Balance of Expo 3D

Yesterday I attended the day of Expo 3D dedicated to the cinema part (in these remaining days will take place the conferences on 3DTV, video games, ect) For reasons of work and pocket (the entrance to the conferences costs 100€ per day) it is not possible for me to attend the rest although the truth is that I think they are interesting.

There were many of the professionals who are doing stereoscopy today in Spain. But as in everything in this life there were pluses and minuses, I will briefly tell you a balance of the talks.

• Introduction to 3D: Alfredo Gonzalez (University of Zaragoza). His task was to give a technical introduction to 3D and in my opinion he was more than short and confusing. I am no expert in the basic theory of 3D and after his talk I stayed the same as I was, he arrived half an hour late and with a power point of which he saw half of the slides. He took advantage of his time to advertise what is done in his department at the Uv. Zaragoza. It is true that from the beginning he was sincere and acknowledged that he had not been able to prepare the talk for serious family reasons, which excuses him (video format more important than a person has not yet arrived).
• 3D Preproduction: Carlos Valladares (Technicolor) and Ma. Luisa Gutierrez (Amiguetes Entert). Very illustrative brief talk about the problems in pre-production of Torrente 4, clear and concise. In a talk in the afternoon (which I could not attend because I had to coincide with another one) they extended more the subject of the making of the film.
• 3D shooting: Rafa Roche (freelance dop). The talk was scheduled to be given by Pol Turrents but he could not attend. Instead Rafa explained problems and solutions of a 3D shooting from the point of view of the director of photography. I think it was a more than practical and fun talk, Rafa’s experience as a trainer is very noticeable.
• 3D realization: Jordi Llompart (Director of “Magic Journey to Africa”) Jordi briefly told some aspects of the 3D realization although at the end he also talked about the problems of distribution, audience, etc. Perhaps a little more technical information was missing but it was still quite useful.
• Postproduction: J. M. Aragones (Apuntolapospo), Miguel Angel Doncel (SGO) and Chema Alba (Fotofilm). The most technical talk and for me (I’m dedicated to this, of course) the most practical. They talked both from the technical point of view of the product manufacturer (Mistika) and from the point of view of the colorist and postproduction director. VERY interesting.
• 3D Sound. Josep Molins (Imm Sound). Josep told us about his product (Imm Sound) of immersive sound. It was useful to have an idea of the type of sound used today in movie theaters but missed some other point of view. After all he came to present his product.

After lunch, two events overlapped: a round table on the making of Torrente 4 and another on the conversion of 2D to 3D material. I decided to attend the second one, not without some discomfort with the organization of the event that puts several things at the same time (should I therefore ask for a discount on my ticket?

Antonio Bejar (3DAdver), Pablo Herrero (VIZRT), Daniel Cadavieco (Teranex), Federico Isabal (JVC), Vanessa Ruiz-Larrea (Fotofilm) and Miguel Angel Doncel (SGO) were talking about the differences and complements between “real” 3D (the one shot with two cameras) and the converted one. Due to the event overcrowding (and the general affluence was not excessive) this round table was listened to by less than 25 people, although the truth is that it was illustrative.

Parallel to the event, there were two types of equipment presentations: professional (four stands, no more) and domestic (at four o’clock in the afternoon when I went to see them, they were not yet set up at Kinépolis).

Unfortunately, I was unable to attend the Kinepolis screenings of “Torrente 4” and “Avatar, special edition”.

SUMMARY: It is the first time that this congress is convened in Spain and we must value the initiative and forgive the logistical errors of the first times. I think it was and will be a useful congress in many ways for all audiovisual professionals if the 3D is maintained as it seems that it will do. However I can not help but say that I find it too expensive, I agree to pay to attend in order to maintain the event, but 100 € for the four days would be reasonable (not per day). After all, many of the presentations are product presentations by manufacturers (do I have to pay to hear advertising?).

This fact, together with the high specialization of the event and its lack of publicity, caused the attendance to be low. Let’s hope that little by little 3D will be established and the congress will gain in organization and attendance.