special report 3D broadcasting
The way I see the business migrating across to 3D is like this: producers will want to shoot one test episode of their show; they will then digest the consequences and reaction to that and will start trying to fit it into their next season. We will see movement on this - this year and in the next 18 months, I believe, there will be a few episodics that commit their seasons to 3D.
Moving over to 3D will probably not greatly influence the content of the show in the long term. When the switchover is first made, writers will try to put in 3D gags, but this should settle down after a while and they will revert to concentrating on writing good scripts. If the effects are gratuitous, audiences will get tired of it fairly quickly.
The first sporting event will shoot with only one crew on the field instead of two crews (2D and 3D). The one crew will transmit BOTH the 2D and 3D images.
Right now, when a sporting event is filmed in 3D there is always a 2D crew on the opposite side of the field to get both sets of shots. Two complete crews and setups to film one game obviously doubles the cost of production. That has to change for the business to succeed.
Both types of filming can be made on one rig. On a 3D rig there are two cameras and the 2D broadcast will
64 l ibe l march/april 2011 l
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Moving over to 3D will probably not greatly influence the content of the show in the long term.
When the switchover is first made, writers will try to put in 3D gags, but this should settle down after a while and they will revert to concentrating on writing good scripts.
simply be the output from one of those. So the capability is there, it just boils down to the creative aspect. Creatively there are differences between how you shoot a 2D and 3D game, for instance the lower angle shots look better in 3D, whereas the higher angles look better in 2D. So there has to be a compromise in camera positions that makes both a good 2D and 3D broadcast. I believe we will see producers experiment with this soon, but it will not be at a major sporting event - it will be either a regular season or friendly game where the risk factor is lower. We will see experiments with combined coverage during 2011. Mobile devices - smartphones, gaming devices and tablets (eg, the 3D overlay for iPad screens) will hit the market to energise both 3D gaming and shorter-form scripted entertainment.
There’s 3D TV and cinema, but what about the other everyday visual media we use? This year will see the proliferation of mobile devices with 3D capabilities. Personal devices, such as Android phones and tablet computers, are ideal for autostereo technology. As there is only one viewer you will be able to easily find the optimum angle. There are already some examples of mobile 3D on the market. These will become more popular as the price comes down and,
after all, the end result is pretty cool. This will really take off towards the end of this year.
In terms of material for these devices there is already a staggering amount of short 3D videos out there, created by hobbyists that would not make it to the movie screen, due to the picture quality. But they play very nicely on small screens, making mobile 3D an ideal outlet for it.
Home 3D camcorders will become widely available
Many of the manufacturers have either already released a 3D camcorder or are looking to do so. These are really good for the home movie market. Despite there being some limitations to them due to the fixed lens distances, you can easily figure these out by either trial and error or simply reading the manual and produce a really nice picture. If you have a 3D TV it makes sense that you would want to shoot your home videos in 3D also.
Finally, looking further ahead to 2012, I believe the Super Bowl will be shot entirely in 3D. The NFL, by next year, should be ready to do this. A few games have already been shot in 3D, so there is already the experience of shooting NFL games. This would be the whole event including pre-game and half-time entertainment.
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