This week in Battle Castle-Jan. 6

Here’s what’s going on this week in our current production, Battle Castle:

On YouTube

BattleCastle.TV: host Dan Snow explains how Constantinople inspired Edward’s castle builders

Battle Castle host Dan Snow details how the mighty city of Constantinople influenced the shape of Caernarfon Castle’s towers. The fortification combines military engineering and palatial splendour fit for a king. Master James of St. George and his castle builders also raised Conwy, Harlech and Beaumaris — combined, these fortifications are known as the Iron Ring. Conwy was commissioned by King Edward I in Snowdonia, Wales, and was tested with Madog ap Llywelyn led a medieval rebellion against the English and their Iron Ring of fortifications in the late 13th century. The secrets of this mighty castle’s build and details of the siege it faced are revealed in Battle Castle: Conwy.

Dan’s vlogs are released every Thursday on YouTube, unveiling details related to the stories that will be profiled in the Battle Castle shows.

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This week in Battle Castle-Dec. 9

Here’s what’s going on this week in our current production, Battle Castle:

On YouTube

BattleCastle.TV: host Dan Snow shares how a small group of soldiers approached Chateau Gaillard

Battle Castle host Dan Snow details how a handful of French troops infiltrated one of Chateau Gaillard’s walls during the siege of 1203-1204. Philip Augustus of France and his army attacked the castle to try and push the English out of Normandy. Though King John reigned at the time it was besieged, the stronghold was built by his brother Richard I before he died. Battle Castle: Gaillard reveals how the Lionheart’s castle builders constructed the fortifications, which included securing the castle, an island fort, and the town of Petit Andely, and details the medieval weapons that the French used to attack it.

Dan’s vlogs are released every Thursday on YouTube, unveiling details related to the stories that will be profiled in the Battle Castle shows.

On Twitter

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This week in Battle Castle-Nov. 18

Here’s what’s going on this week in our current production, Battle Castle:

On YouTube

Battle Castle: host Dan Snow details Malbork’s “VIP” prison

Battle Castle host Dan Snow shares the story of an elite medieval “guest” who was held captive in Malbork Castle’s prison and details the mystery behind his escape. This cell, which is said to have held “VIP” prisoners in the Middle Ages, is positioned in the High Castle. The stronghold, believed to be the largest brick castle in the world, was built by Christians during the Baltic Crusades. Historically known as Marienburg, this fortification was besieged by Polish and Lithuanian forces after the Battle of Tannenberg in 1410, and defended by Heinrich von Plauen.

Dan’s vlogs will be released every Thursday on YouTube, unveiling details related to the stories that will be profiled in the Battle Castle shows.

On Twitter

Medieval siege tip of the week:

@Battlecastle  Nov 17,

Several things are needed to construct siege engines: skilled engineers, considerable labour, accessible material … and so on – K. Nossov

3 ways to #gomedieval

Awesome medieval moments on the web, chosen by The Gatekeeper:

Take in the Crown Jewel of crusader castles … lego-styles

File 201

http://www.mocpages.com/moc.php/230059 via Krazy Kastle Krak Guy

Get 5 insider tips on how to siege a Battle Castle

http://lifeopslifeobs.wordpress.com/2011/11/17/5-tips-for-sieging-your-favourite-castle/ via Maija Leivo

Stock up on turrets 

File 200

“What happens when a former Battle Castle PA is left alone in a warehouse full of boxes to stack? … Crenellations happen, that’s what!” Sean Dobbyn via Facebook

Want more Battle Castle action?

A world of castle engineering, bloody siegecraft, and epic clashes that transform mortals into legends awaits …

Join us.

www.battlecastle.tv

MIPCOM analysis: 3D Focus founder talks buried content, bad press, and the search for stereoscopic gold

Jonathan Tustain of 3D Focus – a UK-based website that covers the latest developments in stereoscopic entertainment – attended this year’s MIPCOM conference to check out the latest 3D content and report on the event.

Parallax Film Productions President and Director Ian Herring and Executive Producer Maija Leivo also attended the event to showcase our production Blowdown 3D, the first ever show on explosive demolition to be delivered in stereoscopic form for international broadcast.

We chatted with Tustian about his experiences at MIPCOM – and the state of 3D TV in general.

Here’s what he had to say:

Why MIPCOM was a must

A lot of websites (about 3D) really do focus on the technologies. I thought there was way too much of that and not too much of the actual content. So the idea was really to get to MIPCOM and see what was being created – if it’s being made in 3D, it’s likely you’ll see it there. In a nutshell that’s what MIPCOM’s about – content.

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This week in Battle Castle-Nov. 11

Here’s what’s going on this week in our current production, Battle Castle:

On YouTube

Battle Castle: host Dan Snow discovers Crac des Chevaliers’ underground stores

Host Dan Snow descends deep into Crac des Chevaliers to explore its elaborate storage system and detail the role that it would have played during a siege. Dubbed the crown jewel of crusader castles, this castle is located in Northern Syria. It was constructed by Christian knights in the 12th and 13th centuries, and faced attack by a Muslim force armed with trebuchets and led by the Mamluk Sultan Baybars in 1271. The secrets of its build and details of the epic siege it faced are revealed in Battle Castle: Crac des Chevaliers.

Dan’s vlogs will be released every Thursday on YouTube, unveiling details related to the stories that will be profiled in the Battle Castle shows.

On Twitter

Medieval siege tip of the week:

@Battlecastle  Nov 10,

Chateau Gaillard a state-of-the-art castle, with successive lines of defence and round towers flanking the walls – M. Prestwich

3 ways to #gomedieval

Awesome medieval moments on the web, chosen by The Gatekeeper:

Explore reasons behind grave disturbances in the Middle Ages

http://bit.ly/t09IiA via @MedievalArchive

Discover ancient “castle” structures found in the Libyan desert

http://bit.ly/uFK19p via Military Architecture

Learn how medieval families came to be

http://bit.ly/upsKnx via @Medievalists

Want more Battle Castle action?

A world of castle engineering, bloody siegecraft, and epic clashes that transform mortals into legends awaits …

Join us.

www.battlecastle.tv

This week in Battle Castle-Nov. 4

Battle Castle host Dan Snow reveals why 4 p.m. sunsets are a thing of beauty during a November shoot at Dover Castle in Kent, England.

This castle, known as “the Key to England” was attacked by Prince Louis of France with an array of weapons technology including the mangonel, perrier and siege tower. The stone castle was built mostly by Henry the II’s engineer Maurice, and defended by Hubert de Burgh, loyal to English King John.

Dan’s blogs will be released every Thursday on YouTube, unveiling details related to the stories that will be profiled in the Battle Castle shows.

On Twitter

Medieval siege tip of the week:

@Battlecastle  Nov 3,

Beware the elite’s desire to defend their own interests, as it can be the beating heart of any structural defence – M. Keen

3 ways to #gomedieval

Awesome medieval moments on the web, chosen by The Gatekeeper:

Transform a snowstorm into a stronghold

http://www.dadsupercool.com/uncategorized/build-snow-castle  via http://www.dadsupercool.com/

Build a castle out of cardboard, hats … even toilet paper

http://www.netmums.com/things/How_to_build_a_castle.2453/via http://www.netmums.com/

Dine at a castle in Canada (sort of):

http://tinyurl.com/3bz3r9w via liz__murray

Want more Battle Castle action?

A world of castle engineering, bloody siegecraft, and epic clashes that transform mortals into legends awaits …

Join us.

www.battlecastle.tv

This week in Battle Castle-Oct. 28

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=odmDkBF2G_E


Battle Castle host Dan Snow details the unusual story of a Roman amphitheatre that sits at the foot of the Alcazaba of Malaga in the Andalusia region of Spain. The theatre was built in time of Augustus, and was later used as a quarry by Muslims to raise the city’s fortifications. Roman column shafts and capitals, still visible in the walls of the structures, are said to be a testament to the castle builders’ pragmatic approach to construction. Battle Castle: Malaga brings to life the medieval siege of 1487, when King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella attacked the city and its Castillo de Gibralfaro in an attempt to conquer the Kingdom of Granada and complete the Reconquista, a Muslim Christian conflict that spanned centuries.

Dan’s vlogs will be released every Thursday on YouTube, unveiling details related to the stories that will be profiled in the Battle Castle shows.

On Twitter

Medieval siege tip of the week:

@Battlecastle  Oct 24,

There are two ways of taking a castle: by storming, or by negotiating – M. Prestwich

3 ways to #gomedieval

Awesome medieval moments on the web, chosen by The Gatekeeper:

This Halloween, read up on medieval costumes

http://englishcomplit.unc.edu/chaucer/costume.htm via Laura Hodges

Up your chivalrous quotient with this guide to knight-speak

http://www.chronique.com/Library/Glossaries/glossary-KCT/glssindx.htm

curated by brion

Get prepped for the Battle Castle cooking adventure

http://www.nibblesnbites.com/medieval-cooking-challenge/via Nibbles-n-Bites

Want more Battle Castle action?

A world of castle engineering, bloody siegecraft, and epic clashes that transform mortals into legends awaits …

Join us.

www.battlecastle.tv

Watching a 3D documentary: passive-polarized versus active-shutter technology

The Parallax team and I are always keeping an eye on what electronic companies are doing to get 3D out into the universe.

Because it’s their inventions that will play a key role in determining how many of you get to see our first 3D documentary in its full stereoscopic glory.

As 3D popularity climbs, electronic companies are competing to see who gets to annex that coveted spot on your living room TV stand.

And so begins the format wars, with active-shutter glasses coming up against passive-polarized.

Earlier this year at Consumer Electronics Show, LG, Toshiba and Vizio showcased their upcoming lines of consumer 3DTVs using passive displays.

Their promise: a high quality 3D experience without burning a hole straight through your wallet.

What makes Passive 3DTVs more economical than the consumer lines is their use of lightweight and cheap polarized glasses instead of the costly active-shutter glasses.

Which means you can outfit the whole family and your dog affordably.

Making 3D technology cheaper and more accessible is undoubtedly a good thing – but like most things cheaper does not always mean better.

After Vizio’s debut of their passive screen 3DTV, Consumer Reports did some testing to see how LCD passive displays measure up against Plasma screen models like Panasonic’s top-rated 3DTV.

Turns out Vizio’s passive screens do provide a high quality and comfortable viewing experience, but there are also noticeable losses in resolution, jaggies, and occasional blurring of objects due to the way their screens display 3D images for each eye.

This is probably why Samsung, Sony, Panasonic are still pushing active shutters.

Nevertheless, passive-polarized technology has a great impact on the 3D market.

Light-weight, cheaper glasses make way for cheaper and more compact 3DTV’s—currently Vizio’s smallest consumer model is 42” 3D HDTV with even tinier models rumored on the horizon.

And like 1080p took over the top price bracket in HD dropping 720p prices and enticing consumers into HD converts, passive displays have the potential to influence 3D rollout in precisely the same way.

So in the end affordable passive-polarized displays provide the right nudge to get more people on the 3D train. After that, there’s no going back.

–Ian Herring, President

@ianherring

Shooting A 3D documentary: How to record 1080P to a Nano3D drive using Sony EX3s

We recently shot a show that will be delivered to broadcasters in 1080i.  Our 3D camera system choice for this shoot was a beam splitter with two Sony EX3s gen-locked, recording a 140mb to Nano3D drives.

Because of the large amount of VFX work and the convergence needs of 3D, we wanted to capture native 3D in 1080p – this makes it possible to work with a full frame of information.

When our DOP camera-tested native 3D he found that it was only possible to shoot 1080i as that’s what standard the Nano3D drives record to – even though the genlocked EX3 system was set to record 1080p. Annoying, but I decided we’d make it work.

So we got the footage in as 1080i – and loaded it into the off-line FCP and Cineform 3D edit system. That’s where we ran into a problem.

What was going on?  The native files were playing back fine in FCP – but when we brought it over to Cineform to do convergence and 3D adjustments we got visual tearing and had interlace issues.   When we did our adjustments the fields no longer matched.

We identified the source of the problem was within Cineform First Light, and it was the interlaced files that didn’t match – in interlaced footage the shot was broken up into two fields, top and bottom.  Our problem was with our adjustments  – the order was being mixed up so the shots looked terrible.

So went back to the source file – and figured out we had to add another step and de-interlace it and then re-input the 1080p frame back into Cineform and then it would work  – making it 1080p, the frame file we wanted to shoot it in the first place.

Bonus: as we problem-solved the above interlacing issue with Cineform we also found out that the Nano drives can record 1080p – if you tell them that the signal is in fact 1080psf.

PSF stands for Progressive Segmented Frames and it is how the camera delivers video down a single SDI cable.   1080p is so large it has to broken up into smaller pieces – called, packets.   It doesn’t change the video, just reformats the video during transmission down the cable.

One has to tell the Nano drives that the signal is coming as a 1080psf – and it will happily record 1080p.   So now we don’t have to de-interlace the file and can work in 1080p right off the drive.

After the 3D and VFX work is done and the final on-line completed we can re-interlace the files and deliver final output to the broadcaster.

So on future shoots we can shoot 1080p – we just have to tell the Nano drives that it’s coming IN as 1080psf – not 1080p.

One less step to take in our post work flow – and now we can work in 1080p.

–Ian Herring , President

Watching a 3D documentary: buying the right passive technology monitor

It’s coming up to the year anniversary of Avatar’s release.  A film that changed the way I think about broadcast formats and revolutionized our production house.

Within 12 months we landed our first 3D television production for Blowdown, our ongoing television series on structural implosions.

In that year we built and tested two main 3D systems and several secondary systems.  Of equal challenge was the post work flow in 3D.  The production team worked closely with our edit team and managed to come up with a smooth edit to output work flow.

Early on we adopted the 3D TV passive technology, which means the TV does all the work and we can use inexpensive and readily available glasses – the same ones used at the cinema.

Our latest purchase and the smallest 3D TV is the Panasonic BT-3DL2550.  It’s a 25.5-inch TV – portable and can be used in the field to monitor 3D rushes or as an on-line monitor.  This is a piece of equipment I am really looking forward to using.

The consumer is going adopt 3D at home in the same way when passive shutter 3D TVs come available.  LG is releasing this – the LD920 47-inch TV – eliminating the expensive and awkward battery powered active shutter glasses.

This technology, priced right, will pave the way for consumer friendly 3D tv’s and encourage the adoption of the format.

–Ian Herring, President