Dolby's Tim Partridge on Digital 3-D Moviemaking

I'm a little late in posting this video, shot back in October... but in it, Dolby EVP Tim Partridge lays out his vision for how digital 3-D moviemaking will take over the world.

Partridge says that in the early days of Dolby's audio noise reduction (and later, Dolby's digital sound), industry insiders predicted that the new technology would only be used for big action pictures. These days, 3-D is regarded as something for action pictures and cartoons, but Partridge says that since humans see in 3-D, it's natural for all movies to have that third dimension. (Here's more on Dolby's 3-D offering.)

3-D Conference in San Francisco

If you're interested learning more about 3-D cinema, gaming, phones, TVs, and signage, you should know about this event coming up next week (Sept 18 and 19) in San Francisco. An exhibit pass is free; conference pass is $695.

But the sessions look good, among them:

3D Digital Cinema
Prospects for 3D Digital Cinema
Matthew Brennesholtz, Sr. Analyst, Insight Media
ABSTRACT: The transition from film to 2D digital cinema is well underway and 3D cinema is also becoming a component of this transition. The presentation will provide updated information on our 3D Cinema forecast with the latest information on trends, issues, roll outs and prospects for 3D in cinema applications.

Next Steps in the 3D Cinema Revolution
Lenny Lipton, CTO, RealD
ABSTRACT: This talk will discuss the needs and hurdles for taking the 3D cinema industry to the next level. Currently, there are over 700 3D digital cinema theaters, but to get most major movies made in 3D, we need several thousand theaters. Clearly, 3D cinema is riding the wave of digital cinema projector installations. This is currently the gating issue, but there are other needs in terms of production workflow, post production, visualization and distributiuon that need to be dealt with. In addition, some view the 3D as a distraction and not an opportunity. This talk will discuss all of these issues and the prospects for 3D Digital Cinema in the near term.

Trade-Offs in 2D to 3D Conversion
Dave Seigle, President/CEO, InThree, Inc.
ABSTRACT: There are three ways to produce 3D content: using dual cameras, producing second eye renderings in CG, and Dimensionalizing 2D content. The presentation will focus on three areas related to the third method: the technology, techniques and applications of Dimensionalization; a framework for understanding issues of quality and cost; and the current state of industry commitment to this approach.

Stereoscopic Technology Options for 3D Digital Cinema
John Carey, Vice President of Marketing, Dolby Laboratories
ABSTRACT: Digital cinema has revitalized the 3D movie viewing experience and new stereoscopic technologies have come to market. Dolby continues to revolutionize the cinema experience by developing a new 3D solution using a unique color filter wheel technology that meets the needs of exhibitors, filmmakers and moviegoers. In this session Dolby will talk about the early stages of stereoscopic technology and where 3D is headed with the emergence of digital cinema.

Challenges to 3-D Filmmaking
Aaron Parry, Executive Producer, Paramount Pictures
ABSTRACT: The presentation will cover the creative, production, scheduling, technical and distribution challenges to 3-D filmmaking from a major motion picture studio perspective. The presentation will also focus on specific production and financial issues related to producing 3-D features utilizing stereo cinematography, stereographic rendering, and stereoscopic conversion.

Authoring in Stereo: Rewriting the rules of visual story telling
Jim Mainard, Head of Production Development, Dreamworks Animation
ABSTRACT: Stereo filmmaking is a bright new landscape ready to be explored - due in large part to stable, high quality projection available today. Composition, light and camera are rediscovered as tools to tell stories not in the flat, but in the round. We don’t have all the answers. Instead we have many questions. The answer will be revealed in the years ahead as filmmaking is redefined, not unlike it was with the advent of sound, and later color.

In-theater Movie Commentary ... Apple & NBC ... Miller and Levinsohn unite ... Dolby digital cinema demo

- Screenwriter, director, and blogger John August has created a director's commentary for his new movie 'The Nines,' which is in limited release now. The idea is that you'd download it to your iPod and listen to it in the theater...the second time you go to see the movie. Kevin Smith apparently did the same thing for 'Clerks II.' (But Smith's commentary was never released, though, because theater owners worried it would be disruptive to other audience members.)

Peter Debruge has some thoughts on this strategy at Anne Thompson's blog. (IE, how loud will your iPod have to be to compete with the volume in the theater?)

- Apple's response to NBC's decision to pull its shows from iTunes is well worth a read. (Thanks, Andy.) Apple says it doesn't want to stop selling NBC shows in mid-season (one feature of iTunes is the ability to buy an entire season of shows as a package), so it is dropping new NBC content before the September season begins. The Wall Street Journal has a report that suggests that Apple is hoping NBC will change its mind; NBC is accusing Apple of caring more about iPod sales than the money it generates for content creators.

- Jonathan Miller, formerly CEO of AOL, and Ross Levinsohn, formerly president of Fox Interactive Media, have started a new firm to buy Internet companies, the Journal reports. (OK, now that the roll-ups are starting, this really feels like Bubble 2.0) From the piece:

The new entity, called Velocity Investment Group, is already actively scouting for acquisitions and has signed letters of intent with a few consumer-oriented Internet companies. Velocity aims to purchase start-ups in related content areas and boost their online ad revenue by selling across multiple properties. Velocity is also considering buying out companies that broker ads for other Web sites. It is being advised by the investment bank Allen & Co.

- News.com has some video from a digital cinema demo night that Dolby Labs held in San Francisco late last month. Two reactions: it's pretty funny to see film shown side-by-side with digital projection in a low-rez Internet video (obviously, you can't see the difference), and the reporter makes some broad comments about theatrical woes which don't feel all that relevant right now. (Regal Entertainment, the biggest chain of theaters, had net income of $52 million in the second quarter.)

BAVC Innovation Salon: Podcast and Video Clip

Didn't get a chance to go to 'Strange Collision' last month, a conversation about the intersection of creativity and technology here in the Bay Area. It included panelists like Stu Maschwitz from The Orphanage, Tim Partridge from Dolby Labs, Kevin Arnold from IODA, Lincoln Dean Hershberger from Electronic Arts, and animator M dot Strange. It was organized by the Bay Area Video Coaltion.

But the podcast is here (mp3 format), and M dot Strange was kind enough to point me to the very entertaining video intro he made for his part of the panel discussion.

ShoWest opens in Vegas ... Eisner dips into Web content production ... What's happening at ClickStar?

- Gregg Kilday of the Hollywood Reporter is blogging from ShoWest in Las Vegas, the annual conclave that brings together theater owners, studio execs, and lots of vendors. The Reporter also has a few ShoWest stories: Dolby's new 3-D system will compete with the system made by Real D. (Here's Dolby's press release.) A satellite services company called Microspace will be beaming the feature 'Disturbia' to ShoWest for a Tuesday screening. And finally, NATO head John Fithian admits he was wrong about the revenue potential of digital 3-D:

"I'm willing to accept the fact that I was wrong because I did not believe that 3-D would be as big of a catalyst as it is now," John Fithian, president of the National Association of Theatre Owners, said in The Hollywood Reporter's ShoWest roundtable. "3-D is becoming a much bigger value add than I originally thought. 'Chicken Little' and 'Nightmare Before Christmas' blew the socks off all our members. When you can take a product that's been around for a while and bring it out and make $9 million, that's impressive."

- Michael Eisner is launching a digital content development studio called Vuguru, according to The Wall Street Journal. (The LA Times also has coverage. From the Journal's piece:

"Vuguru's goal is to be the leader in producing high-quality, story-driven content for the Internet that up until now could only be found in movie theaters or on television," Tornante said. [Tornante is Eisner's private investment company.]

"In the past few years, the development of exciting and innovative digital media platforms and technologies has outpaced the creation of truly great content," Mr. Eisner said. "Vuguru will produce and showcase original and third party content in all genres and formats to meet the new demands of the evolving media landscape."

Here's a look at their first project, Prom Queen, which will consist of 80 episodes, each 90 seconds long. It'll show up on Veoh ( a video site Eisner has invested in ), as well as YouTube and other sites. Pretty cool experiment, but one question: how will Vuguru place advertising on the clips it posts to YouTube?

- ClickStar, the site that is a joint venture of Intel and Morgan Freeman's production company, Revelations Entertainment, has split with its interim CEO, James Ackerman, according to Variety. Lori McCreary, Freeman's co-producer at Revelations, will take over as CEO. (ClickStar's original CEO, Nizar Alibhoy, left last January.) Ben Fritz of Variety writes about the next Internet feature ClickStar will release:

Company hopes to get a second boost from "Lonely Hearts," an indie pic that will be available for download at ClickStar on April 27, two weeks after it hits theaters. True-crime story, which Roadside Attractions and Samuel Goldwyn Films are releasing, is written and directed by Todd Robinson and stars John Travolta and Salma Hayek.