This week I attended the Cartoon Masters Feature seminar in Munich. A big theme in several presentations was stereoscopic 3D or S3D, with such speakers as veteran director Ben Stassen, who’s made more IMAX films than anyone else. Here are some of my take-aways from the lectures:
On storytelling
The most important discussions centered on how S3D is not just a gimmick, it is a possibility to change the language of cinema. Just as the advent of sound film changed writing (you needed dialogue all of a sudden!), acting, directing, editing etc, S3D changes the way you think about film – if the filmmakers do it well.
This was best illustrated when Stassen showed an excerpt from his film “Sammy’s Adventures: The secret passage”. Compared to films like UP or Avatar, this was just a completely different experience. It wasn’t a film conceived as 2D with a bit of depth here and there, the whole cinematic language, framing of the shots, compositing of elements, everything was different. It felt like a breath of fresh air, this is how S3D is supposed to look like!
Of course, all speakers agreed that not all films have to be made in S3D and not all films lend themselves to it. Interestingly, James Cameron was quoted saying “A real filmmaker doesn’t change the way he makes films.” I was left wondering, whether people who think like this will find themselves in the same problems that silent actors did almost a century ago. I’ll chime in with Stassen, that if you make a flat film, make a flat film. If you make a S3D film, don’t just write it as a flat film and add some gimmicks, do it well.
On marketability
Sales agents, distributors and cinema marketing experts all repeated the point, that without a S3D version, your feature film may suffer at the box office. Gregory Chambet from TF1 International gave the example of Sylvain Chomet’s “The Illusionist”, which didn’t have a S3D version and flopped in cinemas despite of critical acclaim.
The reason here is, that cinema owners in Europe have invested lots of money into the new technology, and want to utilise it to return their investment. The technology is deployed for the best and largest screens, so a non S3D film might easily be pushed into the fringes.
On costs
The speakers found it difficult to give anything but rough estimates, because each project is so different. Stassen said that depending on the project, you can expect to see a 10-30% budget increase if you produce a well executed S3D film with parallel camera (his preferred way of S3D). This would mean planning all the shots as S3D and taking into account increased shooting time & rendering effort.
Maria Costeira from XpanD mentioned a figure of 1.500 euros per minute for a badly done conversion, and up to 10.000 euros for a well done one. That is the per minute budget for a European animated TV series!
In conclusion
I think S3D has immense potential to deepen immersive storytelling, as soon as some remaining technical hick-ups are cured and the cinemas become better equipped for S3D needs. The budget constraints will continue to be a problem, especially for independent producers, and especially if you want to do a really immersive film like Sammy.
It seems at the moment, that ideally you would need to make two similar, but not identical films, a S3D version with a certain kind of storytelling and camerawork, and a flat version for TV and DVD.
As a final word: Go and see Sammy, it is the future of S3D animated film!
