Women in 3D” industry organization to help synergize the community. She said, “I truly love working in 3D, and I want to make the 3D Women’s community a very global one. So far, I have ’rounded up’ more than 60 ‘Stereo Sisters’ currently working in the 3D space. I believe in the magic of 3D—it changes one’s perspective, and I feel proof of that by working within the 3D community every day. A woman turned me on to 3D and I’d like to share and nurture that tradition of fellowship and support through mentorship. I want to encourage women everywhere to explore technology and perception through the 3D medium.”
About STEREOGRAPHY:
The Art of Stereography uses a combination of capturing unique Left and Right eye images (Stereo Pairs), then displaying those images in a proportional and aligned composition, discretely to ONLY their correlating eye. Distance between cameras (Stereo Base), time frame between images captured (Sync/Phase), angle, skew, declination (Stereo Alignment), point of focus (Convergence) and Image Separation when viewing (InterOcular) all must be precisely designed to create successful Stereoscopic imagery. If any of these or any other minute details fail in capture or display, the human brain immediately, albeit subconsciously, recognizes that there is a problem, Being highly efficient, the brain tries to resolve the problem by filling in the missing data, just like it does for people every day, but the more it has to correct, the more uncomfortable an audience member can be.
About GLOBAL ASYLUM AND “A HAUNTING IN SALEM”
Shot inside a 200-year-old mansion in Pasadena, CA, “A Haunting in Salem” is a gritty ghost tale written by H. Perry Horton and directed by Shane Van Dyke, which centers on the character of Kyle (Nicholas Harsin), who has just moved into the town of Salem, with his father (Bill Oberst, Jr.), the sheriff. In Salem, Kyle discovers that his new home is tormented by vengeful ghosts. Realizing that his family is the victim of an old curse, Kyle sets out to rescue his family. The film is slated to be released on DVD in 3D, nationwide, on August 23.
Founded in 1997, Global Asylum is a motion picture production, financing, and worldwide distribution studio. With facilities in Burbank, California, The Asylum fully finances and produces 10-15 titles per year and its North American home entertainment division has released over three hundred titles to date. For more info, please visit: www.theasylum.cc/company.php
About SHANNON BENNA
Shannon Benna is a 20 year production veteran of the entertainment and media industries. Specializing in emerging technologies and cross/trans-media production, with credits that span traditional and digital feature film, TV, industrial, web, mobile, immersive and interactive simulation media creation, her most recent focus has centralized around Stereoscopic 3D. As a 3D Producer, she consulted for Discovery Communications on the creation of Discovery’s “3Net” concept launch, Up Front campaign, and their original native 3D content production.
Concurrent with “A Haunting in Salem,” Shannon’s latest project is development of a 2D-3D conversion process / pipeline, working with “Avatar’s” Chuck Comisky. Benna has held a broad range of positions in the 3D and production space, including consulting for West Wing Studios 3D, stage mgr for a concert film produced with 3ality, and as Associate Producer for a live action 360° training simulator for the Department of Defense.
Additionally, she has independently produced and/or directed a variety of short form 3D projects, including music videos, webisodes, shorts and promotional media. She has also worked as a producer and Creative Director with Neokast Productions on tech development and programming for HD Video Streaming via high-speed mobile broadband. Also, she has produced Motion Graphics and Visual Effects for a number of clients, including Joel Silver, Sony, Sam Raimi, AMPAS, and ESPN, among others.
For more info about Ms. Benna, please visit: www.MoonlightDrive.com.
See the original story here: http://www.shootonline.com/go/index.php?name=Release&op=view&id=rs-web3-755476-1308850459-2