Spring Forward in 3-D

The spring meeting of the 3-D Movie/Video Division of the SCSC took place in La Crescenta on Saturday, April 8, 2006. The group congregated at 5:00 for a steak barbecue. SCSC president-elect, Jeff Amaral, did an amazing job of barbecuing steaks to the degree of doneness requested by over thirty hungry movie devotees. Attendance at Movie Division meetings is at an all time high and it was with regret that I had to turn late callers away. It is impossible to squeeze more than thirty five avid 3-D movie fans into my living room and foyer. We definitely need to find a larger venue.

Dinner was followed by a short business meeting during which suggestions for finding a new meeting place were offered. Ray Zone complimented Sean Isroelit and Brian Gardner on the complicated editing work they were doing on Slow Glass, the Movie Division’s group project to be shared on SCSC’s movie night this summer as well as at the NSA in Miami. John Christopher urged the group to consider more projects and offered several screenplays. It was suggested that he set a date and time for interested movie-makers to meet. Chris Condon spoke about a religious-themed film he has been shooting in the Holy Land. Chris is seeking helpers and investors in the project.

NuView designer, Tom Riederer, and Micro Vision Systems Inc. executive, Mike Weissman, drove down from Santa Barbara to show off their remarkable new 3D HD Microscope Workstation. The new device (patent pending) offers a digital, high definition, real time 3-D imaging system, combined with a high quality stereo microscope, resulting in a unique imaging workstation. The 3-D display is of such high quality that eyepieces are not required. Read more about this innovative device at www.TreeDFilms.com.

3-D Movie Division founder, David Starkman, sur-prised the group by setting up his 16mm projector and projecting three delightful 3-D movie shorts onto a vintage Bolex 3-D screen. The first film was called "Way Down West". 3min. Kodachrome. Shot in 1978 by David Starkman & Susan Pinsky, with an Elgeet 3-D lens attachment on a borrowed Bell & Howell 16mm Filmo camera. Starring Susan Pinsky & David Starkman. A little "home movie" shot by David, with a bit of an homage to early silent films, in-cluding a girl on the railroad tracks, some right up to the camera lens movements, and a bit of in camera trick photography to create several Susans at the Santa Monica palisades park.

Second was a 3 min black & white film, circa 1950 to 1953, probably taken in Mexico by Jim Butterfield with some sort of home-made beam splitter attachment that yielded the same format as the Elgeet lens.

Third was a side-by-side super 16 format 3-D film, shot in England, mostly around Weymouth. This was probably shot by the late Don Jeater, the first editor of Stereoscopy for the International Stereoscopic Union, who lived in that area. Because this is meant to be shown with a special or modified 16mm projector, the speed was too fast, and we would see two stereo frames at a time. However, the smaller than normal 16mm frames looked extremely sharp, with beach and harbor scenes in this English seaside location.

During a short break, the group was invited downstairs to enjoy phantograms and popup anaglyphs created by Owen Western. Wes’ life-sized images are extraordinary. Some took this opportunity to check out autostereo images on mySharp 3-D monitor which had been set up in the dining room.

Eric Kurland, who did such a masterful job of projecting digital images for the SCSC Digital Night in February, set up and manned the digital projectors for the rest of the evening’s offerings.

Tom Koester shared three field-sequential videos. The first was a demo edit of footage of Monarch butterflies, shot inMexico, by Miles Gormlick. It was shot with a twin Sony FX1 Hi Def rig.

Tom’s second video was a joint effort with Jeff Amaral. It was a tribute to John Coltrane concert shot at the Red Cat Theater in the basement of Disney Hall. Three different camera outfits were used to shoot the hour and a half performance, including Tom’s new HD1 3-D rig.

Lastly, Tom shared his newest documentary: 2324: The Making of an Underground Rock Album. During this video, several long-distance commuters had to turn in their glasses. However a few hardcore zealots stayed to watch Rich Collado’s demonstration of widescreen video he had shot of various aircraft. Richard put two screens side by side to demonstrate the panoramic footage. I looked at my watch. It was 2:30 A.M.

John Hart, Chairman
3-D Movie/Video Division