Saturday, May 18, 2013

Man Of Steel 3D - Behind The Scenes

UPDATE - we've now reviewed Man Of Steel's post-converted 3D.

In the lead-up to June 14th, we're getting more and more footage released for the upcoming film, Man Of Steel. The Superman flick is being post-converted into 3D (which we can't imagine producer Christopher Nolan is very happy about). Perhaps proving how forgettable Superman Returns was, many news agencies and bloggers have incorrectly reported that Man Of Steel is the caped boy scout's first 3D outing. It's fair to say that Steel's director, Zac Snyder, is wary of Returns' luke-warm reception. The 3D footage used in that film was intermittent, with long periods of time passing in 2D. Snyder has upped the stakes by saying, "anticipating how audiences today embrace 3D, we designed and photographed the movie in a way that would allow Man of Steel to captivate those movie goers." Indeed, Man Of Steel is actually Zac Snyder's second 3D film; the first being the atrociously-titled Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole. That movie certainly had its 'visual moments', with Snyder employing fantastic depth in some of its flying scenes. Steel looks like it will build on his work in that area, and some of the footage we've viewed in theatres looks absolutely stunning. 

So, what do you make of the footage being released of the new superhero epic? Will it improve on Ga'Hoole and Returns' 3D?

Wednesday, May 1, 2013

Steven Soderbergh's 'State Of Cinema' Address



Last weekend, at the San Francisco International Film Festival, Steven Soderbergh delivered a tour de force speech that aptly sums up the Hollywood movie industry in 2013. He covers box-office grosses, theatre admissions, marketing strategies, numbers of films released per year, insider stories, and his own thoughts on how to improve 'the studio system'. While he doesn't specifically address 3D film, he does infer strongly that studios are spending more, on fewer films, to earn more money. How does this have anything to do with 3D? Well, one can see this logic in play with the release pattern of 3D films: while there are fewer films per year being greenlit with a budget of $10 million, there are more 'tent-pole' releases having $10 million added to their already-massive budgets to convert or shoot the blockbuster in 3D. We'll be covering some of this ground next week in a three part special that asks "is 3D still a fad?" but for now you can watch (or read the transcription) the highly entertaining Soderbergh deliver his thoughts: