A Matter Of Perspective

Here's something that seems to come at ya every 30 years - 3D movies. Variety reports that the demand for 3D product has produced a demand for people and equipment to crank it out.

Two U.S. camera-rig makers have already become well known in the burgeoning stereoscopic 3-D market: Pace Technologies ("Avatar") and 3ality Digital ("U2 3D").

But the space is about to get more crowded, as manufacturers -- several of them in Europe -- aim to democratize digital 3-D filmmaking with new systems.

"The market for 3-D is growing," says Andreas Dasser, managing director for Munich-based P+S Technik. "Manufacturers are working to democratize digital 3D filmmaking."

"Many of the (early) rigs were self-made," he said. "But the growing market shows that there are more rigs now needed. Now, if you want to shoot 3D, you can buy a rig that offers the standard quality for a proper shoot."

With them, you need cinematographers who understand 3D, and there are said to only about 10-15 of them. So expect them to be as busy as cobol programmers in the year before Y2K.

Meanwhile the Venice Film Festival has instituted the Persol 3D award, an honor specifically aimed at quality 3D movies. And here's potentially interesting news, thrown out as an aside in that article:

European companies are helping home 3-D take its first steps. U.K. broadcaster Sky plans to launch a 3-D channel in 2010, while others, including the BBC, are researching what it would take to add 3-D capabilities. International bodies including SMPTE and the European Broadcasting Union are working on setting standards.

How much of this is just whistling in the dark to forstall the inevitable decline and fall of the format until 2040 remains to be seen.