h3 s3d, sh3 s3d

Description

Spec music video. Shot in stereoscopic 3D, it depicts an ex relationship from their respective perspectives and utilizes depth as both a literal and metaphorical device.

Camera

Canon C300 (x2)
w/ Beamsplitter

Runtime

2:42;00

Credits

Director: Alex Lee
DP: Armaan Virani

Development Diary

At the time I was interested in 3D film for the specific purpose of utilizing it in the context of VR. We wanted to experiment with the medium and conducted a variety of experiments to see what emotional and technical effects were produced. We changed the inter-ocular distance in real time in an attempt to creat the effect of making the subject appear smaller or larger, depending on which direction we would pull in. This produced mixed results that, while somewhat noticeable, were fairly negligable given the mechanical limitations of the beamsplitter we were using. We used depth close ups to convey heightened intimacy and depth with telephoto lenses to magnify the feeling of distance beyond what traditional 2D film could provide.

Finally, as part of the post process we screened the film both via interlacing on a traditional screen and a stereoscopic theater via a VR headset.

Lessons learned:
It is exceedingly difficult to control, I/O distance, focus, and dolly movement without computerized MoCo. Even with a team of experienced 1st AC's, producing the kind of coordination we wanted was extremely time consuming. It's all well and good that it proved an educational experience which was the raison d'etre of the project to begin with, but the testing could have been done more time efficiently had we scoped more appropriately. We could also have conducted a number of these tests via previz tools or Unity and given ourselves more time on the more interesting tests.