odeon's ask away-thread

[P7PSP]

So odeon how far away from Lit do you live in kilometers or miles?

[punkdrew]

Why is 3D in theatres such a big deal again? What technical refinements have been made?

[odeon]

So odeon how far away from Lit do you live in kilometers or miles?

Roughly 95 kilometres.

[odeon]

Why is 3D in theatres such a big deal again? What technical refinements have been made?

My guess is that it's easier (or at least cheaper) to make them when shooting digitally. The polarisation techniques when merging two slightly different images to one were very costly when printing on film base.

But you're asking the wrong person. Sort of. I don't have stereo vision so I I've not seen a 3D film since I was a kid and didn't know better.

[Pyraxis]

Yeah - also, if it's an animated feature, it's a relatively minor task to make a second virtual camera with a slight offset and re-render.

The Ant Bully crew had about 200 people at its largest, and about ten were Imax artists whose job was to take the final rendered footage, create the second camera, render it out, and troubleshoot all the problems that weren't visible in 2D. They ranged from things like the camera focus sliding in and out to show great depth (not necessary in 3D), shaders for translucent objects like gemstones which had to be adjusted for refraction, and awkward placement of foreground objects which covered the action in one eye but not the other. So - not trivial, but not show-stopping either.

[odeon]

It's definetely an art form, to do that well.

[punkdrew]

True. I would also think that ANY method would work better than trying to keep 2 electro-mechanical projectors synchronized.

[odeon]

True. I would also think that ANY method would work better than trying to keep 2 electro-mechanical projectors synchronized.

Only one was needed. Most 3D techniques use an image that's already "3D", either using red-green or polarised images. The latter requires a special lens that is a bitch to set up properly.

There have been cinema technologies using FOUR synchronised projectors, actually--ever heard of Cinerama? That had nothing to do with 3D, even though the Cinerama commercial tried telling you otherwise.

[punkdrew]

If I remember right, Abel Gance used a similar process for parts of NAPOLEON.

[odeon]

Correct. I doubt there were more than a few screenings of the film with the battle sequences intact, though, because the three-projector system was never widely spread. AFAIK, only the middle third of the last reel was used when the film was distributed. It's one of those films and techniques you can only read about and never experience yourself.

[Parts]

Do they still have long wave stations near you? The last beacon with voice NUK in gone here

[odeon]

none that I'm aware of.

[punkdrew]

If I feel that the volume in a movie theatre is too loud, how should I approach this? Should I talk directly to the projectionist, or to management?

[odeon]

You should talk to the usher, preferably while the film is still rolling. Barring that, the management.

But it's tricky these days. When I listen to a film, I always listen to the dialogue first. When the volume of the dialogue is OK, I'm usually satisfied. Fifteen years ago I would have known that the rest of the movie soundtrack will be fine, too, but with the advent of digital sound, there's no telling how loud a film can be mixed and still have a nice, low-key dialogue.

So a big-budget Hollywood blockbuster can still hurt your ears.

[DirtDawg]

Interesting eye/ear candy ...

Click on the   for an eye popping photograph of a really nice diffusion system installation.