Ashish Mittal is the CEO & Surabhi Khetan Mittal is a Creative Director at Skywork Studios.
Skywork is into live action stereoscopic 3D and digital film production services.
Skywork is into live action stereoscopic 3D and digital film production services.
Tell us something about 3D Stereoscopy
In essence, Stereoscopy is an illusion of depth that is created when “two†same pictures are taken from different angles and previewed together. The human brain fuses the disparity between these 2 pictures to produce 3D depth.
Filmmaker's biggest challenge and goal is to replicate the real world depth that we all see as humans and to provide a “being there†experience for the cinema audience.
There are mainly two ways that Stereoscopic 3D films are made.
One way is to shoot a film in 3D “nativelyâ€, where framing, lighting and production design of the shots are viewed and composed “live on setâ€. This method of shooting native 3D is preferred over 2D to 3D conversion as it provides better understanding of depth in a shot, which allows better designing of depth graph for an immersive story telling.
The other method is to shoot a movie like a regular (2D) film and use 2D to 3D conversion to add depth. However, conversion doesn't really give the same natural quality of depth as native shooting. Although some films like Titanic, Avengers, etc. have achieved a very good level of 2D to 3D depth conversion, but by paying huge amounts of 15 to 20 million US dollars.
3D Stereoscopy and its place in narrative cinema?
Like sound & color even depth has a visual vocabulary that alters narrative cinema.
For example Martin Scorsese's film Hugo had an opening sequence largely without dialogue. The establishing shot is of snow falling over Paris, and then moving through the railway station, then up to the face of Hugo peering through the number 4 on a huge clock. With the use of Stereo 3D one is able to absorb and experience the space and it's characters very naturally and realistically.
In another scene as (Sacha Baron Cohen) a station inspector slowly leans forward to warn Hugo, you can see from Hugo's POV the station inspector invading his space in an intimidating manner, which has a deliberately exaggerated depth to enhance the emotion of the scene.
Even the films like “Gravityâ€, “The Great Gatsbyâ€, Pina, Transformers, X-Men, etc. have enhanced the immersive nature of the film using 3D as a tool to provide the audience a true experience of the character's space and emotions. Each location in a 3D film also behaves like a character; since, 3D if used properly becomes a window to reality.
3D is not a gimmick but a storytelling device that adds emotions and intensity. It should be an immersive experience.
Tell us something about your company.
Skywork has evolved into “live - action Stereoscopic 3D Producers â€, as we believe that 3D films are the future of cinema. Since, as humans we see in 3 dimensions, and films should be made as we see in real life.
Our Team
After being trained in LA as professional Stereographers & 3D technicians, Ashish & Surabhi came to India with a vision to reform the industry. We believe that with the right technology and skilled crew, we could setup a benchmark for high concept & quality stereoscopic 3D films being made in India. Our company Skywork Studios is a specialist in stereoscopic 3D filmmaking and provides ‘end-to-end solutions'.
To achieve their goals of becoming stereoscopic cinematic professionals Ashish & Surabhi have worked in positions ranging from 3D rig technicians to convergence pullers, 3D Engineer, Stereographer and Stereo 3D Post Supervisors.
We have trained our 3D team in India to be fast and efficient using our fully automated 3D technology. Our team understands that a 3D shoot requires precision & speed to get the optimum stereoscopic quality. We ensure that shooting in 3D is an enjoyable creative experience and not a battle with technology.
Our 3D Setup
Our 3D setup consists of a fully automated 3D Rig known as the “TS5†by 3ality, Red Dragons cameras and Ultra Primes lenses. The fully built up TS5 rig setup weighs about 25kgs, the rig can be mounted on a Jimmy Jib, techno crane, can be used handheld or on a steadicam. Shooting speed on our setup is faster than any other 3D technology in the world. Many recent biggest budget 3D films in Hollywood were shot using the similar setup TS5 and Red Epics/Dragons, i.e. Transformers 4, Exodus: Gods and Kings, The Hobbit (all parts), The Great Gatsby, Jack and the Giant Slayer, The Amazing Spiderman, Step Up: Revolution, etc. Being the first choice of the best filmmakers in the world, this setup is the best 3D setup available worldwide and now also in India.
How is shooting 3D different from shooting regular cinema?
Shooting for a Stereoscopic 3D film changes how one chooses to compose a shot. The choice of placing the cameras, selecting the lenses or framing, lighting for better depth, are all the criteria to be consulted with the skilled Stereographers by the DOP/Director for achieving good 3D results.
Since, the technology has now evolved and by using the state of the art 3D rigs like the TS-5, now filmmakers can shoot a 3D film at the speed of a 2D film. Overall shooting a 3D film requires more planning, as the size and weight of the camera is double that of a regular digital camera. However, with the right pre-planning, we can now shoot a 3D film as if shooting a regular film.
What is the post and edit workflow?
Post Production for 3D
Transcoding
Once the footage is backed up onto hard disks, we then transcode the Red (R3D) files to MXF or MOV files for both left and right eyes.
Editing
Editing also slightly changes for a 3D film; since, to perceive depth in a shot, audience needs to be able to register it properly. Therefore, slow editing is suggested for a 3D film. Even an action film like Transformers 4 has a much slower edit than its predecessors. The editor sets up his timeline to edit like a regular (2D) film, but previews it in 3D.
DI
Conforming
After the edit is locked, the Coformist in a DI Lab then ensures the offline edit matches the online files.
Colour Matching
Once the Conforming is done, the colourist then colour corrects the Left eye camera to match the right eye. Some of the high end grading platforms like Mistika, Baselight, Pablo, Da Vinci, etc. do this is an automatic process.
Depth Balancing
After the colour matching is done, the Post Supervising – Stereographer along with colourist corrects the depth jumps that occur between shots. This makes the film feel very smooth between each cut.
Grading
Once the Depth Balancing is done the colourist then grades the right eye camera footage like a regular film and applies the same grade to the colour matched left eye camera footage. Depending on the budget of the film Pablo, Baselight, DaVinci or Mistika, are used for grading purposes. The more expensive Grading softwares usually provide built in tools that save a lot of colourists time.
What happens to TV and other releases of cinema shot in 3D (Online, DVD, in-flight etc.)?
There is an increase in demand for 3D televisions. A lot of buyers are enthusiastically purchasing blue rays & DVDs for watching movies that are made in 3D. But we are in a Catch 22 situation as there is lack of 3D content because there is a lack of 3D preview screens available.
There is also a huge audience world over that is looking for better comfort solutions for 3D entertainment. With introduction of auto - stereoscopic 3D TV, commercially referred to as Auto 3D TV, (watching 3D without 3D glasses) the market for 3D TV is only going to grow. We believe the market will be flooded with 3D TV channels and like Color TV and 3D TV will eventually become the norm. Similarly once more and more Auto 3D screen preview formats are introduced we will see more 3D everywhere, example on flights, Internet, etc.
What are the common misconceptions/perceptions about 3D?
1) Doesn't fit the genre.
It's a common cliché that 3D works well for genres like horror & superhero films only. In fact the first 3D movie ever previewed in the theatres was called the Power of love, a love story. A Classic, a drama like The Great Gatsby was lately remade in 3D, Hugo, Life of Pi all had great drama & adventure in them.
Hollywood's biggest Filmmakers like James Cameron, Ridley Scott, Martin Scorsese, Peter Jackson; all swear by 3D and say that hereafter they would want all their movies to be made in 3D.
2) 3D is extremely time consuming.
Since most of the big budget international movies are now being shot with this 3D technology. Filmmakers around the globe have realized that shooting a 3D film with big stars is not a problem anymore.
For instance, Pizza 3D was shot in just 40 days and Rudhramadevi 3D was shot in 180 days. Both the films had different requirements. 3D is not time consuming but filmmakers need to be better planned and prepared to adapt to it. Our skilled 3D crew & right technology does provide the same speed and ease as that of regular 2D filming.
3) Shooting 3D is extremely expensive or one needs to make a big budget movie only?
We did a small budget UTV & Bejoy Nambiar film Pizza in 2014 with a budget of Rs. 4.5 crores. We also recently wrapped shooting “Rudhramadevi †in Hyderabad which is the first Indian 3D historical feature film with an approximate budget of Rs. 60 crores. Rudhramadevi has a very good team with Award Winning Costume Designer Neeta Lulla, to National award winning Art Director Totha Tharani and is being directed by an award winning director Gunasekhar Karri. Ilaiyaraaja, Anushka Shetty, Prakash Raj, Allu Arjun, Baba Sehgal, are all part of this big film production. So making a 3D film is possible for small budgets as well as multi starrer films now, as the technology has already evolved.
Our films have been very well perceived in 3D and it is really a myth that only a small or a big budget can be made in 3D. Every movie has its limitation and we believe in finding a way to make it work, as our primary intent is to create the best 3D content within the required budget.
Reasons you think 3D should succeed?
As the time progresses and technology evolves to the glasses free 3D projection, just like color, 3D too will become a standard. We believe that 3D is the future of cinema; since, our films should look like the way we see the world as humans making the experience that much more real. Progressive filmmakers have embraced 3D and have seen exemplary results at the box office. At the box office Hollywood and Bollywood have both cashed in on 3D films.
Globally over 80% of the world's nearly 135,000 cinema screens are now digital. There's been a large increase of 3D screen installments in theaters. For films like Guardians of the Galaxy, The Great Gatsby, X-Men: Days of Future Past, The Amazing Spiderman, etc. 3D screens accounted for approximately 40% of the total revenue for the films. Films like Captain America 2 were even fighting with Maleficent and Edge of Tomorrow for the 3D screens.
In India there are about 500-600 screens available for a 3D film as of today. This number should increase to about 800 screens by next year. So this allows a film to have exclusivity in many 3D screens due to lack of enough 3D films being made in India. This allows filmmakers to tap a much higher potential for 3D films compared to regular 2D Film, which are competing for screens with multiple films releasing every week.
