Marcus Irvin
01-08-2007, 01:33 PM
As an amateur futurist and long time observer of tech trends, I have a prediction for you smart Red reservation holders to consider regarding feature films.
3D
There is nothing original or even recent about this prediction, but read on to see if you agree with my reasoning about it's soon to be enormous significance compared to the niche market it has always been till now.
Fact 1: Thanks to new tech, 3D has never been easier to shoot and the 4K output from Red will make the price of entry much lower than it has ever been for every production level with film.
Fact 2: Projection issues have always been the largest impediment to long-term adoption of 3D. Low quality glasses combined with choppy (half-speed per side) projection have made the experience less than pleasant. New LCD shutter glasses combined with high framerate digital projection make it much more consistent with regular film viewing comfort. Higher digital projection framerates also allow much brighter lamps(lasers?) than film can project without causing high-brightness flicker perception.
Fact 3: This is the most important fact of all. Many lucky consumers are now putting gorgeous huge 1080P screens (love my Mit!) in their homes along with 5:1 or 7:1 sound systems. Since installing our big screen, my wife and I have almost totally stopped going to the theater. With a few epic exceptions, our film addiction is completely fulfilled in our completely comfortable, clean and quiet media room. Using the exact same reasoning Jerry Jones, owner of the Dallas Cowboys, explained to local media why his new billion dollar stadium includes six large video screens, two of which are 50 feet tall by 180 feet long. Love him or hate him, Dallas locals can tell you Jerry Jones doesn't spend millions for anything without good reasons. The movie theater business must offer something beyond what we can get at home or they will lose most of their every day business(like they did with us).
Fact 4: As far as I can tell, the obvious quality of Red cameras combined with their small vertically oriented form-factor and mounting possibilities should make them leading candidates for easy 3D capturing. It's equally easy to imagine an inexpensive edit proxy process that cuts both image views to 4K perfection even on small workstations. Soon your small Red-originated productions can offer something that most large studios haven't realized yet and that's a future-proof original suitable for 2D or 3D projection and/or film-out. Think 2D for broadcast and 3D for theater.
Fact 5: Most CGI is already very 3D compatible or could be with minor improvements. With the exceptions of local correction and rotoscoping/retouching, most finishing can be applied equally to both views.
There are many more considerations, but this 3D scenario seems close to certainty from my perspective. Of course, other open-minders and leading filmakers will soon see RED 3D possibilities as well. They see reservation holders like James Cameron leading the way with his 3D IMAX productions and his 3D 2009 "Avatar" movie. Let's hope his RED reservations arrive in time to contribute to his announced projects.
All the RED team has to do is what they have already planned. The modular nature of RED combined with it's many mounting points, should make head setup easy. If the lenses can be physically synchronized for control, it should be a piece of cake electronically.
Regardless, I think the future is so bright we will all be wearing 3D shades!
Marcus Irvin
Stills/Design/Video
3D
There is nothing original or even recent about this prediction, but read on to see if you agree with my reasoning about it's soon to be enormous significance compared to the niche market it has always been till now.
Fact 1: Thanks to new tech, 3D has never been easier to shoot and the 4K output from Red will make the price of entry much lower than it has ever been for every production level with film.
Fact 2: Projection issues have always been the largest impediment to long-term adoption of 3D. Low quality glasses combined with choppy (half-speed per side) projection have made the experience less than pleasant. New LCD shutter glasses combined with high framerate digital projection make it much more consistent with regular film viewing comfort. Higher digital projection framerates also allow much brighter lamps(lasers?) than film can project without causing high-brightness flicker perception.
Fact 3: This is the most important fact of all. Many lucky consumers are now putting gorgeous huge 1080P screens (love my Mit!) in their homes along with 5:1 or 7:1 sound systems. Since installing our big screen, my wife and I have almost totally stopped going to the theater. With a few epic exceptions, our film addiction is completely fulfilled in our completely comfortable, clean and quiet media room. Using the exact same reasoning Jerry Jones, owner of the Dallas Cowboys, explained to local media why his new billion dollar stadium includes six large video screens, two of which are 50 feet tall by 180 feet long. Love him or hate him, Dallas locals can tell you Jerry Jones doesn't spend millions for anything without good reasons. The movie theater business must offer something beyond what we can get at home or they will lose most of their every day business(like they did with us).
Fact 4: As far as I can tell, the obvious quality of Red cameras combined with their small vertically oriented form-factor and mounting possibilities should make them leading candidates for easy 3D capturing. It's equally easy to imagine an inexpensive edit proxy process that cuts both image views to 4K perfection even on small workstations. Soon your small Red-originated productions can offer something that most large studios haven't realized yet and that's a future-proof original suitable for 2D or 3D projection and/or film-out. Think 2D for broadcast and 3D for theater.
Fact 5: Most CGI is already very 3D compatible or could be with minor improvements. With the exceptions of local correction and rotoscoping/retouching, most finishing can be applied equally to both views.
There are many more considerations, but this 3D scenario seems close to certainty from my perspective. Of course, other open-minders and leading filmakers will soon see RED 3D possibilities as well. They see reservation holders like James Cameron leading the way with his 3D IMAX productions and his 3D 2009 "Avatar" movie. Let's hope his RED reservations arrive in time to contribute to his announced projects.
All the RED team has to do is what they have already planned. The modular nature of RED combined with it's many mounting points, should make head setup easy. If the lenses can be physically synchronized for control, it should be a piece of cake electronically.
Regardless, I think the future is so bright we will all be wearing 3D shades!
Marcus Irvin
Stills/Design/Video