Men in Black now shooting film to convert....

[Pedro Guimaraes]

I heard recently that after lots and lots of camera and rig testing about 1 months worth, MIB 3D is going to be shooting 2D film and converting. Very interesting development if you ask me. I wonder what events led to that decision.

Too bad...

Even though recent "My soul to take" conversion looked pretty good (for a change) it still lacks so much when put up against native captured 3D material.

We need more strong live action 3D movies to hit the theaters....Tron like avatar will feature alot of CGI. Resident Evil was good, I'm really curious how Saw will do....

[Phillip Gibb]

hmmm, they'll put in another screaming alien like in the first one - but this time it will be in your face, lol.
Tron looks set to be perfect for 3D, even more so than Avatar.
I've heard lots of good stuff about Resident Evil, but I never got to see it.

[Eli Jarra]

That would've never happened if the VFX industry wasn't in the state its currently in...The producers know they can get a legion of roto artists for very little $$$ especially when you consider worldwide talent.
I'm saddened to hear this won't be shot in the traditional sense. :(

[Jeff Coatney]

I'm growing tired of the "dim bulb" effect that 3D creates. I'd rather see 4K digital in "2D" than the dark screen 2K of the current 3D systems.

[David Rasberry]

I'm growing tired of the "dim bulb" effect that 3D creates. I'd rather see 4K digital in "2D" than the dark screen 2K of the current 3D systems.

Many installations are not making allowance for the extra brightness 3d requires when they buy projectors. You lose a stop to the glasses and a stop to black time between frames too compared to 2D.

They need to spec the projectors so they run in low lamp mode for 2D and high lamp mode for 3D, either with different lamp settings or with an iris.

[Jeff Kilgroe]

hmmm, they'll put in another screaming alien like in the first one - but this time it will be in your face, lol.

Just as long as it's not the "ballchinian" from the last film. ;)

Really though, 3D, converted 3D, or whatever, I just hope the story is better this time around. I thought the first film was fun. The second film tried too hard and followed the typical stereotype of sucky Hollywood sequels.

[Ravi Kiran]

Why conversion? Surely it would take less time to shoot in 3D than to convert it. Are there any technical or creative benefits to conversion?

[M Most]

Why conversion? Surely it would take less time to shoot in 3D than to convert it. Are there any technical or creative benefits to conversion?

In this case, one of the main benefits is that it allows them to shoot on film, which they seem to prefer. It also allows for more flexibility in terms of lens choices and camera placement, as well as things like over cranking. It does, of course, also mean that for the 3D version, every shot in the movie becomes a visual effects shot, and the time factor for the conversion must be taken into account when formulating a release schedule.

There are some potential creative benefits to conversion, such as the ability to design the 3d space in ways not possible when you're locked into the interaxial distance used during a stereoscopic shoot. You can also use compositing techniques and multiple 3d camera rigs in the same scene to solve some 3d problems such as flatness in the same way you would for a CGI generated feature.

[Charles Angus]

Why conversion? Surely it would take less time to shoot in 3D than to convert it. Are there any technical or creative benefits to conversion?

Working in conversion, there are some shots I've done where I was - I think - able to get a more interesting result than if it had been shot 3D. This mostly relates to the fact that I'm not tied to physical reality when I design the depth - I can put lots of depth in the foreground, and still put the horizon close enough not to cause strain.

That said, there are some types of shot that are flat-out impossible to make look good with conversion. Any kind of transparency can't be handled gracefully, and will always look at least a little (and usually very) odd.

[Ravi Kiran]

Do you think the future of big-budget 3D filmmaking will be a hybrid of shooting in 3D and 2D-to-3D conversions for certain shots?