FEATURE: Magic - A Matt Sconce Film

Anyway, I personally prefer 2D. Even something like Avatar I prefer in 2D. I used to see everything in 3D, but it quickly lost it's luster... I think the experience is better for theme park rides than movie theaters.
 
Brandon Rice said:
Anyway, I personally prefer 2D. Even something like Avatar I prefer in 2D. I used to see everything in 3D, but it quickly lost it's luster... I think the experience is better for theme park rides than movie theaters.
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I absolutely feel the opposite. If a movie is oit in 3D, i will watch that version over the 2D version. I like "being there" as opposed to watching a flat image. To each their own.:thumbsup:
 
I have never felt "there" since Avatar, and even with that, the experience on 2D Bluray at home was just as good. Content is king. A good story and script is a perfect experience, regardless of 2D or 3D.

That is where you should be focusing your efforts at this phase of the game. We have been working for several months on story development and script writing, and have put absolutely no thought into what or how we'll be shooting. The story and script are what will make or break a film.
 
I absolutely agree that content is the most important thing. 3D is just a tool used to tell a story. You have to know what you are doing, but if your story sucks, the film will too. In "Magic" our content freaking rocks. Story is already in place, appreciated and approved by people involved in the project, read and raved about by people in the industry I respect, and currently being read by people that will "make" the project if they sign on. We are to the next phase: what do we shoot on, 2D or 3D, who are we targeting as leads, financing, how do we succeed with our goal of a profitable wide scale theatrical release? Those are the questions we are having to ask now. I know it seems fast to many in the story generation phase of "Magic" but it is one of those freak things that has just worked extremely well. We are excited and moving forward.:dankk2:
 
Matt Sconce said:
I absolutely agree that content is the most important thing. 3D is just a tool used to tell a story. You have to know what you are doing, but if your story sucks, the film will too. In "Magic" our content freaking rocks. Story is already in place, appreciated and approved by people involved in the project, read and raved about by people in the industry I respect, and currently being read by people that will "make" the project if they sign on. We are to the next phase: what do we shoot on, 2D or 3D, who are we targeting as leads, financing, how do we succeed with our goal of a profitable wide scale theatrical release? Those are the questions we are having to ask now. I know it seems fast to many in the story generation phase of "Magic" but it is one of those freak things that has just worked extremely well. We are excited and moving forward.:dankk2:
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Just be absolutely sure... it hasn't been a strong suit thus far. Your visuals have been fantastic, but the stories could be much better... Take the time you need bro, don't rush it :) You'll be happy you didn't.

Trust me.
 
We will make sure. The feedback from the people who read "Magic" helped alot. Like I said earlier and can say confidently... It freakin rocks. Now onto the next phase! Of course, if some of the feedback coming in helps it "freakin rock" more, that will be awesome! I hope to have more info in the coming week to 2 weeks.
 
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Aftershock visit to Kerner Group for 3D Seminar

Aftershock visit to Kerner Group for 3D Seminar

5073705233_c42f385c2a_b.jpg We left for Troy Ruff's house.
We got Troy and then headed over to the San Francisco area from Yosemite.
5074303200_79e52e5d8d_b.jpgIt is always fun to be together. We can do a lot of brainstorming in the car when we all are stuck for a few hours. We crossed over San Francisco Bay to San Rafael, CA.
5073705039_c8bab9fe79_b.jpgIt was a completely beautiful day on the coast. When we got to Kerner we were around 1 hour early... So we went in... We caught Dean Yurke (Industrial Light and Magic, post procudtion guru of Avatar) and some cameramen putting together the 3D Kernercams for filming the 3D presentation.
5074302982_c9ff29ef28_b.jpgBehind Matt is the President of Kerner Group, Tim Partridge. Tim played a critical role in the adoption of Surround Sound and Dolby Digital sound in film industries around the world. He is one of the leaders in the development of Dolby 3D sound for 3D films. Wow...

Matt, Troy and Tim discussed 3D concepts and the guys picked Tim's brain on some 3D questions they had. Tim was gracious, professional and very knowledgable.
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We felt sorry for Kerner as they only had these small, inferior cameras to place on the Kernercam 3D rig... (Sony F23 CineAlta cameras)
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Here is one of the complete Kernercam 3D setups... Geez... The liquid head alone is worth more than my car...
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Here it is: A Kernercam3D rig. They run two linked zooms, two linked focuses, move the bottom camera left and right for interocular 3D depth, and then toe in the bottom left camera for convergence, all by remote control. I was in geek heaven to hang even near this rig.

More later... --Gary
 
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Kerner Group Trip Continued...

Kerner Group Trip Continued...

Matt and Dean Yurke (ILM) talked for a long time. Dean has written a screenplay called GOLDEN and will be directing the feature in 3D at Kerner. Dean (Avatar) is such a cool guy! He is talented (beyond normal human-ness) and is just a really nice guy.
Here Matt, Troy and Dean chat. They had such a fun time!
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We then sat down for the International 3D, 'Do's and Don'ts' event.
5073707125_236e9aa7dd_b.jpgThere were around 200 people invited. It was a powerful group.
Matt, Troy and I had the best seats in the house.
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The panel comprised the who's who of the 3D world: L to R: Eric Edmeades, CEO KERNER Group; Bob Whitehill, PIXAR; John Knoll, INDUSTRIAL LIGHT AND MAGIC; John Nicolard, FOTOKEM, "Jack Ass 3D"; and Art Repola, DISNEY.
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They took questions and gave amazing answers for one hour, and then we partied! Eric had hired a band and there was mucho libation to be had by all. I had cake, a roast beef sandwich and water.

Here Dean Yurke and Matt found STRICKEN star DAVID FINE and his friend. David will be in Dean's feature GOLDEN.
5073706893_95593c271d_b.jpg David is such a talented pro of an actor. I recommend him to anyone who needs a solid actor in a lead role in your movie. He is also a heck of a funny, nice guy.
David gets to play a bad guy in GOLDEN. He and Matt chatted about what he has been up to after wrapping STRICKEN.
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We met up with our friend Anthony De Longis, well known actor and weapons master, and we all started playing with the Kernercams. Whoot! What a load of fun.
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More later... -Gary
 
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I just realized that I had an invite to that event. After looking at the great group im going to go kick myself for not attending.
 
Kerner Group 3D Event Notes

Kerner Group 3D Event Notes

I took some random notes from the speakers, so here are a few things gleaned... These are not exact quotes, but summaries of quotes as I was writing as fast as I could write after my HV30 battery died inside of 2 minutes and I, strangely, didn't have another in my pocket. I will parenthesize at the end of comments to explain the context of the statement. -Gary
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John Nicolard, Fotokem - "... Shoot it right! Stereo depends on a broad depth of space. (*Gary: Plan your 'Z' spacing of objects in the scene well.)

John Knoll, ILM - Wide vistas do not show good stereo depth. In closer gives the actual depth. That's where stereo works best. (*Gary: John was talking about the challenges his team is going through in re-mastering the STAR WARS episodes in stereo. He can't do much with the wides, but pulls the viewers back with the close-ups that George Lucas strategically placed in the film.)

John Nicloard - Past 18 feet, you may lose 3D. (*Gary: John was specifying that in your blocking of a shot you have to plan for 3D action being inside of 15-18 feet.)

Art Repola, Disney - We are shooting the new PIRATES with parallel cameras and doing all of the 3D convergence and interocular distance settings in post. (*Gary: Wow...post $$$)

Bob Whitehill, Pixar - ... You are essentially a cyclops at 50ft. ... Visual cues can move 3D in and out to share emotion in a film. (*Gary: He referred to the animated UP and how his team used wider interocular distance in the happy times and made the 3D flattened in the sad times. He told how they now, as a rule, move the stereo in and out for changes in character arcs.)

John Knoll - ...Is stereo a gimmick?... If you use it as a gimmick it will be. If you use it as an appropriate tool in your set of tools to tell a wonderful story, it is very useful.

Art Repola - ... If you take the time and you do it right, doing it as an artistic process it can come out right (*Gary: for the audience.) ... If you can do a shot or a film better in 2D then do it. It is all about the story.

John Nicloard - We need to make good movies. If it is good in 3D then the audience will want to see it.

Bob Whitehill - I am excited about a 3D option as it can be a great addition to the overall experience (*Gary: When part of a good story.) ...Plan your production design well for 3D. You can use deeply framed shots to give depth... and make more choices in that depth.

John Knoll - When you are shooting in 3D you have a "Stereo Budget" for each shot. An object too close in the foreground can use up that stereo budget. We found we had to remove some of the close objects (*Gary: As they are working their way through STAR WARS 3D.)

>> There was a lot of discussion by the panel regarding a, "Floating Window." The floating window is where you pull the convergence forward from the 'screen position' for the viewer and make an artificial 'screen position' in front of the real screen. This is done to eliminate the optical confusion created for the viewer when parts of actors or other on-screen objects are at the edge, and will have some pixels cut off in one 3D viewing eye and others not cut off by the other eye. John Cameron (Avatar, Titanic) is absolutely against using a floating window in all cases. Art Repola of Disney is a recent convert to floating windows, and Bob Whitehill and the Pixar guys are completely sold on using floating windows to help the overall experience to be with as little distraction as possible.

(*Gary: After hearing the arguments for and against, we at Aftershock will be using floating windows, in the way Pixar is using them.)

All of the above movie makers would love to have a common and standardized projector in all theaters to stop from having to make so many versions of their films for so many brightness challenged theater chains. From hearing them, this is an expensive and troublesome problem.

SUMMARY: All of the above including the creative team of Eric Edmeades and Tim Partridge at Kerner Group love to use 3D appropriately to make films better and tell the story better. They are totally against just using 3D as a gimmick to try to get a surcharge on a crummy movie, and sited some who have done that in the last two years. They are worried about crappy 3D movies being distributed and 'poisoning the well' for the truly good 3D movies. They believe that 3D is here to stay and refer to the new technology that will soon be available for 3D with NO GLASSES. Having 3D with 'eyes only' at the theater and on home televisions will set the 3D film art in stone and standardize it. Yet, they admitted, 4D is coming someday to a theater near you...

:shocked: -Gary
 
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After searching, we have found our lead little girl for MAGIC. This is a role that will change people, and after a brilliant audition, I can announce the role of Rachel Ward will be played by Hannah Eisenmann! Pictures Below! She can act like crazy!:thumbsup: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm3847119/


DSC_0056 MAGIC side profile .jpgphoto(3).jpgphoto(4).jpgm grey serious full.jpg
 
We watched Hannah do her thing in her audition and were very impressed. This little girl has an ability to really feel the part of Rachel Ward. Heck, she IS Rachel Ward.
 
Seeing as you're casting, are you going into production independently? I was under the impression you were either selling this script or meeting with bigger producers to finance it. But maybe you are. I only ask cause kids grow up pretty quick, so you guys must be close to shooting?
 
We want to shoot within a year partnering with the biggies and in 3d. The character of Rachel Ward is 10-12 years old in the script. HannaH is 9 at the moment so it is perfect. As long as we make this in the next 2-3 years we are good. She is an amazing little actress, like a Dakota Fanning. Her role was going to be the hardest to cast because the part of Rachel Ward is very demanding and if the little girl does not ha e the chops to do it then the movie wouldn't impact people.

If we have not partnered with people and end up having to make this independently like Stricken, we will but i doubt that will happen. It appears we will have funding this time and some big players are interested. I hope to know more soon.
 
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