Chris Parks delivers the goods on Gravity 3D
UK Stereo Supervisor Chris Parks makes Gravity 3D one of those films that ‘must be seen in 3D’ according to reports
Gravity 3D is a space flick which sees Sandra Bullock and George Clooney float into space after an epic accident. Directed by Alfonso Cuaron, who wanted "realistic 3D, the way that your eyes would see it", the film earned $55.8 million in America last weekend alone.
So what can UK viewers expect when it launches on November 8th and should you see it in 3D? Warner Brothers obviously think so and have launched a featurette to explain why (below).
Chris Parks from Vision 3, was in charge of the stereo effects for Gravity right from the start.
Vision 3 Head of Production Adam May told 3D Focus: “Chris's hard work over the last 3 years is finally out there, and we're really proud of the results. We're hoping that seeing what is possible with 3D – in terms of driving story – will start to resonate with audiences and the perception will shift from 3D just being utilised for tentpole blockbusters.”
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Talking to Hollywood Reporter Parks said: "We were able to make narrative use of 3D because Alfonso had integrated 3D with cinematography, visual effects and every other craft department from the outset."
3D was used to create different emotions. "For example, we deliberately floated a Marvin the Martian doll into the audience space using significant negative parallax (the space in front of the screen plane) to give a moment of light heartedness," he says. "This is designed to relax the audience's tension ahead of a whipped camera move as the characters come face to face with something dreadful (a dead body) inside the cockpit of the capsule. Rather than making that shocking moment the time when we bring the 3D out into the theater, a trick we felt would have been out of keeping with the story, we did something to alter the mood of the audience in the period immediately beforehand. That same emotion could not have been achieved in 2D."
Gravity was post converted to 3D under the supervision of Chris Parks. A lot of the VFX work was completed by Framestore and rendered in stereo. Back in 2010, Gravity was planned to be shot with 3D rigs but because it was decided to use robotic camera arms to capture ‘fluidity of movement’ the rigs would have been too heavy.
The film, described as the “best 3D conversion ever” by James Cameron was converted by Prime Focus World. Gravity was the most detailed and sophisticated shoot Prime Focus World has completed to date, including what must be the longest converted shot ever – 15,531 frames / over 10 mins 47 secs.
Because there are so many close ups of Bullock’s and Clooney’s faces, the roundness needed to be perfect, making it a very detailed conversion.
"In some ways, post can never achieve what you can get from native or stereo-rendered 3D, particularly when it comes to shooting close-ups of human faces, but you will often get the best results and the best audience experience by putting both into play," said Parks talking to the Hollywood Reporter adding "3D films have quite rightly received a lot of bad press. There are very few worth seeing in 3D. The majority of 3D is not good since it doesn't add anything to the experience. The main thing I hope the audience will take away from Gravity is that good 3D can definitely enhance the experience.
The reaction to the film has been hugely positive so far and Gravity is set to be one of those movies that demands to be seen in 3D, like Hugo and Life of Pi. The acclaim gives credit to the UK's film talent. Live elements were shot at Pinewood and Shepperton Studios and the visual effects supervised by Tim Webber at Framestore in London.
Chris Parks is now working on The Edge of Tomorrow – a 3D sci-fi flick starring Tom Cruise.
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