Blog

It’s funny how whenever one feels like they are going in circles – one probably is.

As we prepare for our first 3D shoot, we’re feeling stereoscopic frustration because we keep hearing – “you can’t get there from here.”

I decided it was time to break the loop … by tapping our library of documentary material and our ambitious compositor.

We don’t have any footage shot in 3D, but we do have an extensive collection of 2D VFX shots from previous shows.

So as the rest of the team hunted for equipment, Jakub Kuczynski forged ahead and tried to add a third dimension to this material using After Effects.

His visual stock: cinematic shots from Blowdown and Ancient Megastructures -not CGIs but VFX constructed with plate shots – with live action or green screen elements.

The outcome – our first taste of 3D success … Parallax in stereoscopy.

Here’s a screen grab from Jakub’s demo –  converted VFX material from the http://successessay.co.uk/, a stadium in Indianapolis, Indiana that Controlled Demolition Inc. imploded and we delivered in 2D:

But as I absorb our visual milestone I’m reminded that our VFX are only window dressing for the actual meat of the story.

If we can’t get the story down, the window dressing will only serve to draw attention to the painfully empty house it hangs in.

Can we conjure the equipment we need to capture interesting and compelling 3D doc footage in the chaos of a run-and-gun industrial environment?