WEBVTT - 3-D Movie-Making Tech 0:00:00.320 --> 0:00:02.880 Brought to you by the reinvented two thousand twelve camera. 0:00:03.240 --> 0:00:08.959 It's ready. Are you get in touch with technology? With 0:00:09.080 --> 0:00:18.040 tech Stuff from how stuff works dot com. Hello again, everyone, 0:00:18.120 --> 0:00:20.880 and welcome to tech stuff. My name is Chris Pallette. 0:00:20.880 --> 0:00:23.000 I'm an editor at how stuff works dot com, and 0:00:23.040 --> 0:00:26.800 sitting across from me, as always, is senior writer Jonathan Strickland. Well, 0:00:27.120 --> 0:00:30.400 you know it's that old shark screen, the bubble screen. 0:00:30.480 --> 0:00:33.320 You know, sharks don't like that. It's what they call 0:00:33.400 --> 0:00:38.960 a marine segregation. Okay, then that that quote comes from 0:00:39.040 --> 0:00:43.640 a movie that was in three D, and it leads 0:00:43.880 --> 0:00:48.520 us to our first in a long time listener mail. 0:00:53.760 --> 0:00:56.840 This listener mail comes from Calvin, and Calvin says, I 0:00:56.880 --> 0:01:00.240 was thinking that with movies like Avatar, Yes, I'm ill 0:01:00.320 --> 0:01:03.760 talking about Avatar and other big three D sort of 0:01:03.840 --> 0:01:06.760 c g I movies like Alice in Wonderland. Maybe a 0:01:06.800 --> 0:01:09.600 podcast on that would be fun. Any who, keep up 0:01:09.600 --> 0:01:15.200 the good work. Calvin B. From Minnetonka, Minnesota. All right, 0:01:15.880 --> 0:01:17.960 so we're gonna talk a little bit about three D movies. Now, 0:01:17.959 --> 0:01:20.480 we've talked about three D glasses in the past and 0:01:20.520 --> 0:01:24.000 three D television, but we really didn't go into the 0:01:24.040 --> 0:01:28.280 whole process of making a three D film or or 0:01:28.560 --> 0:01:32.000 three D video. Um and so we thought this would 0:01:32.080 --> 0:01:35.759 kind of fall into our movie making technology series. I agree, 0:01:35.800 --> 0:01:38.000 and I think it would be nice to start with 0:01:38.040 --> 0:01:40.800 a refresher about the three D glasses because that has 0:01:40.840 --> 0:01:43.440 a lot to do with how you make a movie 0:01:43.520 --> 0:01:45.400 and the reason why you make the movie the way 0:01:45.440 --> 0:01:47.920 you do. That's a good point. So let's start with 0:01:47.960 --> 0:01:50.440 talking about what makes three D three D in the 0:01:50.440 --> 0:01:53.080 first place. Okay, So the first thing you need to 0:01:53.120 --> 0:01:59.360 know is that we perceived depth through many different um ways. 0:01:59.400 --> 0:02:02.480 But one of those ways is through what we call parallax. 0:02:02.600 --> 0:02:06.280 And parallax is the difference in viewing angle between one 0:02:06.360 --> 0:02:09.680 eye and the other eye. So, if you were looking 0:02:09.720 --> 0:02:12.040 at an object that's a few feet away from you, 0:02:12.040 --> 0:02:13.679 you know your left eye in your right eye are 0:02:13.800 --> 0:02:18.080 not They're not located exactly in the same spot, otherwise 0:02:18.120 --> 0:02:22.440 you'd be a cyclops. Uh. So that means that your 0:02:22.520 --> 0:02:25.040 your brain is getting two sets of images that are 0:02:25.080 --> 0:02:28.560 slightly offset from each other, and it incorporates those two 0:02:28.600 --> 0:02:31.360 sets of images into a single image in your head. 0:02:31.960 --> 0:02:35.080 And so that's that's one of the ways we perceive depth. 0:02:35.080 --> 0:02:37.680 There are other ways as well, like visual cues of 0:02:37.720 --> 0:02:40.320 the size of something, and judging by the size, you 0:02:40.360 --> 0:02:42.200 kind of figure out how far away it is. And 0:02:42.200 --> 0:02:45.400 parallax only really works to a certain distance anyway. Once 0:02:45.440 --> 0:02:47.760 you get beyond you know, I don't know, I think 0:02:47.760 --> 0:02:50.840 it's like twenty or thirty feet, parallax doesn't play as 0:02:50.840 --> 0:02:53.720 big a role because it's getting far in the objects, 0:02:53.720 --> 0:02:55.639 getting far enough away where your eyes are getting closer 0:02:55.639 --> 0:02:58.480 and closer to being parallel. So if you focus on 0:02:58.520 --> 0:03:02.680 something that is effectly an infinite distance away, and of 0:03:02.680 --> 0:03:06.400 course that's you know, I'm saying effectively infinite. So for example, 0:03:06.440 --> 0:03:09.200 example a star out you know, if you're looking at 0:03:09.240 --> 0:03:12.240 a starry sky, the distance of that object is so 0:03:12.280 --> 0:03:14.840 far away that your eyes are essentially in parallel with 0:03:14.840 --> 0:03:19.000 one another. They're not converging at all. But parallax is 0:03:19.000 --> 0:03:22.919 a very important part of of getting a three D effect, 0:03:23.320 --> 0:03:27.400 especially on film or video and um so, the idea 0:03:28.000 --> 0:03:31.280 is that you have to present two different sets of images. 0:03:32.320 --> 0:03:34.960 Each set of images is going to be perceived by 0:03:35.080 --> 0:03:38.680 only the left or the right eye, and then when 0:03:38.840 --> 0:03:41.800 your brain sees, when your brain senses these two sets 0:03:41.800 --> 0:03:44.680 of images, that combines them into a single image that 0:03:44.800 --> 0:03:47.760 has the illusion of depth. Well, yeah, I mean there 0:03:47.680 --> 0:03:50.920 are there are two different types of of three D glasses, 0:03:50.960 --> 0:03:53.880 of course, the older one being the Anaglyph method and 0:03:53.920 --> 0:03:57.720 the newer one being the polarized version. Anaglyph was the 0:03:57.760 --> 0:04:00.120 one that had the two different colored lenses. Yeah, it 0:04:00.160 --> 0:04:02.680 was either a red or blue, or red or green. 0:04:02.840 --> 0:04:06.640 And now you were saying to me earlier red and cyan. 0:04:06.960 --> 0:04:10.360 It's sort of the the accepted color and uh and 0:04:10.400 --> 0:04:13.080 the polarized ones. What that means is that the lenses 0:04:13.120 --> 0:04:16.560 are polarized to allow light that is aligned a certain 0:04:16.600 --> 0:04:19.400 way to pass through, and light that's aligned and I 0:04:19.400 --> 0:04:23.560 think it's ninety degree um other alignment that that light 0:04:23.600 --> 0:04:27.000 will not pass through the lens. So each lens is 0:04:27.080 --> 0:04:32.120 letting one kind of light through and blocking the other kind. Yeah, 0:04:32.120 --> 0:04:34.840 I think that's probably more sophisticated way of doing at 0:04:34.839 --> 0:04:38.200 The Anaglyph method required a red layer and a blue 0:04:38.360 --> 0:04:42.800 or green layer of the movie so that the glasses 0:04:42.839 --> 0:04:46.240 could interpret the images correctly, because, for example, the red 0:04:46.320 --> 0:04:50.520 lens uh makes the other color appear darker, so you 0:04:50.640 --> 0:04:53.760 see that better through that eye, and then the blue 0:04:53.839 --> 0:04:57.360 lens is the opposite. It makes the red uh frame 0:04:57.839 --> 0:05:00.240 is it? Frame would be the right word? Layer layer, Yeah, 0:05:00.440 --> 0:05:03.400 red layer show up better. Um, So it appears three 0:05:03.480 --> 0:05:06.200 D and because of the spacing between the two images, 0:05:06.240 --> 0:05:08.760 that's what gives the the illusion of depth. Right. The 0:05:08.800 --> 0:05:11.360 two images are offset, and of course that's really important 0:05:11.400 --> 0:05:13.560 because if they weren't offset, all you'd be doing is 0:05:13.600 --> 0:05:18.160 making a really lousy, fuzzy image for no good reason. Yes, 0:05:18.200 --> 0:05:19.599 which is kind of how it looks when you're not 0:05:19.640 --> 0:05:22.760 wearing the glasses. Yes, and there there is one a 0:05:22.839 --> 0:05:25.360 third type of of glasses that we should talk about, 0:05:25.400 --> 0:05:29.200 although this is I don't think it's ever used in films. 0:05:29.440 --> 0:05:31.760 I've never been to a movie where they used this method. 0:05:31.839 --> 0:05:35.920 But that's the shutter lens method, like the active active glasses, 0:05:35.920 --> 0:05:38.680 which are more often used for things like computers or 0:05:39.080 --> 0:05:43.240 sun Television systems are also experimenting with active glasses. Now. 0:05:43.279 --> 0:05:46.719 Active glasses require a power supply and they actually have 0:05:46.760 --> 0:05:48.760 a little l C D shutters in them that shutter 0:05:48.880 --> 0:05:51.800 on and off at incredible speeds. So to you, when 0:05:51.800 --> 0:05:54.239 you're wearing the glasses, it doesn't appear like they're shuttering 0:05:54.279 --> 0:05:56.600 on and off at all, but they really are and 0:05:56.720 --> 0:06:02.760 the images you're looking at are are are Wow. I 0:06:02.800 --> 0:06:06.559 had the word there you go synchronized with each lens, 0:06:06.600 --> 0:06:09.520 thank you. Um yeah, that was my brain gave out 0:06:09.560 --> 0:06:12.120 on me. But yes, like the the left lens would 0:06:12.120 --> 0:06:14.440 be synchronized with one set of images, the right lens 0:06:14.480 --> 0:06:16.880 would be synchronized with the other set of images. They 0:06:16.880 --> 0:06:20.640 would alternate those images at a speed that is uh 0:06:20.760 --> 0:06:23.320 so fast that you can't really tell when you just 0:06:23.400 --> 0:06:27.200 look at it. And um, so again, each eye would 0:06:27.200 --> 0:06:30.640 be getting one set of images at a certain alignment. 0:06:30.960 --> 0:06:33.520 Your brain would be putting all the information together and 0:06:33.560 --> 0:06:37.599 you get the illusion of depth. UM. Projectors have trouble 0:06:37.640 --> 0:06:39.320 with that. You have to have a projector that can 0:06:39.520 --> 0:06:42.560 can run at an incredibly fast frame rate for that 0:06:42.600 --> 0:06:47.320 to work, because you're you're you're shooting two different sets 0:06:47.320 --> 0:06:50.400 of images, um, but not at the same time. They're 0:06:50.440 --> 0:06:52.960 alternating so quickly that you have to you know, you 0:06:53.000 --> 0:06:55.360 have to keep that frame rate up really really high 0:06:55.440 --> 0:06:59.040 in order to maintain that illusion. These other methods, the 0:06:59.080 --> 0:07:02.520 polarized method, the anaglyph method, you can have both sets 0:07:02.520 --> 0:07:06.320 of images on the same strip of film. Uh, you know, 0:07:06.400 --> 0:07:08.440 it's just it's two different layers on a on a 0:07:09.160 --> 0:07:11.080 on one strip of film, so you don't have to 0:07:11.120 --> 0:07:16.000 alternate images back and forth, you know. So, um yeah, 0:07:16.120 --> 0:07:18.480 and your brain is doing all the work here. That's 0:07:18.520 --> 0:07:20.960 the great thing is that once you once you've developed 0:07:20.960 --> 0:07:23.720 the technology, the brain does everything else. All the special 0:07:23.720 --> 0:07:27.720 effects are supplied by you. However, it does mean that 0:07:27.800 --> 0:07:31.240 if you have suffered some vision loss, or if you 0:07:31.320 --> 0:07:34.440 have some other ailments, you may not be able to 0:07:34.440 --> 0:07:38.080 perceive three D in a three D film, right, So, 0:07:38.480 --> 0:07:41.880 but you'll still need the glasses unfortunately, because if you 0:07:41.920 --> 0:07:43.840 don't have the glasses, you're going to get that fuzzy 0:07:43.840 --> 0:07:46.200 effect that Poulette was talking about. It's gonna look like 0:07:46.280 --> 0:07:48.960 two sets of images on one strip of film, and 0:07:49.680 --> 0:07:52.760 that's not a really pleasant viewing experience, as anyone who's 0:07:52.760 --> 0:07:56.920 taken glasses off during a three D film could tell you. Right. 0:07:57.320 --> 0:08:00.640 But the trick is how do you actually make the 0:08:00.680 --> 0:08:04.480 movie so that it will appear in three D? Yeah, 0:08:04.520 --> 0:08:08.160 there's there are three main methods of doing this. Okay, 0:08:08.440 --> 0:08:11.840 There's there's converting a two D film into three D. 0:08:12.920 --> 0:08:16.080 There's shooting a film in three D to start with, 0:08:17.000 --> 0:08:20.520 and then there is using a computer generated film, and 0:08:20.560 --> 0:08:24.480 then you artificially create a second camera within your c 0:08:24.640 --> 0:08:28.640 g I world, and you make your film three D 0:08:28.760 --> 0:08:30.680 that way. Okay, I was kind of I was kind 0:08:30.680 --> 0:08:32.960 of lumping that in my head with the first one, 0:08:33.400 --> 0:08:36.800 which was taking the original and then doing something to 0:08:36.880 --> 0:08:38.800 it to make it three D. Yeah, it's when you 0:08:38.840 --> 0:08:40.480 said three I was going, Okay, I don't know that. 0:08:40.880 --> 0:08:42.600 It's kind of a bridge between the two when you 0:08:42.600 --> 0:08:45.760 think about it, because you're you're creating a virtual camera, 0:08:46.240 --> 0:08:48.880 so in a way, it's acting like you are actually 0:08:48.960 --> 0:08:51.280 using you like you're filming in three D from the beginning. 0:08:51.679 --> 0:08:54.320 But like you said, it's also incorporating some of the 0:08:54.360 --> 0:08:57.320 elements of conversion of two D to three D. Um 0:08:57.400 --> 0:09:00.240 let's talk a little bit about about the well, which 0:09:00.240 --> 0:09:02.320 one would you like to tackle first? Well, I was 0:09:02.360 --> 0:09:05.280 thinking that one of the things that's important to note 0:09:05.320 --> 0:09:08.760 here is that live action is much more difficult to 0:09:08.800 --> 0:09:12.640 convert to three D than computer graphics for the reason 0:09:12.679 --> 0:09:15.240 that you just brought up, which is in the computer 0:09:15.320 --> 0:09:19.000 graphic version, you can do things with the computers to 0:09:19.760 --> 0:09:23.160 you know, create a different camera angle, uh, you know, 0:09:23.200 --> 0:09:24.559 so that you would be able to do that a 0:09:24.559 --> 0:09:26.480 little bit more readily than you could with live action. 0:09:26.520 --> 0:09:28.760 So I think we should probably start with the traditional 0:09:28.800 --> 0:09:31.360 method of doing live action because three D movies have 0:09:31.440 --> 0:09:34.959 been around for quite some time since you're sure. Yeah, 0:09:35.520 --> 0:09:39.560 like you were saying with the the just to tag 0:09:39.600 --> 0:09:41.079 on what you were talking about with the c g 0:09:41.240 --> 0:09:44.199 I movies, UM, yeah. The wonderful thing about c g 0:09:44.360 --> 0:09:46.520 I movies if you're a filmmaker is that you are 0:09:46.600 --> 0:09:49.480 not limited by the laws of physics, so you can 0:09:49.559 --> 0:09:54.719 create a camera angle that is the ideal angle, uh, 0:09:54.760 --> 0:09:57.880 to go with the other camera shots, so you know 0:09:57.920 --> 0:10:00.360 you can you could create two camera angles where the 0:10:00.480 --> 0:10:05.680 lenses would be the perfect lengths or the perfect distance 0:10:05.679 --> 0:10:08.280 between the two in order to create the three D effect, 0:10:08.280 --> 0:10:12.000 whereas in the real world most cameras are bulky and 0:10:12.120 --> 0:10:17.440 you can't get the lenses physically close enough to uh 0:10:17.520 --> 0:10:20.960 to mimic what you would see if you were standing there. Um. 0:10:21.000 --> 0:10:25.440 It's it's called the interocular distance. It's the distance between 0:10:25.480 --> 0:10:29.559 your eyes. Now, before we get into the actual physics 0:10:29.600 --> 0:10:34.520 of shooting, UM, I was just gonna quickly mention that 0:10:34.679 --> 0:10:39.040 the average interocular distance for a man is about sixty 0:10:39.040 --> 0:10:42.559 five millimeters for a woman, it's about sixty three millimeters 0:10:42.559 --> 0:10:45.080 and for a child it's about fifty one millimeters. So 0:10:45.160 --> 0:10:49.199 the average interocular distance used in three D filming is 0:10:49.240 --> 0:10:52.840 about sixty four millimeters. And most most cameras you just 0:10:52.920 --> 0:10:57.200 can't get two lenses that close together because the camera, 0:10:57.320 --> 0:11:00.560 the physical bulk of the camera prevents it. So, for example, 0:11:00.640 --> 0:11:03.520 if you had two red cameras, which we talked about 0:11:03.520 --> 0:11:06.320 that in the past, those are the really high definition cameras. 0:11:06.480 --> 0:11:09.400 That's a brand name. Yeah, yeah, not a description, right, exact, 0:11:09.480 --> 0:11:11.720 thank you, thank you. Yes. When I'm saying red cameras, 0:11:11.720 --> 0:11:14.240 I'm not talking about the color red, I'm talking about 0:11:14.440 --> 0:11:18.559 a brand R E. D all in caps. Uh. If 0:11:18.559 --> 0:11:20.160 you were to get two of those and set them 0:11:20.240 --> 0:11:22.640 next to each other, the closest you'll be able to 0:11:22.640 --> 0:11:25.359 get the lenses is about a hundred and twenty five millimeters, 0:11:25.400 --> 0:11:28.520 So that's almost twice the distance as what you would 0:11:28.520 --> 0:11:30.559 need if you wanted to create kind of a natural 0:11:30.679 --> 0:11:36.439 looking effect that was easily translatable into stereoscopic vision um 0:11:36.480 --> 0:11:39.240 once you were finished. And uh so that's a problem 0:11:39.280 --> 0:11:41.319 there there, and there are ways around that, but we'll 0:11:41.360 --> 0:11:43.120 get into that. So you were going to talk about 0:11:43.280 --> 0:11:46.199 some of the historical three D films, or at least 0:11:46.240 --> 0:11:49.079 the historical methods were just a little bit of it. Um. Yeah, 0:11:49.120 --> 0:11:51.800 I mean traditionally the way to do this since the 0:11:51.800 --> 0:11:56.280 the least according to Britannica, the typical distances between two 0:11:56.280 --> 0:11:58.000 and a half to two and three quarters inches, which, 0:11:58.000 --> 0:12:00.000 as you were pointing out, is about six point four 0:12:00.080 --> 0:12:04.760 centimeters to seven centimeters. Um. You know, there there are 0:12:04.760 --> 0:12:06.920 a couple different ways of doing this. You could put 0:12:06.960 --> 0:12:09.839 a couple different cameras side by side, although as you 0:12:09.920 --> 0:12:12.240 pointed out, that can be difficult, Or you can use 0:12:12.360 --> 0:12:18.600 a camera with two lenses, um, which seems awfully specialized 0:12:18.920 --> 0:12:21.800 and probably very expensive compared to some of the other 0:12:22.120 --> 0:12:26.120 methods of doing this. Um. Actually, the very first film, 0:12:26.160 --> 0:12:29.440 according to Britannica again to be you made using the 0:12:29.559 --> 0:12:35.120 natural vision process was Buanna Devil in two um. Although 0:12:35.120 --> 0:12:38.320 there there were some experiments uh done in the nineteen 0:12:38.360 --> 0:12:43.160 twenties and thirties using three D, but it was edwin Land. 0:12:43.360 --> 0:12:46.400 You know that name. It should sound familiar to you. Uh. 0:12:46.800 --> 0:12:50.600 It's not ringing any bells. He he created a polarizing 0:12:51.280 --> 0:12:55.120 material in nineteen thirty two. That the natural vision method 0:12:55.160 --> 0:12:58.120 is based on And that's the kind that of glasses 0:12:58.120 --> 0:13:00.920 that we were talking about earlier, not the anaglyph blue 0:13:00.920 --> 0:13:04.079 slash green slash san um. These are the lenses that 0:13:04.160 --> 0:13:07.520 look almost like their sunglasses, but they are not sunglasses. 0:13:07.760 --> 0:13:10.080 They're not do not wear them as sunglasses. Is their 0:13:10.200 --> 0:13:15.080 polarized And he was the inventor of the polaroid land camera. 0:13:16.160 --> 0:13:18.720 Got you, Um, but yeah, I mean he was. He 0:13:18.800 --> 0:13:20.360 was one of the people who were working on this 0:13:20.440 --> 0:13:22.880 and that that was you know, a long long time ago. 0:13:23.000 --> 0:13:26.680 But you know that's uh, that sort of water under 0:13:26.679 --> 0:13:28.760 the bridge, and there were a lot of people trying 0:13:28.800 --> 0:13:32.240 to do this. Um. You know, back when the Natural 0:13:32.320 --> 0:13:35.000 Vision System came out. Three D became big for a while, 0:13:35.679 --> 0:13:37.400 and a lot of people made a lot of very 0:13:37.400 --> 0:13:40.040 bad three D movies. It seems to move in cycles. 0:13:40.080 --> 0:13:41.640 We talked about this, I think in our three D 0:13:41.720 --> 0:13:46.000 Glasses podcasts as well, about how three D films seemed 0:13:46.040 --> 0:13:49.640 to come up as a gimmick for like every twenty 0:13:49.720 --> 0:13:52.480 to thirty years because they were they got really big 0:13:52.480 --> 0:13:54.679 in the fifties and then they kind of, you know, 0:13:55.040 --> 0:13:59.280 the processes just were not refined enough for it to 0:13:59.360 --> 0:14:02.600 really take off. Um, it just it came across as 0:14:02.600 --> 0:14:06.120 a gimmick. And then they had another resurgence in the eighties. Uh, 0:14:06.200 --> 0:14:11.559 which that's the era from which my quote uh derived. 0:14:12.440 --> 0:14:14.679 But then the quotes don't stop at the edge of 0:14:14.720 --> 0:14:18.840 the podcast, that's right. Uh, so the nice So they 0:14:19.040 --> 0:14:22.480 the the eighties had another little resurgence of of three D. 0:14:22.600 --> 0:14:27.200 But again the techniques still weren't truly refined, and so 0:14:27.280 --> 0:14:29.280 there were some problems. And I guess we'll talk about 0:14:29.280 --> 0:14:31.720 that in a little bit too. Uh. And then now 0:14:32.120 --> 0:14:35.160 we've got some point where digitally we're able to uh 0:14:35.320 --> 0:14:38.200 to correct some of those problems and and and head 0:14:38.240 --> 0:14:40.800 off some of those problems, so that we really have 0:14:40.920 --> 0:14:46.040 reduced the the the factors that made viewing three D 0:14:46.280 --> 0:14:51.200 less than a pleasant experience for some people. Um. And 0:14:51.320 --> 0:14:53.840 I guess I guess I can hit that really quickly 0:14:53.920 --> 0:14:58.240 right now. If since your brain is is creating this 0:14:58.320 --> 0:15:02.640 picture in your head and creating this illusion of three D, uh, 0:15:02.680 --> 0:15:06.520 if stuff is not aligned properly on the screen, your 0:15:06.560 --> 0:15:09.000 brain has trouble with that, right, So it has to 0:15:09.000 --> 0:15:11.280 be done just right or it's not gonna it's going 0:15:11.360 --> 0:15:13.680 to not work. In the opposite way, it's not not 0:15:13.720 --> 0:15:15.840 just going to be not convincing, it's going to actually 0:15:15.840 --> 0:15:18.560 be upsetting. Yeah, kind of like the way for example, 0:15:18.600 --> 0:15:20.440 here's here's a very simple way where it can it 0:15:20.440 --> 0:15:23.640 can really mess with your brain. Uh, we're not We 0:15:23.680 --> 0:15:27.600 can handle horizontal differences, you know, where you're shifting the 0:15:27.640 --> 0:15:29.440 image to the left or to the right a little bit. 0:15:29.440 --> 0:15:31.640 In fact, that's what three D is all based on. 0:15:32.080 --> 0:15:34.960 If we didn't shift the images, then you wouldn't get 0:15:34.960 --> 0:15:39.200 the three D u vertically, not so much. You shift 0:15:39.240 --> 0:15:41.720 an image so one image set of images is slightly 0:15:41.840 --> 0:15:45.200 higher than the other. That's gonna create a really weird 0:15:45.280 --> 0:15:48.200 distorted field for your brain to handle, and that can 0:15:48.200 --> 0:15:52.200 actually make audiences uncomfortable and and sick or give them 0:15:52.240 --> 0:15:55.920 eyestrain or headaches and a lot. And because the early 0:15:55.960 --> 0:15:59.480 early methods of creating three D films didn't always have 0:15:59.520 --> 0:16:02.040 everything stuch up just perfectly. I mean you're talking about 0:16:02.080 --> 0:16:05.360 using physical cameras and physical film to create two different 0:16:05.480 --> 0:16:09.320 versions of the same image. Um that that meant that 0:16:09.440 --> 0:16:13.120 just a tiny misalignment could cause an entire audience to 0:16:13.120 --> 0:16:19.360 start yakking, very much like the stand by Me infamous scene. Anyway, 0:16:19.520 --> 0:16:22.480 So you don't want that to happen. As it turns out, 0:16:22.880 --> 0:16:25.800 it's not great publicity to say that, Hey, audiences have 0:16:25.880 --> 0:16:29.360 been throwing up at this film for for for weeks now. 0:16:29.680 --> 0:16:32.520 Did you work for the Blair Witch Project? It worked 0:16:32.520 --> 0:16:36.760 for me anyway, So, but that wasn't the three D film. 0:16:36.960 --> 0:16:40.040 Don't write us so. Yeah, but but there was emotion 0:16:40.240 --> 0:16:43.160 remember the camera, Yes, yes, the idea was it was 0:16:43.160 --> 0:16:46.400 supposed to simulate somebody walking around with a handheld video 0:16:46.480 --> 0:16:50.720 game and the motion made people sick because we're bouncing around. 0:16:50.960 --> 0:16:53.440 Clover Field did the same thing there. They're quite a 0:16:53.480 --> 0:16:56.080 few handheld films out there now and I think people 0:16:56.120 --> 0:16:57.560 are starting to get a little more used to them. 0:16:57.600 --> 0:16:59.120 But yeah, you might want to take a drama mean 0:16:59.160 --> 0:17:00.840 before you go into the getter for that kind of thing. 0:17:00.920 --> 0:17:04.000 That is not medical advice, by the way. That's just 0:17:04.359 --> 0:17:08.680 me making a joke. Um anyways, just heading off the emails. 0:17:09.320 --> 0:17:13.840 Uh so, yeah, if now that we have the digital approach, 0:17:14.119 --> 0:17:16.199 it's a lot easier to correct for these problems. So 0:17:16.240 --> 0:17:20.199 that we've really reduced the factors that create things like 0:17:20.240 --> 0:17:24.960 eye strain and make people nauseated. We've managed to maybe 0:17:24.960 --> 0:17:30.080 not eliminate them, but dramatically reduce those elements. So yeah, 0:17:30.119 --> 0:17:32.200 so you're talking about the having two cameras next to 0:17:32.240 --> 0:17:35.320 each other or a camera with two lenses. Um, there's 0:17:35.359 --> 0:17:38.080 also there are also other ways that you can try 0:17:38.119 --> 0:17:41.240 and get to additional ways that you can try and 0:17:41.240 --> 0:17:43.520 get the three D effect. So let's say you're using 0:17:43.520 --> 0:17:46.359 two cameras and you cannot get these two cameras close 0:17:46.480 --> 0:17:51.440 enough to get to that ideal interocular distance. So what 0:17:51.480 --> 0:17:53.520 you might want to try and do is you'd have 0:17:53.560 --> 0:17:56.120 to find a way to direct the image the light 0:17:56.200 --> 0:17:58.080 in such a way so that it looks like the 0:17:58.160 --> 0:18:00.800 two lenses are next to each other. So you might 0:18:00.840 --> 0:18:05.840 have to use prisms and mirrors and a really really 0:18:06.840 --> 0:18:12.600 elaborate camera by camera rig Uh. These things are are bulky. 0:18:12.640 --> 0:18:15.120 They make shooting much more difficult. So shooting in three 0:18:15.200 --> 0:18:19.560 D is a difficult and expensive process. Yes, you know, 0:18:19.640 --> 0:18:22.560 you're either going to need specialized equipment so that's gonna 0:18:22.600 --> 0:18:25.240 cost more, like you said before, or you're going to 0:18:25.280 --> 0:18:27.880 need twice the equipment that you normally would need because 0:18:27.880 --> 0:18:30.040 you're gonna need, you know, two cameras instead of just 0:18:30.119 --> 0:18:32.199 one for every single kind of camera shot that you're 0:18:32.200 --> 0:18:34.800 going to be doing uh, and you're gonna need specialized 0:18:34.880 --> 0:18:38.600 rigging or mirrors or whatever, and those all have to 0:18:38.640 --> 0:18:41.080 be set up just right, because if you have a 0:18:41.119 --> 0:18:43.440 mirror that's not aligned properly, you're not going to get 0:18:43.440 --> 0:18:46.960 that stereoscopic effect. And then, of course there's a further 0:18:47.119 --> 0:18:50.520 argument you can have. Do you have both cameras shoot 0:18:50.600 --> 0:18:53.200 in parallel, so in other words, both cameras are facing 0:18:53.200 --> 0:18:55.800 directly forward, or do you arrange it so that the 0:18:55.840 --> 0:19:00.760 cameras converge slightly Because our eyes converge, true, so if 0:19:00.800 --> 0:19:02.960 you want to have the cameras converge, you have to 0:19:03.040 --> 0:19:07.000 set that up. And it's a really exacting, precise process, 0:19:07.040 --> 0:19:09.480 and if you get it wrong, the effect is going 0:19:09.520 --> 0:19:12.320 to be ruined. So shooting in three D is really 0:19:12.359 --> 0:19:16.200 complicated and really expensive. There are those who will argue 0:19:16.240 --> 0:19:20.560 that it's the only way to get three D, right, Yeah, 0:19:20.600 --> 0:19:23.000 And the thing is really when when you get right 0:19:23.040 --> 0:19:26.000 down to it, there's nothing inexpensive about three D because 0:19:26.040 --> 0:19:28.840 the conversion process is also very expensive. Yeah, it can be. 0:19:28.920 --> 0:19:31.440 Up to the general rule of thumb in the industry 0:19:31.520 --> 0:19:34.359 for converting a two D film into three D is 0:19:34.560 --> 0:19:39.440 one hundred thousand dollars per screen running time. So yeah, 0:19:39.480 --> 0:19:42.159 a hundred and twenty minute movie is gonna cost a 0:19:42.200 --> 0:19:45.359 hundred thousand dollars times a hundred and twenty and so 0:19:45.600 --> 0:19:48.400 that's yeah. You start you start adding up and you're like, wow, 0:19:48.440 --> 0:19:51.400 that's really expensive. It's still cheaper than shooting it all 0:19:51.440 --> 0:19:54.639 in three D, assuming that you again that you're shooting 0:19:54.640 --> 0:19:58.399 live action. Well, because again c g I, we've already 0:19:58.400 --> 0:20:01.240 mentioned that you could just create a a virtual camera 0:20:01.640 --> 0:20:06.760 and get that effect all on its own. So c 0:20:06.880 --> 0:20:10.000 g I is easy. Comparatively speaking, It's still gonna take 0:20:10.000 --> 0:20:11.280 a lot of time. It's gonna take up a lot 0:20:11.320 --> 0:20:13.600 of hard drive space, and it's not like, you know, 0:20:13.680 --> 0:20:15.280 it's not like it's a walk in the park. But 0:20:15.720 --> 0:20:17.960 compared to the problems you face from doing live action, 0:20:17.960 --> 0:20:20.199 it's it's fairly simple. But let's talk a little bit 0:20:20.200 --> 0:20:24.440 about the conversion process of two D to three D. Okay, Yeah, 0:20:24.440 --> 0:20:27.919 I was actually gonna to uh mentioned, especially to your 0:20:27.960 --> 0:20:30.639 point about how much it costs um the company that 0:20:30.720 --> 0:20:34.119 did the conversion for Alice in Wonderland, as that company 0:20:34.119 --> 0:20:37.680 called in three and uh, it can charge. It charges 0:20:37.720 --> 0:20:40.960 something along the lines of fifty thousand two hundred thousand 0:20:41.000 --> 0:20:45.040 dollars per minute of time needed to do that. So 0:20:45.080 --> 0:20:47.679 you think about that in terms of you know, per screen, 0:20:48.640 --> 0:20:52.840 you're thinking this is really not cheap. Yeah, yeah, I 0:20:52.880 --> 0:20:55.399 mean you can. I guess you do it once for 0:20:55.440 --> 0:20:58.840 a master and then you run copies. But at any rate, 0:20:58.880 --> 0:21:03.680 the uh, yeah, it's expensive and the processes is complicated 0:21:03.720 --> 0:21:05.440 because what you have to do is, let's say you've 0:21:05.480 --> 0:21:07.720 got someone gives you a film and by the way, 0:21:08.240 --> 0:21:10.359 you can do this yourself. I'll tell you at the 0:21:10.440 --> 0:21:13.240 end of the podcast about a program that will allow 0:21:13.280 --> 0:21:15.720 you to convert two D movies into three D movies 0:21:16.320 --> 0:21:21.879 UM using some some open source software. It's pretty cool stuff. 0:21:21.920 --> 0:21:23.480 It takes a lot of time and it takes a 0:21:23.480 --> 0:21:26.040 lot of processing power. So if you've got an older computer, 0:21:26.560 --> 0:21:29.120 this is probably not something you want to try because 0:21:29.359 --> 0:21:31.480 unless you don't you know, need your computer for three 0:21:31.560 --> 0:21:35.000 or four weeks um. But converting two D to three D, 0:21:35.080 --> 0:21:36.760 the first thing you do is you've got this flat 0:21:36.800 --> 0:21:40.159 image because you know it wasn't filmed in three D, 0:21:40.960 --> 0:21:44.560 so you have to divide that image into a series 0:21:44.600 --> 0:21:50.000 of layers, and it's generally between two to eight layers Okay, 0:21:50.040 --> 0:21:52.160 two layers would be the bare minimum because of course, 0:21:52.359 --> 0:21:54.800 you know, you need to have that those two layers 0:21:54.840 --> 0:21:57.359 to create that that sense of depth, and really the 0:21:57.440 --> 0:22:01.600