After 2 years of work and the review of over 100 software packages and hundreds of film enhancement effects we completed our first trailer for 3D Coral Reef Aquarium. We combined the film enhancement tools with our own technology and procedures to finally complete the product to standards I was looking for. It was always our goal to combine 30% 2D to 3D converted footage with 70% native shot 3D film. The three main criteria were (1) Stability, (2) brilliant colors and (3) 3D effects. Even though the trailer only plays in 2D; each of you can see the stability, brilliant colors and great shots we demanded. Without the great tools from BorisFX and GenArts (and Red Giant to a lesser degree) we could not have obtained the colorization and stability in the footage. Frankly I was tired of watching underwater videos that were almost always dominated by “blue spectrum” shots. I did not feel that domination by blue spectrum shots accurately relays to a viewer what it is actually like to explore the underwater world. Using many of the tools was in essence a film restoration process and not enhancement. Many of the shots on the reel were done at depths in the 60 to 90 feet range. Each of you understand how difficult it is to be able to get great colors to come back at such depths and still be able use mobile units from Equinox (that are affordable) versus large stationary units that require a team to operate or Gates Housings that can easily top $15,000 each. The great 3D module plugin from Vision III Imaging Inc. resuscitated our use of Premiere Pro and now Premiere Pro CC. We look forward to the plugin becoming even more robust in subsequent releases. This project has solidified our position that 3D is the best and most realistic medium to allow a viewer to get a more lifelike and realistic viewing experience of the underwater world. I always stated at the beginning of this journey that if we could not obtain the colorization I demanded the project would be shelved and not completed. Our conversion technology and procedures allowed us to use truly remarkable of unique shots to create an outstanding viewing experience. This project was not done in a weekend or uses 3D in a low class or as a gimmick. We felt that almost all “indie” 3D projects were rushed and not very well done. Not being a professional in the film industry, I have been very surprised by the lack of quality of the “indie’ 3D projects we viewed. It was clear most were done in a few days and generally lacked of quality and reflected such. Many of the postings and low end productions have hurt the 3D industry. There is a philosophy of some producers to flood the market and post 3D productions they have completed on an almost weekly basis. Every one of those postings in our opinion were junk. We always insisted from the beginning the use of 3D had to enhance the viewing experience of the user. We also desired the 3D underwater viewing experience to be far reaching and contain hundreds of scenes. I have been told that the time and effort we spent will result in us making pennies on the dollar. Money off of this reel was never the goal this project. THE PROCESSES, TECHNOLOGY AND PROCEDURES WERE. I had a 4 hour meeting yesterday and the general consensus is that we can now apply the procedures and techniques to other projects in a much more time effective manner. Having dual Xeon CPU or quad Xeon CPU computers with 2 GPU ad a co-processor card will solve the rendering time issues we have (some renders took over 40 hours). Before I was willing to commit to higher end hardware we first had to determine and finalize what software packages and effects were going to be used moving forward. I believe we have completed this very complicated puzzle. Over the last year I have communicated occasionally of some of the tools, effects and film restoration tools that were returning good results. I hope each of you understand that on average we reviewed and tested 10 other effects for each effect or enhancement tools we communicated as part of our emails. The review processes and time commitment were much more extensive than just the effects we felt were working. I will be extensively discussing many aspects in the book I am currently writing about filming underwater, how to get a good 3D effect, the software packages and film enhancement tools that actually work and what NLE to use to edit in 3D (it is our opinion Avid MC and Premiere Pro are the hands down winners). Steve Heman (who came on board last week) asked that I complete a trailer for him to use as he promotes the reel and our technology, processes, procedures and techniques. Steve is very well connected at the highest level of large retailers and 3D equipment manufacturers which is the market we planned to attack from the very beginning and is overall theme of the original business plan. We will be producing other promotional material next week in the form of fact sheets and brochures. The 3D Action Video Inc. website is going to be over hauled with assets Steve is bringing onto the project. Our trailers will get better as time progresses just as our technology, processes, procedures and techniques improved over the last 24 months. I still consider this journey to be at the beginning stages and look forward to what we can accomplish over the next 24 months. This is a very exciting time for us as we move from the theoretical testing stage and we now turn our attention and energy to produce our marketing materials, enhance and upgrade our website, and bring on assets to market our technology, processes, procedures and techniques. I appreciate the help and advice many of you have provided over the last year. Many of the one liners helped us think about how to improve our end results and continue to search for amazing tools to accomplish such. I wish to thank everyone the assistance we received. The most helpful comments were always to most critical ones that forced us to think how to get better results. The link to the Trailer is below. Many of you have already seen the footage. I added some titling and an end sheet to make it appear more professional. As all of you know we are technology and process people and not professionals in the film industry. I am not the greatest when it comes to artistic talent. Make sure to set the quality to 1070 since YouTube defaults to a lower resolution. youtube/watch?v=H2yWoUqaKGI&feature=youtu.be
Posted on: Sun, 21 Jul 2013 07:08:59 +0000
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