I had heard so much in the press about the wave of 3D films heading our way in 2009 that when the e-mail came through from the GBCT regarding the ‘Stereoscopic Production Course’ to be held at Pinewood, I just couldn’t resist the opportunity to attend. From a Steadicam Operator’s point of view, if someone wanted to bolt two cameras onto my rig instead of one, I really wanted to know what it was all about!

The course was a pretty intensive and thorough 2-day immersion into the world of 3D, with a range of people attending; from BBC 3D TV engineers to hands on guys like myself. We started the first day talking about human perception and how the eye and the brain work together to construct the real world. This quickly led onto the idea of shooting 3D by approximating the way in which our two eyes capture the world and the practicalities of how we can emulate that capture.

From an operator’s point of view I was most interested in the discussions regarding the actual stereoscopic capture although the course covered every aspect of 3D. The two basic variables when shooting 3D are interocular distance, that is how far apart the two cameras are, and ‘convergence’. Very roughly you can think of the interocular distance as the 3D volume control. On average, our (adult) eyes are 65mm apart so this distance can be thought of as ‘normal’. When shooting, if you decrease this spacing then the 3D effect will lessen and conversely increasing gives a greater 3D effect.

The convergence is the amount, if at all, that the two cameras are panned towards each other to converge on an object in front of them. It is actually perfectly possible (and some would argue, preferable) to shoot with the two cameras parallel (converged on infinity) and then to converge the two images in post production.

The convergence is an interesting variable because whatever object you decide to converge on when shooting (or in post) will be in the plane of the cinema screen when you see the final shot. This convergence therefore gives you the choice of where you put the depth of the scene relative to the screen. Everything in front of that object will seem to come out of the screen and everything behind it will seem to be behind the screen. From an editing standpoint you have to give consideration to this. If consecutive shots have a large variation in this depth change, you can quickly wear an audience out as the depth of the image racks back and forth.

We quickly learnt that when shooting 3D you have to rethink many of the conventional wisdoms in lighting, lens selection etc. For example, we were shown a shot of an exterior scene with a dominant rounded foreground object, on a very flat lit overcast day. It looked pretty awful in 2D and in desperate need of lighting but when viewed in 3D, the modelling added by the 3D effect rendered it much more acceptable. Also, some stunt situations no longer work in 3D. In a one-on-one fight, you can put the camera over the shoulder of the guy throwing the punch but as his fist crosses the other’s face you will be able to tell that it’s passing in front of the face and not striking it! Matte paintings, foreground miniatures and the other perspective ‘cheats’ will have to be put to one side.

Overall the course was extremely enjoyable and was presented by some very knowledgeable and experienced speakers. We were furnished with many toys to play with; 3D rigs both ‘side by side’ cameras and ‘mirror rigs’ (where one camera is at 90 degrees to the other, shooting through a half silvered mirror) and we also had the run of Theatre 7 for projecting demonstrations and a 50 inch 3D TV to view feeds from our live rigs.

A lot of people put a great deal of effort into the course, which was Skillset funded and supported by a range of sponsors. This was the first time the course had been presented and when the course is run again (which I’m sure it will be) I would definitely recommend it to anyone looking to find out what 3D is all about.

Paul Edwards

Image of Paul Edwards shooting on the back of a truck

These are great sources of reference for production teams moving areas to shoot. For example, a team from Manchester moving to Birmingham want to get hold of the best local talent to work with them. Or London to Cardiff via Bristol. Or Southampton to Oxford. Or Liverpool to Surrey. It is happening increasingly. If you have places you can stay, then put your name down on the website as a local.

It is also a good place to put your name down if you want to move up a grade and would like to work with new filmmakers making a short on a micro or low budget or experimental film.

If you need any help or to talk this through, then call the Guild office.