"Nazi Robots 3D" Stereoscopic Student Short Film

With a name like "Nazi Robots", you might think you'll be bombarded by an eye-shearing cheese-fest, but I think you'll be pleasantly surprised.

Produced by students at the DAVE School, whose previous endeavor "The Solo Adventures 3D" is one of the most watched stereoscopic films on Vimeo, "Nazi Robots" combines live action and CG to illustrate the telling of a comic shop owner's story to his grandson. The tale Grandpa tells is about as accurate as the recent claim that Nazi 3D movies had been unearthed, but I think you'll enjoy it nonetheless. Now get out your red/cyan anaglyph glasses!

Written and directed by Jason Pichon, with VFX and Stereoscopic Supervision by Daniel Smith. Check out some behind-the-scenes photos on the DAVE School's website.

3D Music Video: OK Go's "White Knuckles" coming to Nintendo 3DS

The famously quirky OK Go have a 3D music video - and it's coming to the Nintendo 3DS! Check out the post on Eric Kurland's blog for more info.

The video has previously only been shown in 3D at their concerts and special events. It won "Best of Show (Live Action)" at this year's Stereoscopic Displays and Applications Stereo Theater. I was lucky enough to see this at a recent meeting of the New York Stereoscopic Society, and can say definitively that the whimsical charm of the music video is much more fun to watch in 3D. Made in true DIY fashion (or 3DIY, if you will), Eric Kurland shot the 3D version of the video using a small dual Canon TX1 rig with StereoData Maker to sync the two cameras.

Just to tease you a bit, here's the 2D version:

Read Nintendo's press release below for additional info.

Russian 3D Film Festival "Third Dimension" Call for Entries

 

Another new stereoscopic 3D film festival has sprung up, this time in Russia! International 3D-film Festival "Third Dimension" is now accepting entries.

Read the call for entries after the jump.

invaZion 2011 3D Short Competition deadline extended

The deadline for invaZion 2011, the 3D short competition organized by more3D, has been extended until the fall.

From their website:

"We found a new home to celebrate the invaZion even bigger and to position it more internationally. Additionally we will introduce a new platform for filmmakers and producers to make their work accessible to a broader range of international audiences. The winner ceremony will take place in autumn of 2011. The deadline for all submissions is extended until then. Please register to the newsletter – if you haven't already done yet – and we will keep you up to date. The top-notch Board of Judges and the whole invaZion team are looking forward to your films!"

3D Student Short: Frozen Fire

Here's a little stereoscopic short to start your week. In "Frozen Fire", produced by students at Hochschule Hof in Germany, "you are taken on a frightening journey as time freezes during a fire at our university". The film is a short experiment in creating the bullet time look by combining moving camera, very still actors, and some CG elements, all in 3D.



Watch the making-of after the jump.

3D Music Video: "Rocket to Uranus" by Venaboys & Perez Hilton

Something trashy and poppy for you this weekend: 90's eurodance group Vengaboys comes back in 3DD!



They've only posted a full color anaglyph, so the saturated colors don't look so great, but we hope you'll enjoy it nonetheless. Oh, and it's probably NSFW.

Check the making-of video after the jump.

Stereoscopic 3D Film Festival Guide

So, you've made your first 3D film, and you want to share it with the world. What's a filmmaker to do? 

Here's a list of film festivals that will screen 3D films. Some are regular film festivals, some are 3D exclusive, some are conferences with screenings, so the works that screen at each can vary pretty widely. Submitting your film to some of these may grant the festival TV/VOD/streaming rights to your film beyond the screening, with no financial reimbursement to you, so ALWAYS read the fine print on submission forms.

• 3D Korea International Film Festival (South Korea, est. 2010)
•   3D film festival
•   http://www.3dkiff.org

• 3D Stereo Media - Film Festival (Belgium)
• 3D conference with competitive 3D screening
• http://www.3dmedia2010.com/en/3d-film-festival-0

• BeFilm the Underground Film Festival (USA, est. 2004)
• mainstream film festival with competitive 3D category (as of 2009)
• screens in Dolby 3D
• http://www.befilm.net

• Dimension3 Expo (France)
• conference with 3D screening
• screens with dual projectors
• http://www.dimension3-expo.com

• FirstGlance Film Festival - Philadelphia (United States, est. 1996)
• mainstream film festival with competitive 3D category (as of 2011)
• screens in IMAX 3D
• only selected one 3D film in 2011
• http://www.firstglancefilms.com

• Dogville 3D Film Festival (Spain, est. 2011)
• competitive 3D film festival
•   http://www.dogvillefestival.com

•   InVazion (Germany, 2009-2010)
• former 3D short film competition
• did not run in 2011 
• http://www.invazion.org

• LA 3-D Movie Festival (USA, est. 2004)
• competitive 3D film festival
• screens in polarized projection
• http://la3dfest.com

• National Stereoscopic Association - Stereo Theatre (USA)
• 3D convention with competitive 3D screening (including 3D video and photography)
• screens in polarized projection
• http://stereoworld.org/2011/theatre.html

• New Media Film Festival (USA)
• mainstream film festival with competitive 3D category (as of 2011)
• http://www.newmediafilmfestival.com 

• The One Minutes Belgian Open (Belgium)
• mainstream one-minute film competition with competitive 3D category (as of 2011)
• http://www.theoneminutes.be

• Seoul International Extreme - Short Image & Film Festival (South Korea)
• mainstream short film festival with non-competitive 3D screening (in 2010)
• http://sesiff.org/program/program06_1.asp

• Short & Sweet 3D (England)
• weekly short film festival with a separate 3D screening (as of 2010)
• http://www.shortandsweet.tv/3D.html

• Short Shorts Film Festival & Asia (Japan, est. 1999)
• mainstream film festival with 3D screening (as of 2010)
• screening submission includes giving the festival Japanese broadcast TV rights (in 2011)
• http://www.shortshorts.org

• Stereoscopic Displays and Applications 3D Theater (USA, est. 2006)
• conference with competitive 3D screening
• screens in polarized projection
• http://www.stereoscopic.org/3dcinema/index.html

Titeuf 3D: French Stereoscopic Animated Feature

"Titeuf - le film 3D" is a French animated film coming to French theaters April 4th. A coproduction between Pathé, Moonscoop, Point Prod, and France 3 Cinéma, the film follows the adventures of Titeuf, a popular French cartoon character.

Titeuf was born as a comic by Zep, quickly rising to become one of the most read comics in France, then adapted into an animated TV show, and now into a feature-length film. American audiences will likely not get to see this one, as the character's series has never been broadcast in the States.



Sadly, they have only posted a 2D trailer online, so it's impossible to tell yet how well done the 3D is. But the production value of the film looks very high from the 2D trailer. They wisely chose to stick with the hand-drawn animation style. A CG version might've looked something like this:



While you may be tempted to think this is the first stereoscopic hand-drawn animated film, there have been several produced sporadically in the past. Check after the jump for a short list of the theatrically-released hand-drawn animated films.

Creepy Stop Motion Short: MEAT Mold 3D

To brighten up your dreary Monday afternoon, here's a little something short and sweet produced by CalArts student Brent Johnson in 2008.


MEAT Mold 3D from brent johnson on Vimeo. Watch with anaglyph (red/cyan) glasses.

You can find more of Brent's work on his website.

Dogville 3D Film Festival

The Dogville 3D Film Festival (formerly FICS-3D), running April 15th & 16th, is the first stereoscopic 3D short film festival to be held in Spain. Deadline for entries is March 31st. There is no entry fee or limit on the number of entries per person.

Any works ranging from fiction, "reportage", animation, experimental, and documentary will be considered. Films can be submitted to one of three competitive categories: Professional, Amateur, and Animation. The festival's website is unclear about how it defines the distinction between "professional" and "amateur" 3D works. Winning films will be broadcast on Televisió de Catalunya, S.A. (TV3).

Their website is not available in English, but they do have an English entry regulations form for those of you interested in submitting films.

Music Video - Krause "Follow Me"

Directed by Daniel Nogueira and performed by Susanne Clermonts (Krause), "Follow Me" is a music video that creates a visual manifestation of the cerebral process of losing yourself.

Krause Follow Me 3D Stereo from OPTIX Digital Pictures on Vimeo.

Instead of using a conventional 3D camera rig, they used a 3D scanner, recording the performance as cloud point data that can be manipulated in CG software, cleaned it up, and rendered it out in stereoscopic 3D. They have a breakdown of the process on OPTIX Digital Pictures' website.

Unfortunately they've only posted an anaglyph excerpt of the stereoscopic version, but you can enjoy the entire video in 2D after the jump.


Krause Follow Me Making of from OPTIX Digital Pictures on Vimeo.

The process is similar to Radiohead's "House of Cards" music video, though OPTIX Digital Pictures pushed this technique much further to create a very unique work.


House of Cards anaglyph'd from Max Braun on Vimeo.

Zapruder filmmakersgroup: Italian arthouse 3D (NSFW)

Forget the Berlinale press releases proclaiming Werner Herzog wandering around some caves is the height of arthouse 3D. This is what arthouse 3D looks like.

Zapruder filmmakersgroup is a group of avant-garde Italian filmmakers, founded in 2000 by David Zamagni, Nadia Ranocchi and Monaldo Moretti. This website encompasses works spanning from 2005 to 2010. To quote the group: "Zapruder's work creeps into the interstitial between visual, performance and cinematographic arts." Their films have screened and won awards at several European film festivals.

To say much more than that would undermine the spirit of their work. Click here to check out their site. The videos are all red/cyan anaglyph. And as with all good art, their website is not safe for work.

3D Student Shorts from Indiana University

The following are three cute 3D shorts produced at Indiana University's Stereoscopic Digital Production workshop. It's great to see students venturing into 3D film production and universities supporting it.

While there is visible sync drift in each one and a bit of keystoning here and there, the total parallax in these is low enough to make for comfortable viewing. The overall production value is very high for student films and the 3D is well done for what I presume is first attempts at the medium by the students. My favorite is "Sparks", the most creative of the three.

The major undoing of these is Youtube's half-assed update of the yt3d tags, now causing some videos to play pseudoscopic (aka the left and right eyes are swapped), which might change by the time you're reading this. If the 3D doesn't look quite right, try toggling on the "Swap Left/Right" on the 3D menu.


"Gone Nuts"


"Sparks"


"Tough Love"

I hope the students learning 3D production at IU and other universities take the time and use their resources to experiment with stereoscopy on their own, exploring what all can be done with the medium beyond the basics.

3D Music Video made with iPhones

Some of you may be wondering why the blog was sparsely updated last month. It's not been for lack of news; between Caves of Forgotten Dreams and Pina, the JVC 3D camera price drop to $1,699.95, and the growth of 3D video sites like 3df33d and 3DVision Live, there's been more than enough blog-worthy events. It's because I've been busy working on a 3D music video.

Editor's note: I made this. We will return next week with our regularly-scheduled blogging. 

Below is a music video for "Changes We Don't Understand", a song by my friend Luke Hagendorf. It was made one brisk day in January using two iPhones, the Almost DSLR app, and a few weeks of post work in Final Cut. We originally made this for an iPhone-made movie competition, but decided to release it online ourselves.



(press play, then use the menu at the bottom right to pick your 3D format and watch in HD)

The upcoming wave of cell phones, tablets, etc. with 3D cameras will soon become the most affordable 3D recording devices on the market, greatly democratizing the process of creating 3D video. I expect we'll see a wave of indie 3D mobile-made cinema in the next few years, without all the hassle of trying to mount and align two phones.

Check out our iPhone 3D tests after the jump.