34

The Art and Craft of Converting 2D Films to 3D

05.10.12 @ 6:30PM Tags : 2Dto3D, 3D, stereoconversion, theavengers, vfx

If you caught this past weekend’s big blockbuster, Marvel’s The Avengers, then you may have watched it in 3D.  Many of you may or may not have been aware that the film was first shot in 2D and converted to 3D after the fact.  Wondering what that process involved?  Or why some films would shoot in 2D and then convert, vs. shooting stereoscopically from the start?  In a fascinating in-depth article, fxguide delves into the many challenges vfx artists face when converting 2D films to 3D — also known as “stereo conversion” — revealing the kind of pain-staking labor and ingenuity required as well as some of the aesthetic differences between the two formats: More »

13

Android 4.0 Adds New Video Features, and Part of 'The Avengers' Was [Update: NOT] Shot on an iPhone

10.24.11 @ 11:21AM Tags : android, iphone, mobile, phone, theavengers, timelapse

If Google and Apple were politicians — and if this blog were actually a legitimate news site — I’d have to give each of them equal time. So, since I mentioned the improved video and photo capabilities of the iPhone 4S, I would be remiss if I did not also mention Google’s demonstration of Android 4.0 “Ice Cream Sandwich” last week, which, to contextualize things, will make most mobile phones higher resolution and more feature-laden for shooting video video than the first digital video camera I used a dozen years ago (which retailed for $3,500 at the time). And if you think this doesn’t relate to filmmaking at all, it turns out DP Seamus McGarvey used an iPhone to shoot parts of The Avengers — actually this has since been debunked, but the Android headline still stands: More »