“Currently conversions can cost $50-70,000 per minute meaning feature films can cost $10-15m and take 600-700 people nine months to produce” — Susumu Sakakibara, JVC
to produce a basic platform of cameras that you can mould and change to your needs.” Weisscam was showing the first samples of its exchangeable 4K sensorboard. Owners of the T-CAM, which presently comes with a 2/3 sensor, will soon be able to switch to a 4K Super35 sized sensor without buying a new camera.
The most ambitious example is Meduza Sales whose MK1 3D 4K camera is designed to offer a variety of hot swappable sensors, for the DP to select just as they would choose film stock. The camera is currently delayed pending delivery of a 4K chip though and in the meantime the company has debuted Titan, an HD 3D version. Watch out too this summer
for another eagerly anticipated launch. Rumours abound that historic film firm Panavision is betting the farm on a set of digital cameras to complement the Genesis.
3D tech matures but needs content 3D managed to peek above the 4K noise at NAB largely thanks to the media buzz generated by Director James Cameron. “We see 3D as the future and the future of 3D is broadcast,” he declared in a speech that was effectively a commercial for the Cameron-Pace Group (CPG) during which 14 new products were revealed.
These included two versions
of a Shadow rig optimised for the Epic and Alexa M for features and episodic TV; the X-Frame for on-set colour management and stereo control and a Control Panel for management of up to 40 cameras during OB by a single technical director. “We are not trying to sell
you boxes,” stressed Cameron. “You won’t be competitive with technology you buy from us a year from now which is why we offer you a licensed approach to end to end 5D solutions. [Rather than] try to cobble together a system with different company’s black boxes we can afford to throw a lot of money at new product and we can afford to throw something away and work with the latest version.” CPG asks broadcasters to license its technology and services to shoot 2D and 3D (5D) by mirroring 2D camera positions so that the cost difference over separate productions can be reduced to zero. “Don’t give us one episode to shoot and think you can extrapolate from that
what the cost of a whole series will be,” said Cameron. “The numbers we offer will make it profitable for you.” Fact remains that no network has committed to a 3D series and CPG has yet to break Europe for sports — though it does have CBS Sports and ESPN in its pocket in America. Rival 3Ality Digital was trading
the results of tests which Sony Pictures had made on 3D/2D episodic programming including NBC soap Days of Our Lives with 3Ality gear of course, and reportedly no delay in schedule. 3Ality rigs are also
TVBEurope 41 NAB Wrap-Up
James Cameron at NAB 2012: “We see 3D as the future and the future of 3D is broadcast”
“Don’t give us one
episode to shoot and think you can
extrapolate from that what the cost of a
chosen for the separate 3D OB of the Olympic Games and Sky Sports is to put into action, after a year of tests, 3Ality’s IntelleSuite software which automates calibration and correction.
whole series will be. The numbers we offer will make it profitable for you” James Cameron, CPG
Nonetheless CEO Steve Schklair
admitted that his company’s investors were concerned about the overall lack of 3D content being commissioned. “I am not in
favour of ‘5D’ since the 3D is an afterthought,” he said. “It doesn’t make the content more compelling and it won’t help gain audiences. I can see the argument from an economic perspective — but it’s not going to move the needle on 3D. In fact, it’s going to move it backward.” New from 3Ality is the Helix, a rig that combines technology from 3Ality’s TS-5 and Element Technica’s Atom to produce a unit suitable for handheld work and rapid lens change. Converting 2D into 3D has a
reputation for poor quality without major investment but a refined process from JVC has got the backing of Twentieth Century Fox. The studio is to convert I, Robot and other titles to 3D
Blu-ray using JVC’s service which is claimed to reduce costs by two thirds. BSkyB, which continues to test conversion tools, will be taking note as a means of extending programming on Sky3D. “Currently conversions can cost $50-70,000 per minute meaning feature films can cost $10-15million and take 600-700 people nine months to produce,” said Susumu Sakakibara, general manager Business Development, JVC. “With this service a feature can take three people three months to convert at a third of the price.” This is possible, he said, because the technology reduces the amount of manual rotoscoping from 100-150 roto moves per frame to an average of nine.