American Cinematographer - April 2008 - (Page 52)

With 3-D productions on the rise, an ASC associate member and recent editor of the American Cinematographer Manual offers a primer on the principles of stereoscopic cinematography. by Rob Hummel T he entire breadth of stereoscopic cinematography, more often called 3-D, is more complex than one article can cover. This piece is intended as a primer on the basic constructs of this complex medium, one that I hope will encourage further research on the subject. In order to save some ink, we will cave to convention and henceforth refer to stereoscopic cinematography as “3-D.” Before we begin the discussion, let’s first define some terms. Left Eye: Refers to photographed images intended to be seen only by a person’s left eye. This term can refer to the lens or camera that is capturing the left-eye images, or the left-eye images projected in a theater. Right Eye: Photographed images intended to be seen only by a person’s right eye. In 3-D cinematography, this is often called the “master eye” or “dominant eye.” Stereoscopic: Refers to the dual imagery obtained when viewed from two vantage points slightly offset horizontally from one another. Quite simply, this is what we observe with both eyes simultaneously; it gives a sense of dimensionality to objects closer than 13'-16'. Also called “binocular vision.” Monocular Depth Perception: Refers to depth perception not requiring dual image cues, or the depth perception that comes into play with objects farther than 13'16' away. Convergence: What happens with the human visual system as two images seen with the left and right eyes become overlaid, creating one image. When looking at an object at infinity, your eyes are looking straight ahead (Fig. 1). Convergence happens when stereoscopic depth perception comes into play, i.e., when objects you are targeting/ focusing on are closer than 13'-16' (Fig. 2). When focused at infinity, objects close to you appear as two transparent images; as you converge on those close objects, they become one solid image, and objects in the background become double images. In 3-D cinematography, convergence is when the two taking lenses are aimed to converge on a single point in space. Screen Plane: The position in a theater where the projection surface is located; a vertical plane coincident with the screen that helps define where objects appear in front of, behind or on the screen. Plane of Convergence: The vertical plane where your eyes are directed to converge on a 3-D object. If an object appears to be floating in front of the movie screen, the plane of convergence is where that object appears to be. The same 52 April 2008

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of American Cinematographer - April 2008

American Cinematographer - April 2008 Contents Editor's Note Global Village: The Counterfeiters Short Takes: Milia Production Slate: Paranoid Park Production Slate: All the Boys Love Mandy Lane Card Sharks Temple of Doom 3-D Cinematography Sundance 2008: Mining for Movies Post Focus: Digital Film Tree Gets into Peyote Post Focus: FotoKem’s 3-D Workflow Post Focus: Technicolor Digs in at Pinewood Filmmakers’ Forum: Steven Fierberg, ASC on Searchers 2.0 New Products & Services International Marketplace Classified Ads Ad Index Clubhouse News ASC Close-Up: Rodney Taylor

American Cinematographer - April 2008

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