Shooting a 3D documentary: Ian leaving for Salvador, Brazil

It’s go time. I’ve been running around the last few days getting everything organized so I can join the crew to shoot our first 3D documentary.

I leave for Salvador, Brazil tomorrow to capture Blowdown in 3D – the prep and implosion of the Fonte Nova Stadium to make way for a new facility for the 2014 World Cup.

The Parallax Film team’s been down there for a week now. They’ve set up our HQ and shot some material – enough to get their feet dusty.

The next few weeks leading up to the August 29 implosion will be a great field experiment.

As the demolition story unfolds, so will the nuances of the equipment we’ve rigged to capture the first implosion ever shot in 3D.

I know what it will be like down there – field realities will set in, and days will be overflowing.

So writer Nicole Tomlinson will manage the blog in my stead.

I’ll feed her shoot info whenever I can as we review story material, and she’ll post here.

Ciao for now.

Shooting a 3D documentary: Ian leaving for Salvador, Brazil

It’s go time. I’ve been running around the last few days getting everything organized so I can join the crew to shoot our first 3D documentary.

I leave for Salvador, Brazil tomorrow to capture Blowdown in 3D – the prep and implosion of the Fonte Nova Stadium to make way for a new facility for the 2014 World Cup.

The Parallax Film team’s been down there for a week now. They’ve set up our HQ and shot some material – enough to get their feet dusty.

The next few weeks leading up to the August 29 implosion will be a great field experiment.

As the demolition story unfolds, so will the nuances of the equipment we’ve rigged to capture the first implosion ever shot in 3D.

I know what it will be like down there – field realities will set in, and days will be overflowing.

So writer Nicole Tomlinson will manage the blog in my stead.

I’ll feed her shoot info whenever I can as we review story material, and she’ll post here.

Ciao for now.  

Shooting a 3D documentary: organizing data in the field

Our crew’s all settled in Salvador, Brazil and are in the early days of filming our first 3D documentary. This time’s alloOur crew’s all settled in Salvador, Brazil and are in the early days of filming our first 3D documentary.

This time’s allowing them to test our gear in the field and get a few interviews/story points in the can before the prep and implosion of the Fonte Nova Stadium gets really intense.

They’re also getting used to filming our first tapeless show – for the explosive demolition series Blowdown – and the data management that comes with this shift.

When our 3D technician, Rory Lambert, gets CF cards with footage from the cameras, he needs to name each file.

This name must include the type of camera, type of rig, date, sequence number and if the footage is from the left or right eye.

To do this he plugs the CF card reader and the G RAID mini into a field laptop, and uses ShotPut Pro to transfer the footage from one to the other.

Then he uses Adobe Bridge and runs an automatic script to rename all the files in the folder on the G RAID mini so they match the folder they’re living in.

This means he doesn’t have to rename them manually – it also means he won’t make any mistakes.

The footage is organized before it even leaves the demolition site.

And if we decide to reevaluate our labeling convention during the shoot, we can always go back and rename files retroactively using this system.

Shooting a 3D documentary: organizing data in the field

Our crew’s all settled in Salvador, Brazil and are in the early days of filming our first 3D documentary. This time’s alloOur crew’s all settled in Salvador, Brazil and are in the early days of filming our first 3D documentary.

This time’s allowing them to test our gear in the field and get a few interviews/story points in the can before the prep and implosion of the Fonte Nova Stadium gets really intense.

They’re also getting used to filming our first tapeless show – for the explosive demolition series Blowdown – and the data management that comes with this shift.

When our 3D technician, Rory Lambert, gets CF cards with footage from the cameras, he needs to name each file.

This name must include the type of camera, type of rig, date, sequence number and if the footage is from the left or right eye.

To do this he plugs the CF card reader and the G RAID mini into a field laptop, and uses ShotPut Pro to transfer the footage from one to the other.

Then he uses Adobe Bridge and runs an automatic script to rename all the files in the folder on the G RAID mini so they match the folder they’re living in.

This means he doesn’t have to rename them manually – it also means he won’t make any mistakes.

The footage is organized before it even leaves the demolition site.

And if we decide to reevaluate our labeling convention during the shoot, we can always go back and rename files retroactively using this system.  

Shooting a 3D documentary: differentiating left from right

In the world of 3D filmmaking, keeping left and right straight can be a mega pain. We discovered just how confusing it can get while prepping to shoot

We discovered just how confusing it can get while prepping to shoot our first 3D documentary.

From cameras to lenses to batteries to cables to monitor ports, we struggled to keep everything straight in-house.

So avoiding this headache in the field – the implosion of the Fonte Nova Stadium in Salvador, Brazil – seemed difficult at best, impossible at worst.

With so much at stake for this groundbreaking episode of the explosive demolition series Blowdown, we seriously needed a system.

So we colour-coded everything.

Left is red, right is blue … and it doesn’t end with the gear.

We’re also colour-coding our data files so the editor can instantly recognize which footage corresponds to which eye.

Now when there are excavators crunching, drills grinding, and chaos everywhere, the crew will have one less thing to wrap their heads around.

Shooting a 3D documentary: differentiating left from right

In the world of 3D filmmaking, keeping left and right straight can be a mega pain. We discovered just how confusing it can get while prepping to shoot

We discovered just how confusing it can get while prepping to shoot our first 3D documentary.

From cameras to lenses to batteries to cables to monitor ports, we struggled to keep everything straight in-house.

So avoiding this headache in the field – the implosion of the Fonte Nova Stadium in Salvador, Brazil – seemed difficult at best, impossible at worst.

With so much at stake for this groundbreaking episode of the explosive demolition series Blowdown, we seriously needed a system.

So we colour-coded everything.

Left is red, right is blue … and it doesn’t end with the gear.

We’re also colour-coding our data files so the editor can instantly recognize which footage corresponds to which eye.

Now when there are excavators crunching, drills grinding, and chaos everywhere, the crew will have one less thing to wrap their heads around. 

Shooting a 3D documentary: stereo kill cams

One of the types of cameras we’ll use to shoot our first 3D documentary will be kill cams.Though some of our systems will be used the entire month we’re down in Salvador, Brazil filming prep and implosion of the Fonte Nova Stadium for the explosive demolition series Blowdown, these six units won’t be called on until shot day.

Here’s how it works: we’ll mount them in various locations in the stadium right before the implosion – based on story points and/or high-octane visual potential.

After Controlled Demolition Inc. pushes the button, these cameras (12 in all) will go down with the structure – and hopefully capture gold before they’re annihilated.

Here are two kill cam shots from a previous show – the implosion of Ocean Tower condominiums, on South Padre Island, Texas, late last year:

 

 

Our stereographer, Sean White, will rig twice the number of kill cams, fixed on  on a side by side rig, to capture these moments in stereo.

Shooting a 3D documentary: stereo kill cams

One of the types of cameras we’ll use to shoot our first 3D documentary will be kill cams.Though some of our systems will be used the entire month we’re down in Salvador, Brazil filming prep and implosion of the Fonte Nova Stadium for the explosive demolition series Blowdown, these six units won’t be called on until shot day.

Here’s how it works: we’ll mount them in various locations in the stadium right before the implosion – based on story points and/or high-octane visual potential.

After Controlled Demolition Inc. pushes the button, these cameras (12 in all) will go down with the structure – and hopefully capture gold before they’re annihilated.

Here are two kill cam shots from a previous show – the implosion of Ocean Tower condominiums, on South Padre Island, Texas, late last year:

 

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Our stereographer, Sean White, will rig twice the number of kill cams, fixed on  on a side by side rig, to capture these moments in stereo. 

3D documentaries in the news: Parallax Film Productions in the Vancouver Sun and Victoria’s Times Colonist

As the crew gets the lay of the land in Salvador, Brazil to film our first 3D documentary, two stories about the mission have been freshly pressed here in Canada:

Film production firm Parallax forwards 3-D vision

The Vancouver Sun’s Marke Andrews spoke to me about our 3D vision, and the challenges of getting stereoscopic material from capture to broadcast.

 

 
President Ian Herring and stereographer Sean White (left) test custom-made equipment that will be used to shoot Parallax Film Production’s first 3D documentary

Quotable quote:

“So when I contact Ian Herring, founder and president of Parallax Film, the obvious question is: Given that it will cost as much as 50-per-cent more to make the show in 3-D, why bother?

‘It’s a bit of a cart before the horse, I guess. But this is a creative industry with vision, and if somebody doesn’t do something visionary, we’re never going to advance,’ says Herring.”

Read the full Vancouver Sun article here.

Documentary director experiments with custom cameras as TV filming moves into a new dimension

Mike Reid, reporter for Victoria’s Times Colonist, also interviewed stereographer Sean White, focusing on what it’s going to take to master this 3D crash course in the field, shooting the implosion of the Fonte Nova Stadium for the explosive demolition series Blowdown:

Stereographer Sean White hones two Canon 7Ds on a side by side rig – gear that will be used to shoot elements of Parallax Film Production’s first 3D documentary

Quotable quote:

“Their first challenge was finding the ideal 3-D camera to capture such footage for TV.

‘What do we use? Oh, let’s just use the 3-D camera that doesn’t exist,’ recalled White, laughing. ‘It’s a major investment on Parallax’s part to be so pioneering and at the forefront of this technology.’

White and his collaborators at the firm, which specializes in production of science and history programs for Canadian and international broadcast, have spent a long time researching and developing ‘stereoscopic’ systems to pull it off.

During the event, 40 cameras — each a customized system — will roll simultaneously.”

Read the full Times Colonist article here.  

Shooting a 3D documentary: wiring a ContourHD POV system

One of the issues we ran into while getting ready to shoot our first 3D documentary was controlling our POV cams on without knocking them out of alignment.

We chose two ContourHDs to capture POV footage on this shoot – the implosion of the Fonte Nova Stadium in Salvador, Brazil for the explosive demolition series Blowdown – over the two GoPro HDs because the ContourHD’s shape (round) allows for a smaller interaxial distance than the GoPro HD’s (boxy).

The ContourHD’s lasers also allow the crew to confirm the cameras are aligned horizontally after they’re placed on our custom-made aluminum side by side rig and before they’re mounted on a Magic Arm or tripod.

The one problem with these cameras is that the switches are big and cumbersome – our stereographer, Sean White, was concerned about knocking the cameras out of alignment when it’s time to record.

So we’ve had a single switch hardwired into both camera’s circuitry.

Now we can turn both on at the same time without having to worry about alignment issues.

Sean with the wired ContourHD POV system, and some other 3D gear:

 

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