HFR and 4K to be discussed at “Dimension 3″ conferences

Posted on May 15, 2013 by Michael

High frame rates will be a major point of discussion at the upcoming Dimension 3 expo in Paris from June 18-21.

Dimension 3 founder Stephan Faudeux says, “4K technology is enjoying the same buzz that existed around 3D technology three years ago. There is a synergy between 3D and 4K technologies as well as HFR film-making.”

Here are the conferences relating to HFR or 4K:

HFR – a gimmick or a technological advance?
ROOM 2
Wednesday 19 June
From 11:30 to 12:30

Following Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit, new films are produced using HFR (high frame-rate), but this is a source of some controversy, and the debate is technical as much as esthetic. Objectively speaking, what are the advantages of HFR? Can this technology become widespread in theaters?

What cameras for what uses, tomorrow and in the future?
ROOM 1
Tuesday 18 June
From 10:00 to 11:00

In terms of innovation, digital cameras constantly improve their resolution, but other technological advances are planned in the short, medium and long term. What will tomorrow’s cameras be like? They will be able to meet new esthetic and technological requirements (HFR, high resolution, 3D), but also allow for more creativity and leeway during postproduction: HDR cameras, integral imaging.

There will also be a few sessions dedicated to 4K / Ultra HD:

4K – filming and workflow
ROOM 2
Tuesday 18 June
From 11:30 to 12:30

4K cameras have been in use for several months now, and early feedback can now be offered in terms of filming, as well as post-production. With the outstanding resolution of 4K and the generalization of digital processes, we can wonder whether film is still relevant as a filming media… still, producing beautiful images requires that one follow a number of criteria dealing with the consistency of 4K workflows.

Ultra HD, soon on a TV near you
ROOM 1
Tuesday 18 June
From 11:30 to 13:00

The progressive standardization of the HEVC codec will enable the broadcast of audio-visual contents in private homes, at a higher resolution than HD.
- What processes are involved in distributing, broadcasting and displaying these images?
- When will UHD displays become widespread enough to launch a new mass consumer market
An overview of the state of UHD, including the first broadcast tests and feedback from manufacturers

Immersion: what to choose between 4K, stereoscopic 3D and 3D audio?
ROOM 2
Tuesday 18 June
From 10:00 to 11:00

The increase in images’ resolution to 4K and beyond allows for the creation of new immersive spaces that can be enhanced by applying 3D technologies to video and audio. This talk will present technologies such as 3D mapping, large format projection, and 3D audio, destined to be used in museums, art installations, industrial applications or cinema theaters.

Check out the conference schedule page for a full list of conferences.

Attendees will also get the chance to experiment with HFR and 4K production and post:

“The Forum’s 2013 edition inaugurates the Big Shoot, a life-size filming set with a unique environment allowing visitors to test new generations of cameras, 3D, 4K, high frame rate filming, DSLR, etc., and view, assemble and analyze the images on a post-production workstation.”

X-Men: Days of Future Past being shot in 3D – but what about HFR / 48 fps?

Posted on May 7, 2013 by Michael

Bryan Singer just tweeted that X-Men: Days of Future Past is being shot in stereoscopic 3D and that he is using the Simul-Cam system that James Cameron developed for Avatar:

No mention yet of whether they are shooting in HFR – as you probably know, Singer praised the 48 fps of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey after seeing the premiere last year:

And Ian McKellen – who is reprising his role as Magneto in Days of Future Past – hinted to IGN that Singer might be making the film at 48 frames per second:

“I know [Bryan Singer]‘s a big fan of The Hobbit. He went to the opening with James Cameron in New Zealand, and he was very enthusiastic about the new technology. So whether we’ll be filming X-Men in 3D and 48 frames per second, we’ll find out.”

Kitty Pryde (Ellen Page) on the set of X-Men: Days Of Future Past

Hopefully we’ll find out soon. Bryan’s tweet confirming the 3D went up only about an hour ago, so maybe he simply wants to give any HFR news its own tweet. Another possibility is that X-Men is indeed shooting at 48 fps, but we won’t hear about it until much closer to the release date – Fox may be wary of letting the HFR aspect of the movie dominate the conversation, as it did initially with The Hobbit.

Check out Bryan Singer’s Twitter feed for more tidbits from the X-Men set

X-Men: Days of Future Past hit theaters on July 18, 2014.

Christie introduces world’s first 4K 60 fps projectors

Posted on April 11, 2013 by Michael

UPDATE: These projectors are actually part of Christie’s Pro AV series; intended for business and large screen applications, not for the cinema. Don Shaw, Christie’s Senior Director of Product Management, explains:

These are not cinema projectors… they are actually intended for our ProAV markets.

With that said, they have similar light engines and optical characteristics as a cinema projector, but totally different electronics that are not compatible with cinema security protocols and movie playback equipment.

As a stretch, you may be able to use them in film post-production, but only for unencrypted content; perhaps for reviewing dailies and for DI processing.

So although 4K HFR in the the movie theater is still beyond the horizon for now it’s encouraging that projector light engines, optics, and data storage / transfer are good to go in terms of 4K HFR. Now we just need to wait for exhibitors and motion picture engineers to provide updated theatrical distribution protocols and infrastructure.

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Christie Digital has announced the world’s first 60 fps capable 4K (4096 x 2160) projectors: the Christie D4K2560 and D4K3560.

“Christie is the only manufacturer providing full 4K (4096 x 2160) resolution at 60 Hz and the reliability and image clarity of 3-chip DLP® all in one package. Both projectors are a quantum leap forward in video image processing and a breakthrough in high frame rate and high resolution video projection,” said Mike Garrido, senior product manager, Business Products, Christie.

The projectors, which replace the Christie D4K25 and D4K35, are available now for pre-order. They are priced at $125,000 for the 25,000-lumen DK2560 and $161,000 for the 35,000-lumen D4K3560, according to Engadget.

It’s great that Christie has pushed the boundaries with these projectors, but this announcement may be only one piece of the puzzle that has to be completed before we get to watch even 4K 2D movies at 48 or 60 fps. Christie Senior Director of Product Management Don Shaw told me back in January that the infrastructure for handling such high bandwidth doesn’t yet exist, and may not arrive for quite a while:

“A 4K HFR [3D] projector would require up to 4X the input bandwidth of our current cinema projectors (up to 120 fps total)… this would be a forklift upgrade (i.e. new projector) and the reality is that none of the current cinema infrastructure (IMBs, servers, routers, content delivery systems, etc) can handle this bandwidth. It will be a long time before we see 4K HFR in theaters and we currently have no plans for building such a projector for general Cinema usage.”

Maybe things have changed since January? At least, maybe infrastructure capable of feeding a single 60 hz 4K projector now exists. If this is the case, I’d imagine a theater could achieve 4K HFR 3D by having two of everything (server, IMB, etc). Such a setup would be quite expensive, but wouldn’t it be cool if a few select cinemas show The Desolation of Smaug in glorious 4K 48 fps 3D?

Video of Jon Landau’s NAB keynote, discusses HFR and Avatar sequels

Posted on April 10, 2013 by Michael

Jon Landau had a session / keynote at NAB on April 7 where he discussed his passions in filmmaking and the impact of technologies such as HFR and 3D. He also touched on the new underwater performance capture tech that will be used in Avatar 2 and 3 and the development of their new studio in Manhattan Beach. Watch the video of the session below:

The Hollywood Reporter has a good summary of Landau’s talk. But there’s still no firm start date(s) for the Avatar sequels’ motion capture and shooting, and the question of whether they will be 48 fps or 60 fps still hasn’t been answered definitively.

Douglas Trumbull talks HFR and the “holy grail” of movie tech

Posted on April 5, 2013 by Michael

Thanks to reader Skyler for giving me the heads up on this video of Douglas Trumbull‘s presentation at the 2013 GPU Technology Conference. The session, titled “The Impact of High Frame Rate Stereo Production on Cinema”, includes interesting topics such as Trumbull’s vision for a “Holodeck-like” theater. There’s also some behind-the-scenes footage from his upcoming HFR movie:

Video streaming by Ustream

Here’s the official description of the session:

Douglas Trumbull, visionary film maker and visual effects pioneer, presents his compelling vision of how high-resolution, high-frame-rate stereo production will help us reach what he sees as the “holy grail”, movies that offers a profound and overwhelming personal experience, not one of empathizing with actors via a third-person voyeurism, but a direct first-person experience where each audience member feels that they are inside the movie, participating in the movie, not just looking at the movie. He explores the impacts that high frame rates and stereo presents on the entire movie system, from production camera capture, through post-production processes, through distribution, and up onto the big screen.

Video excerpt from Desolation of Smaug live event

Posted on April 2, 2013 by Michael

Peter Jackson has posted a 6 minute portion of the live preview of The Desolation of Smaug.

We get a couple great looks at Mirkwood concept art, hear Jackson’s approach to the story structure, and…is that Smaug’s roar at the end?

Here’s what Peter had to say (via his Facebook page):

Thanks to everyone who tuned into our Live Event last week. I’ve never done anything like that before, and I was pretty nervous. Hope it was ok.

If you saw it, it was a pretty accurate picture of what life is like at the moment. Jabez and I sit in that editing room all day, every day, editing the second Hobbit movie, and we actually start on the third next week! A lot of that movie was shot nearly a year ago, so I’m looking forward to seeing it come alive, shot by shot in the cutting room. It’s like assembling one of those complex 2000 piece jigsaw puzzles.

For us, this is really the being of 2013, so I look forward to posting a bunch more stuff as we work through the year.

I think that an edited version of the Live Event is being made available over at the official Hobbit site, and Warner Bros have kindly let me post a 6 min excerpt here, to give everyone who missed it a sense of what it was like.

Cheers,
Peter J

I’m expecting that most or perhaps all of the remaining footage from the live event will make its way online at some point within the next month or two as part of Jackson’s first official video blog for Desolation.

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug hits US theaters in HFR 3D on December 13. See IMDB for a list of international release dates.

HFR talk from the 3D Creative Summit in London

Posted on March 29, 2013 by Michael

Tuesday at the 3D Creative Summit in London, Phil Oatley and Meetal Gokul of Park Road Post presented a discussion of the workflow used to create The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey in HFR 3D. From Variety:

“HFR solves some of the issues with strobing, etc. It creates a more immersive 3D experience,” argued Oatley, head of technology at Park Road Post. He explained the production had chosen to go with 48 FPS since it provided a clean path to traditional 24 FPS deliverables and an easy deployment path for exhibitors since most current 4K digital projectors.

Supposedly the HFR session was one of the most attended of the two day Summit. Variety talked to a good number of HFR detractors (and a few people who were neutral / ambivalent towards HFR) at other panels and throughout the show:

Drew Kaza, EVP of Odeon digital development:

“I think the jury is out. The technology is there. ‘The Hobbit’ was a useful experiment but it was an imperfect project for it and there was poor marketing of the concept. I felt it was the wrong film. ‘Life of Pi’ rather than ‘Hobbit’ should have been HFR and you would have seen the difference.”

Cameron Saunders, managing director of 20th Century Fox U.K.:

“As an outsider I thought it lacked conviction but it was an interesting test.”

Anthony Geffen, chief executive Atlantic Productions:

“We’re looking at HFR. ‘The Hobbit’ was not a great example of playing with HFR in my opinion.”

Phil McNally, DreamWorks Animation:

“HFR helps with the motion, it helps you see the picture more. Filmmaking has to get better to match HFR.”

Tom Barnes, technical director of Aardman Animation:

“A higher frame rate wouldn’t make any sense for stop frame animation. There would be very few advantages. I would much rather shoot 4K.”

Frank Passingham, Aardman cinematographer:

“When I saw ‘The Hobbit’ in HFR I hated it so much. You’re seeing too much. I thought HFR was this huge monsters[sic] fighting itself on screen and no-one was winning.”

I have to agree that something less makeup, set and prop-heavy like Life of Pi or the Avatar sequels might have been a better first introduction to high frame rates, but the negative reactions cited by Variety stand in stark contrast to the mostly positive reaction (I’d say 70% positive) I’ve observed from most audiences both online and off.

Kaza says, “I think it’s generational. Young people, under 25, come from a gaming, hi-res experience will like it because they’re used to it.”

I think the majority of people a couple decades older than 25 are also used to gaming and fast changes in entertainment technology and thus are more receptive to the idea of an 85-year-old standard being improved upon. For the most part the generalized negativity towards the very concept of high frame rates (and not The Hobbit‘s implementation of it in particular) comes from those who feel somehow threatened by it, as though they’ll never be able to see a 24 fps movie again.

James Cameron talks Avatar sequels in new interview

Posted on March 19, 2013 by Michael

Play.lifegoesstrong.com has a new interview with James Cameron in which he shares some updates on the writing process for Avatar 2 and Avatar 3:

Q: Can you give us some scoop about your upcoming little film called “Avatar 2″

Cameron: “Oh believe me, it’s not that little! It’s not exactly a little, intimate drama. I’m working on ‘Avatar 2′ and ‘Avatar 3.’ I was talking the other day with Peter Jackson and said, ‘You had it easy dude. You had the books when you did the second and third ‘Lord of the Rings.’ I have to create my own books in my head and extract a script from it. I’m deep into it and I’m living in Pandora right now. There is that start up torque where you feel it’s coming to you. Then you build up momentum. That’s when it gets fun. The characters talk and it’s writing itself. I’m almost there right now. It’s building fast.”

Q: Tell us a little bit about your life. For example, what is your writing process?

Cameron: “As a writer, I need isolation. I’m calling you from New Zealand right now where I’m writing on a little farm. When you live in a special world like Pandora, you have to live in that world.”

Q: Do you ever feel the pressure of topping yourself? And do you have a release date you can share with us for “Avatar 2 and 3?”

A: “Pressure, no. It’s a little daunting because sequels are always tricky. You have to be surprising and stay ahead of audience anticipation. At the same time, you have to massage their feet with things that they know and love about the first film. I’ve walked that line in the past, so I’m not too worried about it. At the same time, I definitely have to deliver the goods…As for a release date that will be determined by when I get the script out. No pressure!”

Be sure to check out the full interview for talk about Cameron’s 3D Cirque Du Soleil movie (which was apparently shot in HFR 3D but never distributed in HFR), his life in New Zealand, what’s he’s learned since he was 18 and more.

Ang Lee gives his thoughts on high frame rates

Posted on March 17, 2013 by Michael

Best Director Oscar winner Ang Lee talked with ScreenRant about HFR on the red carpet of the International 3D Society Awards:

People have mixed feelings right now. I wonder how much HFR is ahead of its time or people simply don’t like the look. It’s very hard to say. We associate it with “video” looks – which people associate with bad filmmaking. It doesn’t mean that the media itself is not good. It’s very hard to say but making Life of Pi I struggled with frame rate because you don’t want the 3D to be jittery and we’re constantly rocking in the ocean. And sometimes when things go too fast I could not see the eyes – so HFR might be a idea. But sometimes when I find out how people feel about it, I think it’s possible. We’re in the early stages of 3D filmmaking – so we have a lot to learn.

It seems that Lee is mostly worried about the apparently mixed reaction to the HFR 3D version of The Hobbit (amongst critics, at least…audience responses were significantly more positive) since he acknowledges that the judder-reducing HFR would’ve been particularly helpful for Life of Pi given the many scenes taking place on the rocking ocean.

Film traditionalists have certainly slowed the momentum of the HFR format, but I expect its popularity to surge quite soon – possibly as soon as The Desolation of Smaug. Now that HFR has already made its first splash there will be far fewer luddite hipster critics panning the movie for not being 24 fps. And when the Avatar sequels hit we’ll be getting HFR 3D at a whole new level of clarity: many filmgoers will consider them the first “proper” HFR movies, especially if 60 fps becomes the standard for a while.

The Hobbit will be shooting again from late May through July

Posted on March 10, 2013 by Michael

In an interview with Hollywood.com Martin Freeman has revealed that he will be going back again to playing Bilbo Baggins for a little over two months: “I am going back at the end of May for all of June and July.”

Freeman talks finishing the The Hobbit story this summer:

“I suppose the thing is, this is not finished. We literally have to go and finish it. It’s not a new adventure like on a television show. It’s the same story. It’s the same gig I started in January 2011. I think it’ll be really fun because the crew is quite close and the cast are close and we like working on it. I’m anticipating it.”

He also tells Movieline that he hasn’t yet seen a shooting script for the additional filming and as such doesn’t know exactly what performance challenges await him this summer.

I’m most curious about two aspects of the additional shooting: First, will Peter Jackson adjust the cinematography, set design, wardrobe or makeup in wake of the feedback to the HFR 3D of the first movie? I’m sure he’s learned a thing or two regarding how to maximize the shoot so that the 48 fps product looks as good as possible. And second, how much of the additional footage is intended for There and Back Again, and how much will be for The Desolation of Smaug? On the one hand, Jackson and co. have said that they already have a rough cut of “Desolation.” On the other hand it would seem likely that, in order to allow it to stand on its own, film 2 would require some newly envisioned scenes/shots that weren’t captured during the initial shoot. So I’d very much like to know the breakdown in terms of the amount of required additional footage for parts 2 and 3.

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